Season in Review: Larry Drew II

Maybe it’s ironic that Larry Drew took Q’s number 11, because sometimes, he played like Q did his freshman year. I understand the PG position at UNC is the toughest position to play because the PG is the leader on the court. I also understand that Ty Lawson was a special player who was a good player as a point guard (not necessarily a good leader) and he is the second freshman to take over a Roy Williams-coached UNC team (Bobby Frasor was the other). So coming into the season, I expected big things from Drew. I heard some talking heads say he was close to as fast as Lawson.

Please don’t think I’m being super critical of Drew yet, because I do like Larry Drew. Playing those games without Ty Lawson showed me of what he could be in the future. I have decided to break all the players down like I do games: Things I don’t like and things I like.

Things I don’t like:
1. Decision making. Sometimes he forced. Sometimes he made a horrible pass. I know the game is rushed and different pace in the ACC, but some seemed like careless mistakes. Some of it might be pressure to do well and increase playing time, etc…but he did have a year to learn under Lawson. I’m confident he will improve by the time his career is done.

2. Shot selection. Sometimes he had no business taking some shots. Some were forced. Some were 3’s that he shouldn’t be taking, but this should improve too.

Things I like:
1. Passing ability. During the ACC tournament, I thought he played well and gave me a reason to have hope that he could be a good player. He has low turnovers and average assist numbers. He had quite a few nice dump offs to Ed Davis in the ACC tournament

2. Aggressiveness. This relates to his shot selection. He was aggressive in taking it to the hole quite a number of times throughout the season, but some of the shots he flipped up were like….whoa! But Drew is aggressive and looks for his shot sometimes. I think he’s a smart player, who just needs some experience.

3. Stats. If you look at his stats, they are not jaw-dropping. But he did have more assists than turnovers and seems to be a pretty good rebounding guard. If he could pick up his shooting percentages, that would be awesome.

I compared Larry Drew to Quentin Thomas because that’s who he reminds me of. Q struggled his first year and then had some injuries, but I think we can all say that we liked Q at the end of his career. I think their games are very similar in the fact that they can both pass well and look to get others involved, as well as their timely baskets. I’m a little hesitant to hand over the reigns to Drew next year (but I’m not the coach and have never seen him practice) because of some of the cons listed above. I’m almost hoping that this John Wall recruiting works in UNC’s favor, but I know the player that Larry Drew can become and know he will improve him game – that’s what college basketball is for.