Haverford finding Wright ways to replace contributors

HAVERFORD — Tommy Wright didn’t know for sure where he’d fit in when the Haverford basketball season began. Graduations from last year’s states team left niches open, and Wright was ready to step into whichever the team needed.

In the process, Wright has advanced a trait that is as strong with the Fords’ program as any in the area: The ability to rotate players up into bigger roles year after year.

Wright is averaging 8.0 points per game. Last year, as an off-ball player who got most of his offense as a spot-up shooter or on the offensive glass, he averaged 6.0 ppg.

The Fords had to replace two of their leading scorers from last year, Nick Colucci and JR Newman. So Wright and Brian Wiener, who went from 6.4 ppg to 12.1 this season, have cycled up to bigger roles.

“Once you figure it out and we start getting better and better chemistry, it all starts clicking,” Wright said.

The Fords’ top three scorers – Wright, Wiener and Googie Seidman (18.3 ppg) – account for 77 percent of their points. That’s one of the largest shares in the county. Each has grown from complementary scorers to featured players, Seidman in particular blossoming from a wing shooter to more of a ball-handler this season. He hit 71 3-pointers last season, about 2.7 makes per game, and averaged 14.5 points. His scoring is up as a senior, though his marksmanship has dropped (27 made 3-pointers, 1.7 per game) as he’s working for higher percentage shots.

That kind of generational rotation underpins Haverford’s status as a consistent Central League challenger in recent years. The 2020 champs have continued to replace standouts under coach Keith Heinerichs, a multi-year process Wright can see happening in real time.

“If you play hard, you take good shots, you don’t force anything, if you do all the little things, they’ll put you in the game,” Wright said. “I think us three kind of exemplify that. … I think it helps having coach Heinrichs as such a good leader, and he pushes us to be the best we can at all times.”

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