He was one of the best high school basketball players in the country - perhaps the best ever to play in New Jersey.
But since he was graduated from Elizabeth High, Luther Wright Jr.'s career and his life have been on a downward spiral.Constantly battling a weight problem and with little passion for the game, Wright became a mediocre player at Seton Hall. Against the advice of counselors and relatives, Wright left college after his junior year and became a millionaire when he was chosen by the Utah Jazz in the first round of the NBA draft three years ago.
Now Wright, 24, lives in a public psychiatric hospital.
The 7-foot-2 Wright has been a patient at Essex County Hospital Center in Orange, committed in restraints, since early this month, according to a report in Sunday's The Star-Ledger of Newark. Wright, who has no health insurance, is sleeping on two mattresses lined up on the floor.
Wright's mother, Mae, said her son is depressed and had committed himself to the public psychiatric facility voluntarily.
"He has been on lithium for a couple of years," Mae Wright said. "He had fluid leaking from the brain. It's a brain deficiency."
Sal DiFazio, Wright's agent, said his client suffers from bi-polar disorder or manic depression.
Wright was first diagnosed with the disorder after being arrested by Utah police for causing a ruckus at a highway rest stop Jan. 24, 1994. Wright was using a 5-foot stick to bang on garbage cans and punch out a motorist's windshield. He was temporarily committed to a psychiatric hospital in Utah after the incident.
At the time, the Jazz said Wright was having a bad reaction to a drug he was taking for attention deficit disorder, a condition he was first diagnosed with during college.
Mae Wright hopes her son will resume his basketball career once he becomes healthy.
"I know that's what he wants," she said.
Wright, who was 6-9 when he finished grammar school, seemed destined for a basketball career.
"Everyone thought he had an NBA body as early as the ninth grade," said Sandy Pyonin, an amateur coach who worked with Wright after seeing the eighth-grader playing in a gym.
Wright enrolled at the basketball powerhouse St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, where he played as a freshman for coach Bobby Hurley Sr., father of Bobby Hurley Jr. of the Sacramento Kings.
"Luther was pushed into basketball because of his size," Hurley said. "It was only natural. But he never had a passion for the game."
Wright flunked out of St. Anthony and began his sophomore year at Elizabeth High, where he shined as a player.
He was chosen one of the nation's 10 best high school players by McDonald's. In his senior year, he led Elizabeth to a 32-1 record and was MVP of the state's Tournament of Champions where his team beat St. Anthony.
But Wright was not as adept in the classroom as he was on the court.
When he entered Seton Hall, his SAT scores were well below what was required of a freshman player, and he was academically ineligible to play.
When Wright returned to the court as a sophomore, he no longer was a star.
He battled a weight problem - often hitting 300 pounds - and averaged only 7 points and 5 rebounds per game during his two years at the school.
P.J. Carlesimo, Seton Hall's coach at the time, said Wright was under enormous pressure.
"Luther's problem was that he was the most heralded player we'd ever recruited," Carlesimo said. "He had enormous expectations at Seton Hall. When he sat out his first year, that only made it tougher."
After the 1993 season, Wright surprisingly made himself available for the NBA draft.
"I didn't feel he was emotionally ready for the rigors of the NBA - adjusting to life on the road, managing the time and the new assets, the money, that come a young player's way," said Tom Sullivan, a former coach at Seton Hall.
Wright's mother said at the time that her son was trying to provide for his family and needed money to pay for her medical care. "I'm a sick woman," she said.
Wright was drafted by the Jazz and signed a 5-year, $5 million contract.
He played less than 100 minutes his rookie season, scoring only 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. The Jazz cut him before the 1994-1995 season.
In a settlement with the team, Wright will be paid between $150,000 and $160,000 a year for 25 years, DiFazio said.
During a 15-minute interview at the hospital with The Star-Ledger, Wright admitted to using marijuana and cocaine and said he wanted to get back to basketball.
He also said he wanted to see his young children; his family said he has four by three women.
DiFazio hasn't given up on Wright's basketball career.
"The dream hasn't died," he said. "It's just taken a detour."