Wolfgang Novogratz’s first year in California wasn’t all sunshine, but the former Poly Prep hoops standout is on the other side of the clouds as he gets set for his senior season.
His famous parents, who starred in the Bravo television show “9 by Design,” moved the family to the Golden State last summer because of potential business opportunities. They called it an adventure and something different they wanted to embark on after living in New York for 25 years.
He attended the prestigious Harvard-Westlake school in Los Angeles, but never saw the court for his new home team. The 6-foot-3 Novogratz was told last September that he had tendonitis in his foot.
The point guard sat out the entire preseason hoping to heal. Unfortunately it was only to find that the pain had not gone away. A second opinion revealed that he actually had a broken bone in his foot. Novogratz’s season was lost. Basketball would have to wait.
“It was really unfortunate,” he said. “I was looking forward to playing in the league. It is one of the best in Southern California.”
Novogratz did find one positive in not being able to take to the court. Harvard-Westlake is an excellent academic school and transferring can bring challenges in the classroom. He was able to focus more attention on school with basketball put on hold.
“I was definitely upset for a while, but it did give me an opportunity to get ahead in school,” Novogratz said.
He was cleared to play again this summer, and got it started by scoring 24 points for Westlake in a summer league contest in one of his first games back. After that, it was about reintroducing himself to college coaches during the live recruiting period in July.
While many of them haven’t seen him play in a year, Novogratz isn’t feeling any extra tension. Instead, he is confident he will continue to impress, just like he did before the injury. Coaches have recruited him before and were eager to watch him again.
“This is the healthiest I’ve been going into July, so I am confident,” he said. “College coaches are already calling.”
Novogratz has offers from Villanova, Nevada, and Rutgers and interest from other Big Ten and Pac-12 schools. He has a good midrange shooting game and is an excellent decision maker with the ball. When going right, Novogratz is hard to keep out of the lane.
He doesn’t believe his parent’s fame has garnered him any extra attention. Novogratz was just 11 years old when it was filmed in 2010, and did enjoy the traveling it allowed him to do. On the court he certainly deserves the accolades he’s received for his talents.
After a less-than-ideal year, Novogratz is healthy again, happy to be back on the court, and eager to remind people just how good he is. He’s off to a fine start so far.
