‘The Man’ in the mirror: Ability to look at himself, grow from mistakes took Nix to next level – as player and a man
• JOE HABINA Special to the Independent Tribune
CONCORD – There’s a difference between thinking you’re “The Man” and being “The Man.”
Like most people who think they’re “The Man,” D.J. Nix had to learn the hard way that he wasn’t. And it was his freshman year on the Cannon School varsity basketball team that provided the greatest, humbling lesson of his high school career.
Now a senior standing 6 feet, 5 inches tall, weighing a muscular 220 pounds, being on the verge of scoring 2,000 career points, and being named all-state for three years, Nix is “The Man.”
“The thing that people don’t get to see that we (coaches) do, D.J. is very smart from a basketball standpoint,” said Cannon School head coach Che’ Roth. “His basketball IQ is elite-level good. He knows the game. He knows the angles. He knows how to use his body.”
Nix’s smarts aren’t limited to the basketball court. He’s pretty solid in the classroom, too. You don’t get accepted into the Ivy League’s Cornell University, where he will continue his basketball career next year, by simply knowing how to roll off a ball screen.
“Late last year in November-December, I kind of got it wrapped around my head that I wanted to be a complete person on and off the court,” said Nix, son of Derrick Sr. and Angel Nix. “On the court, basketball opened doors, just like it has for me to go to (Cannon School). But off the court, academics can also open doors. I feel that without the assistance that I’ve gotten, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Cannon School’s doors opened for Nix during middle school. He transferred in after his eighth-grade year, reclassified, and played another year as a middle-schooler before climbing to high school.
“I came from Concord Middle School. Over there I was really ‘The Man,’” said Nix. “I thought, scoring-wise, I was the best thing out there and that I was going to come in (to Cannon School) and just dominate.”
Keeping things in context, those words come from a 13-year-old-minded D.J. Nix, not the humble, mature, mild-mannered, high school version that makes such a positive impression today. But while many an eighth-grader has braggadociously uttered those same words, Nix could back them up.
A member of the same Cannon School class as Jaden Bradley, who now attends the revered IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, is regarded as the top high school point guard in the country, and is a University of Alabama commit, Nix and his eighth-grade teammates did dominate. So when he reached high school, Nix didn’t have any reason to think it would be different.
“As a freshman, he was kind of a ‘tweener,’” says Roth. “You could play him with his back to the basket, you could play him on the perimeter. He was a really good downhill driver. But he was kind of up and down.
“He had games where he would explode for 35-36 (points) and then kind of be non-existent. Or he would get in foul trouble and it would kind of mess with his mind. But that’s the case of all young guys.”
In a Thanksgiving tournament in Charlotte, Nix scored 38 points against Comenius School (Fort Mill, S.C.), which is still a career-high. But the young Cougars lacked upper-class experience, and they fell in the state quarterfinals that season.
Nix’s consistency and his jump shot improved during his sophomore year. His scoring average jumped from 16 to 19 points per game. And with a couple of key additions to the team, Cannon School won the 4A private schools state championship.
Including Nix, that team had four eventual NCAA Division I players: Bradley, Jarvis Moss, who graduated from Cannon School last year and now plays at Stanford, and 7-footer Christian Reeves, now a senior at Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) who has committed to Duke.
Bradley transferred away from Cannon after the 2019-20 season, but the other three gems stayed and won a second consecutive state championship. Nix averaged 23 points per game and set school records for 3-point shooting percentage (51%) and free-throw shooting percentage (92%).
Nix credits a lot of his growth to his mental approach to the game. His father operates a local indoor basketball facility and has helped polish Nix’s ball skills and fine-tune his psyche. The younger Nix’s emotionless demeanor rarely disrupts his mindset, whether things are going well or going badly.
They don’t often go badly, but Cannon School’s win-loss record this year is not what is has been over the previous two seasons. Playing its usual challenging schedule, the Cougars have a 13-14 record.
Nix and Roth are hoping Cannon School can make a late-season push to defend their state championships. Regardless, Nix hasn’t let the wins and losses detract from his senior experience.
“This year is probably the best, most fun year I’ve had,” said Nix, who is averaging about 25 points per game. “I know the record says otherwise, but I never let my attitude get the best of me. I think we’re capable of doing what we did the last two years.
“…I’ve enjoyed every year here, though. The platform I’ve gotten here at Cannon opened so many doors for me. If you would have asked me my freshman year if I would be going to an Ivy League school to play basketball, I would have never believed you. But here we are. Every opportunity, every door that’s been opened through Cannon School, I just really appreciate it.”
Spoken truly by the man Nix has become.
• JOE HABINA Special to the Independent Tribune
CONCORD – There’s a difference between thinking you’re “The Man” and being “The Man.”
Like most people who think they’re “The Man,” D.J. Nix had to learn the hard way that he wasn’t. And it was his freshman year on the Cannon School varsity basketball team that provided the greatest, humbling lesson of his high school career.
Now a senior standing 6 feet, 5 inches tall, weighing a muscular 220 pounds, being on the verge of scoring 2,000 career points, and being named all-state for three years, Nix is “The Man.”
“The thing that people don’t get to see that we (coaches) do, D.J. is very smart from a basketball standpoint,” said Cannon School head coach Che’ Roth. “His basketball IQ is elite-level good. He knows the game. He knows the angles. He knows how to use his body.”
Nix’s smarts aren’t limited to the basketball court. He’s pretty solid in the classroom, too. You don’t get accepted into the Ivy League’s Cornell University, where he will continue his basketball career next year, by simply knowing how to roll off a ball screen.
“Late last year in November-December, I kind of got it wrapped around my head that I wanted to be a complete person on and off the court,” said Nix, son of Derrick Sr. and Angel Nix. “On the court, basketball opened doors, just like it has for me to go to (Cannon School). But off the court, academics can also open doors. I feel that without the assistance that I’ve gotten, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Cannon School’s doors opened for Nix during middle school. He transferred in after his eighth-grade year, reclassified, and played another year as a middle-schooler before climbing to high school.
“I came from Concord Middle School. Over there I was really ‘The Man,’” said Nix. “I thought, scoring-wise, I was the best thing out there and that I was going to come in (to Cannon School) and just dominate.”
Keeping things in context, those words come from a 13-year-old-minded D.J. Nix, not the humble, mature, mild-mannered, high school version that makes such a positive impression today. But while many an eighth-grader has braggadociously uttered those same words, Nix could back them up.
A member of the same Cannon School class as Jaden Bradley, who now attends the revered IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, is regarded as the top high school point guard in the country, and is a University of Alabama commit, Nix and his eighth-grade teammates did dominate. So when he reached high school, Nix didn’t have any reason to think it would be different.
“As a freshman, he was kind of a ‘tweener,’” says Roth. “You could play him with his back to the basket, you could play him on the perimeter. He was a really good downhill driver. But he was kind of up and down.
“He had games where he would explode for 35-36 (points) and then kind of be non-existent. Or he would get in foul trouble and it would kind of mess with his mind. But that’s the case of all young guys.”
In a Thanksgiving tournament in Charlotte, Nix scored 38 points against Comenius School (Fort Mill, S.C.), which is still a career-high. But the young Cougars lacked upper-class experience, and they fell in the state quarterfinals that season.
Nix’s consistency and his jump shot improved during his sophomore year. His scoring average jumped from 16 to 19 points per game. And with a couple of key additions to the team, Cannon School won the 4A private schools state championship.
Including Nix, that team had four eventual NCAA Division I players: Bradley, Jarvis Moss, who graduated from Cannon School last year and now plays at Stanford, and 7-footer Christian Reeves, now a senior at Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) who has committed to Duke.
Bradley transferred away from Cannon after the 2019-20 season, but the other three gems stayed and won a second consecutive state championship. Nix averaged 23 points per game and set school records for 3-point shooting percentage (51%) and free-throw shooting percentage (92%).
Nix credits a lot of his growth to his mental approach to the game. His father operates a local indoor basketball facility and has helped polish Nix’s ball skills and fine-tune his psyche. The younger Nix’s emotionless demeanor rarely disrupts his mindset, whether things are going well or going badly.
They don’t often go badly, but Cannon School’s win-loss record this year is not what is has been over the previous two seasons. Playing its usual challenging schedule, the Cougars have a 13-14 record.
Nix and Roth are hoping Cannon School can make a late-season push to defend their state championships. Regardless, Nix hasn’t let the wins and losses detract from his senior experience.
“This year is probably the best, most fun year I’ve had,” said Nix, who is averaging about 25 points per game. “I know the record says otherwise, but I never let my attitude get the best of me. I think we’re capable of doing what we did the last two years.
“…I’ve enjoyed every year here, though. The platform I’ve gotten here at Cannon opened so many doors for me. If you would have asked me my freshman year if I would be going to an Ivy League school to play basketball, I would have never believed you. But here we are. Every opportunity, every door that’s been opened through Cannon School, I just really appreciate it.”
Spoken truly by the man Nix has become.
