As I did last year, I will review each scholarship player numerically with the underclassman going first and building up to the seniors. So first up on the list is Dexter Strickland.
Dexter showed some flashes of being a good player and was somewhat forced to play out of position for the majority of the season by being the backup point guard. Next year, it will be nice to see him slide over to shooting guard and see if he fares better.
What didn’t like:
1. Inconsistency. Some games he would have a double figure scoring, but others, he would barely show up in the stat book. I would like Strickland to be able to establish himself more as a consistent player.
2. Shooting %. Strickland shot 43% from the field, 29% from 3, and 69% from the free throw line. As the shooting guard, you have to be able to shoot and Strickland was not always effective from a shooter’s perspective. In his defense, he did play some point guard, but the percentage needs to be brought up.
What I liked:
1. Drive. One thing I especially liked about Strickland was it seemed he was the only Tar Heel fully capable of creating his own shot. That comes with being the backup point guard and shooting guard at the same time, but at times, he was the only Tar Heel who would drive to the basket and see what happened. He was aggressive and I like an attacking guard. Next year, he should be better able to attack from the wing.
2. Willingness. Strickland showed some leadership potential by willing to play 2 positions. That means he has to learn the plays for two positions and handle setting up the offense and guarding one of the other team’s best players (because what guard hasn’t gone off the Tar Heels before?) Credit should be given to Strickland for being able to step up into a role that is a little out of his comfort zone.
I like having Strickland come off the bench. He can be the Danny Green with the spark and energy and leader of the second squad. He’ll improve, and I look forward to watching him develop into a better overall player.
Showing posts with label Dexter Strickland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dexter Strickland. Show all posts
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Addition by Subtration
One of the biggest offseason questions will be whether or not Ed Davis does go pro. At the beginning of this year, I would have said that was a bad idea, but that’s when I thought Ed Davis was going to be an 18 and 11 guy every night. Since Davis was not like that and then was injured, I’m not convinced he would be willing to stick around and risk another injury. Most mock drafts have him as a top 10 pick. In fact, I can’t think of one that doesn’t have him as a top 10 pick.
If Davis did leave, I don’t think it would be the end of the world. In fact, I think this team would be better for a few reasons:
1) I don’t think Davis is a true team player. He doesn’t strike me as a team oriented guy. Not to say that he is a selfish guy who demands the ball all the time, but that fact that he doesn’t seem to put a lot of work into his game and that can hurt team chemistry because people see that he doesn’t work very hard and is still getting playing time. Ed Davis is a talent, but it seems like he is Ty Lawson as a freshman, where Lawson was not allowed to start because he kept messing around. Ed Davis is not a trickster like Lawson, but he just seems to not put the effort in, similar to how Lawson was, when he just got by on talent and not being a complete player.
2) If Davis leaves, I think that would open the door for Tyler Zeller to emerge as a main threat on offense. Zeller is obviously more offensive minded than Davis, but with John Henson on the weak side, Zeller could probably get away with more than he normally could because of Henson’s shot blocking ability. I was very impressed with Zeller as he came back from injury and really picked up where he left off. He was good for 9 points and 5 boards a night, which is good as your 6th man and I think if he starts, those numbers are only going to go up with more minutes and shot opportunities.
3. With Davis gone, the line-up would probably be Zeller at center, Henson at the power forward, Harrison Barnes at the other forward, with Will Graves, Dexter Strickland, Larry Drew II, or Kendall Marshall in the backcourt (which will probably remain a question mark until we get closer to the season. But the front court would still be strong with the 2 above bigs and the Wear twins playing the backup role. I believe if we needed to go small, Barnes could slide over to the 4 because of his height.
This is all speculation at this point, but if Davis does opt for the NBA, I don’t consider it a huge loss and the pieces will fall back into place soon enough. My honest hope is that he does go pro, but we’ll see what happens.
If Davis did leave, I don’t think it would be the end of the world. In fact, I think this team would be better for a few reasons:
1) I don’t think Davis is a true team player. He doesn’t strike me as a team oriented guy. Not to say that he is a selfish guy who demands the ball all the time, but that fact that he doesn’t seem to put a lot of work into his game and that can hurt team chemistry because people see that he doesn’t work very hard and is still getting playing time. Ed Davis is a talent, but it seems like he is Ty Lawson as a freshman, where Lawson was not allowed to start because he kept messing around. Ed Davis is not a trickster like Lawson, but he just seems to not put the effort in, similar to how Lawson was, when he just got by on talent and not being a complete player.
2) If Davis leaves, I think that would open the door for Tyler Zeller to emerge as a main threat on offense. Zeller is obviously more offensive minded than Davis, but with John Henson on the weak side, Zeller could probably get away with more than he normally could because of Henson’s shot blocking ability. I was very impressed with Zeller as he came back from injury and really picked up where he left off. He was good for 9 points and 5 boards a night, which is good as your 6th man and I think if he starts, those numbers are only going to go up with more minutes and shot opportunities.
3. With Davis gone, the line-up would probably be Zeller at center, Henson at the power forward, Harrison Barnes at the other forward, with Will Graves, Dexter Strickland, Larry Drew II, or Kendall Marshall in the backcourt (which will probably remain a question mark until we get closer to the season. But the front court would still be strong with the 2 above bigs and the Wear twins playing the backup role. I believe if we needed to go small, Barnes could slide over to the 4 because of his height.
This is all speculation at this point, but if Davis does opt for the NBA, I don’t consider it a huge loss and the pieces will fall back into place soon enough. My honest hope is that he does go pro, but we’ll see what happens.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Eye of the Tigers
I didn't know if we were up to Clemson this time around. Something felt off to me and low and behold, we have a blow-out loss to Clemson. I didn't get to watch the game and that makes me glad because I think I would have been pretty upset watching the turnover machine that is North Carolina.
I thought of an analogy today about this year's team. I would consider them to be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this year. Dr. Jekyll would be the North Carolina team that was present against Michigan State and the second half versus Va Tech. The Mr. Hyde version is the one we have seen a good portion of the season and unfortunately, seems to be taking over Jekyll's play.
Coach Williams blamed the loss on himself in his postgame quotes, saying he did a poor job of coaching. Sure, he could have done things better, but he's not the one out there who can't pass the ball inbounds or throws it over somebody's head. 26 Turnovers. 26! 17 from the starters - the experienced players! I think it's getting inexcusable now and something has to change.
Adam Lucas wrote in his postgame article about the team lacking focus. If you read the post-game comments, the message is similar from the players. I think this statement from a freshman, Dexter Strickland, stood out to me the most:
"It's thinking too much. It's being scared to make a mistake. When you play cautious you're more likely to make a mistake."
I played soccer in college and I remember when I started worrying about making mistakes, that's when I made the most mistakes or played the most cautious. When I didn't think about everything that I could be doing and just tried to make a play is when I had the most success. I'm not saying that Williams should throw caution out the door and let the horses loose, but somebody needs to step up and bit and take some leadership. We have seen a bit of this factor or just going out and making something out of nothing from Dexter Strickland some, but he does still make freshman mistakes and cause turnovers. I think this could be the perfect situation to throw John Henson into so that he can become a better player.
In doing this, North Carolina might establish itself a go-to scorer, someone who gets the last shot because as of right now, the guy who gets the last shot on the team for me is probably Larry Drew II or Strickland, but only because of their ability to break people down off the dribble. I'm not saying this should turn into chaos, but it is something to think about. Make the players stop thinking and start doing. If I had an answer for this situation, I'm sure a lot of coaches would ask me how, but I don't. This season that was filled with potential and hype is suddenly shrinking and becoming a harsh reality. Boo reality, boo!
I thought of an analogy today about this year's team. I would consider them to be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this year. Dr. Jekyll would be the North Carolina team that was present against Michigan State and the second half versus Va Tech. The Mr. Hyde version is the one we have seen a good portion of the season and unfortunately, seems to be taking over Jekyll's play.
Coach Williams blamed the loss on himself in his postgame quotes, saying he did a poor job of coaching. Sure, he could have done things better, but he's not the one out there who can't pass the ball inbounds or throws it over somebody's head. 26 Turnovers. 26! 17 from the starters - the experienced players! I think it's getting inexcusable now and something has to change.
Adam Lucas wrote in his postgame article about the team lacking focus. If you read the post-game comments, the message is similar from the players. I think this statement from a freshman, Dexter Strickland, stood out to me the most:
"It's thinking too much. It's being scared to make a mistake. When you play cautious you're more likely to make a mistake."
I played soccer in college and I remember when I started worrying about making mistakes, that's when I made the most mistakes or played the most cautious. When I didn't think about everything that I could be doing and just tried to make a play is when I had the most success. I'm not saying that Williams should throw caution out the door and let the horses loose, but somebody needs to step up and bit and take some leadership. We have seen a bit of this factor or just going out and making something out of nothing from Dexter Strickland some, but he does still make freshman mistakes and cause turnovers. I think this could be the perfect situation to throw John Henson into so that he can become a better player.
In doing this, North Carolina might establish itself a go-to scorer, someone who gets the last shot because as of right now, the guy who gets the last shot on the team for me is probably Larry Drew II or Strickland, but only because of their ability to break people down off the dribble. I'm not saying this should turn into chaos, but it is something to think about. Make the players stop thinking and start doing. If I had an answer for this situation, I'm sure a lot of coaches would ask me how, but I don't. This season that was filled with potential and hype is suddenly shrinking and becoming a harsh reality. Boo reality, boo!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Well, I've Seen Better
I watched most of this game, but in the second half, with North Carolina up by 13 and me struggling to stay awake, I went to bed because I was for sure they were on the verge of pushing the Scarlet Knights over the edge. Well, the Heels still won, but the Knights really never went over the edge and I think it's safe to say this team lacks a killer instinct.
I say this because, Rutgers - thought they are a good team, should not have gotten the lead down to 4. I would probably accept 10 or 12, but not 4. This year's squad cannot stay with their foot on the gas pedal and that's because they get out of control and throw turnovers away like they are t-shirts for the fans. I remember a few minutes before halftime that we had three straight turnovers, which led to easy buckets. There was no real pressure on these turnovers, just careless, lazy plays. If these kind of plays keep happening, it could be a long ACC season.
Now, we do have some good things from this game. And we have to fact facts about this game. Good things are that it was a balanced scoring effort, Ed Davis is a double-double machine, and Dexter Strickland is going to be really good. Facts are that they won without senior leader Marcus Ginyard, and that they are disappointed with themselves and Roy is pretty ticked off too.
If you read, the postgame comments, it's obvious that the previous sentence is resounding in the North Carolina locker room, but perhaps, from Twitter is one of the best quotes of this day:
@eddavis32 Bout to get something to eat and head to this 2nd practice. They say college is the best years of your life.
I'm confident things will change in the very near future.
I say this because, Rutgers - thought they are a good team, should not have gotten the lead down to 4. I would probably accept 10 or 12, but not 4. This year's squad cannot stay with their foot on the gas pedal and that's because they get out of control and throw turnovers away like they are t-shirts for the fans. I remember a few minutes before halftime that we had three straight turnovers, which led to easy buckets. There was no real pressure on these turnovers, just careless, lazy plays. If these kind of plays keep happening, it could be a long ACC season.
Now, we do have some good things from this game. And we have to fact facts about this game. Good things are that it was a balanced scoring effort, Ed Davis is a double-double machine, and Dexter Strickland is going to be really good. Facts are that they won without senior leader Marcus Ginyard, and that they are disappointed with themselves and Roy is pretty ticked off too.
If you read, the postgame comments, it's obvious that the previous sentence is resounding in the North Carolina locker room, but perhaps, from Twitter is one of the best quotes of this day:
@eddavis32 Bout to get something to eat and head to this 2nd practice. They say college is the best years of your life.
I'm confident things will change in the very near future.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Hooked by the Horns
Golly. Gee. Whiz. I waited awhile to let this one set in and talk about it on here because I was greatly disappointed, but now that emotions have settled down, I can better rationalize this game.
Let's look at some of the positives from this game. UNC was down by 17 before battling back to get it to 4. Once again, we have battled back after putting ourselves in a whole, which they also did against Kentucky. So, it's nice to see this team not give up, even against a mostly burnt-orange crowd.
Second positive is the fact that Ed Davis is such a beast. I was very impressed with his ability to control his body while in the air and then finish the play with a bucket, with some contact sometimes. The same could be said about Tyler Zeller, as combined, the two sophomores were 16-21 from the field. It's nice to see them be effective when they get the ball. This will be a good front court next year if Davis stays and while Zeller may not be a super strong defender, I believe he will get better and you might be surprised that he is averaging just under a block per game.
A final positive is that Dexter Strickland knows when the team needs someone to just make something happen. Yes, he did force a shot before the end of the first half and that caused Texas to get two baskets in the last 15 seconds, but he sometimes just lowers his head and barrels his way to the hoop. He had a few nice drives where he just drove hard and finished. I also really liked him in the backcourt with Larry Drew II. I thought that was a very effective backcourt while they were in the game together.
Now for some negatives. I know the argument has been made that our big men have the tendency to be soft and sometimes I think that argument is valid. For the life of me, I'm not sure why Deon Thompson thought he was Michael Jordan circa 1998, trying all these fade aways and runner-like shots in the lane, but he's 6'9," 245. He should not be fading away from contact, but rather going into the contact. Ed Davis did well for his weight, but seemed like his hands lacked a bit.
Another negative is Marcus Ginyard. Early in the second half, I was really questioning him as the 5th year senior leader. Then he did hit a few shots to help widdle away at the lead, but his lack of defense is what amazed me. This is Marcus, the shutdown man, who seemed to struggle greatly. His lateral movement seemed slow. Part of this could be his foot is causing him pain, because he was probably going into the game, but I must say I was disappointed with his effort. He had a number of careless turnovers and I just hope that if some of this is related to his foot, that he can take a few of these easier holiday games off and rest his foot up.
A final negative is the defense and I'm going to include the rebounding on this section too. I have never seen a team score so many points against UNC in the manner that Texas did. They scored 103 points and only shot 41% and that's because they had 26 offensive rebounds and I have no idea how many second chance points, but I thought it was just ridiculous how often Texas ended up with the ball down in the paint after a missed shot. I know Dexter Pittman is a big boy, but there is no excuse for not putting a body on him. I was always taught that if you can get your butt on a guy, you do it and it seemed like North Carolina was content to try and outjump Texas on the boards. I hope Tyler Hansbrough comes back to Chapel Hill this summer and teaches the Heels how to box out because if they continue to do what they did against Texas, it will be a long season.
Now Texas is #2 in the land for a reason and they are a good team. They showed that yesterday, but I think if North Carolina can correct some of these mistakes, they could easily be a good team. Roy said that this Texas team could be the best Texas team Rick Barnes has had, so obviously, this team is good because Texas has had Final Four teams under Rick Barnes. The schedule has been tough, Coach Williams himself has said he was a little over ambitious in scheduling all these games with this young team, but hopefully in the long run, it makes the Heels better. At least we can say that we have played people, which is usually what some of these experts say when UNC rattles off 15 games in a row at the beginning of the season.
A final thought and I will leave you. This is North Carolina's 3rd loss on the year. Last year, the Heels' third loss did not come until February 21nd against Maryland. The year before was against Kansas on April 5th. In 2006-2007, the third loss was on February 3rd against North Carolina State. and in 2005-2006 was on January 14th, versus Miami. I would say this year's Heels have more talent that the 05-06 Heels, but they didn't have the schedule that this year's squad has. The season is far from over and it could be possible that the worse of the schedule is over. Yes, ACC play is tough, but there aren't 5 teams in the ACC ranked in the top 18 in the country. Anyone can admit, we have been pretty spoiled over the last few years and this year is just a bit frustrating because of the success that the past Heels teams have had. We'll be ok, I promise.
Let's look at some of the positives from this game. UNC was down by 17 before battling back to get it to 4. Once again, we have battled back after putting ourselves in a whole, which they also did against Kentucky. So, it's nice to see this team not give up, even against a mostly burnt-orange crowd.
Second positive is the fact that Ed Davis is such a beast. I was very impressed with his ability to control his body while in the air and then finish the play with a bucket, with some contact sometimes. The same could be said about Tyler Zeller, as combined, the two sophomores were 16-21 from the field. It's nice to see them be effective when they get the ball. This will be a good front court next year if Davis stays and while Zeller may not be a super strong defender, I believe he will get better and you might be surprised that he is averaging just under a block per game.
A final positive is that Dexter Strickland knows when the team needs someone to just make something happen. Yes, he did force a shot before the end of the first half and that caused Texas to get two baskets in the last 15 seconds, but he sometimes just lowers his head and barrels his way to the hoop. He had a few nice drives where he just drove hard and finished. I also really liked him in the backcourt with Larry Drew II. I thought that was a very effective backcourt while they were in the game together.
Now for some negatives. I know the argument has been made that our big men have the tendency to be soft and sometimes I think that argument is valid. For the life of me, I'm not sure why Deon Thompson thought he was Michael Jordan circa 1998, trying all these fade aways and runner-like shots in the lane, but he's 6'9," 245. He should not be fading away from contact, but rather going into the contact. Ed Davis did well for his weight, but seemed like his hands lacked a bit.
Another negative is Marcus Ginyard. Early in the second half, I was really questioning him as the 5th year senior leader. Then he did hit a few shots to help widdle away at the lead, but his lack of defense is what amazed me. This is Marcus, the shutdown man, who seemed to struggle greatly. His lateral movement seemed slow. Part of this could be his foot is causing him pain, because he was probably going into the game, but I must say I was disappointed with his effort. He had a number of careless turnovers and I just hope that if some of this is related to his foot, that he can take a few of these easier holiday games off and rest his foot up.
A final negative is the defense and I'm going to include the rebounding on this section too. I have never seen a team score so many points against UNC in the manner that Texas did. They scored 103 points and only shot 41% and that's because they had 26 offensive rebounds and I have no idea how many second chance points, but I thought it was just ridiculous how often Texas ended up with the ball down in the paint after a missed shot. I know Dexter Pittman is a big boy, but there is no excuse for not putting a body on him. I was always taught that if you can get your butt on a guy, you do it and it seemed like North Carolina was content to try and outjump Texas on the boards. I hope Tyler Hansbrough comes back to Chapel Hill this summer and teaches the Heels how to box out because if they continue to do what they did against Texas, it will be a long season.
Now Texas is #2 in the land for a reason and they are a good team. They showed that yesterday, but I think if North Carolina can correct some of these mistakes, they could easily be a good team. Roy said that this Texas team could be the best Texas team Rick Barnes has had, so obviously, this team is good because Texas has had Final Four teams under Rick Barnes. The schedule has been tough, Coach Williams himself has said he was a little over ambitious in scheduling all these games with this young team, but hopefully in the long run, it makes the Heels better. At least we can say that we have played people, which is usually what some of these experts say when UNC rattles off 15 games in a row at the beginning of the season.
A final thought and I will leave you. This is North Carolina's 3rd loss on the year. Last year, the Heels' third loss did not come until February 21nd against Maryland. The year before was against Kansas on April 5th. In 2006-2007, the third loss was on February 3rd against North Carolina State. and in 2005-2006 was on January 14th, versus Miami. I would say this year's Heels have more talent that the 05-06 Heels, but they didn't have the schedule that this year's squad has. The season is far from over and it could be possible that the worse of the schedule is over. Yes, ACC play is tough, but there aren't 5 teams in the ACC ranked in the top 18 in the country. Anyone can admit, we have been pretty spoiled over the last few years and this year is just a bit frustrating because of the success that the past Heels teams have had. We'll be ok, I promise.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Ho Hum
Well, at least UNC got a tougher practice out of the way. Seriously, Presbyterian had no business being on the floor with North Carolina and Coach Williams said in his post-game comments that they had had some bad practices and challenged the players to get more out of this game then in practice the last few days.Not a lot can be said about this game. With Marcus Ginyard out, as well as Dexter Strickland, the backcourt was even smaller, but players who normally don't play much stepped into some bigger shoes and was able to get the job done. I was pleased with John Henson's effort in the box score and hope this is a sign of things to come.
With Texas looming on Saturday, I hope the Heels come to play and that Ginyard and Strickland are good to go. Strickland apparently felt better last night then he did yesterday morning, so I would expect him to go at Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Ginyard's foot problem is supposedly unreleated to last year's injury, but only time will tell.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Challenge Answered
Well, I was proven wrong and boy, am I happy to be wrong! This was easily the statement game of the young season.
I look at this game as a tale of two halves and two teams: potential team vs inexperienced team. The first half was amazing and proves that this team can hang with anyone in the country. Michigan State was picked to win the Big Ten and was supposed to be one of the front runners for the national title in April. But after a Dexter Strickland dagger at the end of the half, there stood the young Heels up 16 points, proving that North Carolina has the potential and ability to play with anyone. This game was especially encouraging with some big games looming against Kentucky and Texas. Neither one of these is a guaranteed win, because we have the second half to talk about.
The second half represented the inexperienced team. I say inexperienced because of the silly mistakes like not getting back on transition defense, missing free throws, and Deon Thompson for three?!?! Part of this inexperienced is the fact that MUS is a good team as noted above and you knew they would make a run at some point and North Carolina could not shoot 64% for the whole game. The whole half wasn't awful, just a little sloppy because UNC started off strong, pushing the lead up to 19 points before the sloppiness began.
Things I didn't like:
1. Transition defense. I can't recall a team beating North Carolina down the court for easy buckets. Sure, a team will get an occasional basket, but MSU was doing more times in this game than I can recall all last year.
2. Turnovers. Yes, shocking, but it wasn't the number of turnovers, but it was the fact that of the 17 turnovers, 14 were from the starters, the more experienced of the team, but also Michigan State had 15 steals off of those 17 turnovers. I can handle the turnovers, but lets not give up the ball off steals.
Things I liked:
1. Freshman domination. If the freshman were waiting to show up, they picked a good time. I was very pleased with all of them. Even if Dexter Strickland was the only one who scored over two points, they all contributed in some way, with John Henson blocking 4 shots - all coming out of nowhere, and The Wear Twins chipping in with solid defense. Dexter Strickland was awesome. He was aggressive, poised, and played some solid defense.
2. Super Sophomores. The freshman were good, but the sophomores were outstanding. Larry Drew II, in his last two games has almost made me forget about Ty Lawson. Ok, not quite, but he has been pretty Ty Lawson-like. He is shooting the ball with confidence and finding open teammates for easy buckets. Ed Davis played how every major broadcaster thought he would and showed more of his potential and why he was projected as a top 5 pick in the draft. I still think Deon Thompson is the man for this team, but Ed Davis is a pretty good sidekick.
Overall, great game for the Heels and we see what they can be. Hopefully, they can keep up the pace.
I look at this game as a tale of two halves and two teams: potential team vs inexperienced team. The first half was amazing and proves that this team can hang with anyone in the country. Michigan State was picked to win the Big Ten and was supposed to be one of the front runners for the national title in April. But after a Dexter Strickland dagger at the end of the half, there stood the young Heels up 16 points, proving that North Carolina has the potential and ability to play with anyone. This game was especially encouraging with some big games looming against Kentucky and Texas. Neither one of these is a guaranteed win, because we have the second half to talk about.
The second half represented the inexperienced team. I say inexperienced because of the silly mistakes like not getting back on transition defense, missing free throws, and Deon Thompson for three?!?! Part of this inexperienced is the fact that MUS is a good team as noted above and you knew they would make a run at some point and North Carolina could not shoot 64% for the whole game. The whole half wasn't awful, just a little sloppy because UNC started off strong, pushing the lead up to 19 points before the sloppiness began.
Things I didn't like:
1. Transition defense. I can't recall a team beating North Carolina down the court for easy buckets. Sure, a team will get an occasional basket, but MSU was doing more times in this game than I can recall all last year.
2. Turnovers. Yes, shocking, but it wasn't the number of turnovers, but it was the fact that of the 17 turnovers, 14 were from the starters, the more experienced of the team, but also Michigan State had 15 steals off of those 17 turnovers. I can handle the turnovers, but lets not give up the ball off steals.
Things I liked:
1. Freshman domination. If the freshman were waiting to show up, they picked a good time. I was very pleased with all of them. Even if Dexter Strickland was the only one who scored over two points, they all contributed in some way, with John Henson blocking 4 shots - all coming out of nowhere, and The Wear Twins chipping in with solid defense. Dexter Strickland was awesome. He was aggressive, poised, and played some solid defense.
2. Super Sophomores. The freshman were good, but the sophomores were outstanding. Larry Drew II, in his last two games has almost made me forget about Ty Lawson. Ok, not quite, but he has been pretty Ty Lawson-like. He is shooting the ball with confidence and finding open teammates for easy buckets. Ed Davis played how every major broadcaster thought he would and showed more of his potential and why he was projected as a top 5 pick in the draft. I still think Deon Thompson is the man for this team, but Ed Davis is a pretty good sidekick.
Overall, great game for the Heels and we see what they can be. Hopefully, they can keep up the pace.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
So Was That One
Easy. Maybe too easy, but it's not like the Heels can't use this extra practices out there to get used to each other. I didn't watch much of the game, so I don't have too many observations to relay to you readers out there. I think the defense was pretty good again, especially during that run towards the end of the first half.
Turnovers were lower, but still could be better. The whole team did a nice job working the ball around with a jaw-dropping 29 total assists. Will Graves was the only regular rotation player to not register an assist. One assist I was particularly impressed with was when one of the Wear twins was double-teamed in the post and he made a nice little dump pass to Tyler Zeller for the two handed flush. Those Wear twins are impressive to me so far this year.
Defensively, the blocked shots are awesome. If an opposing frontcourt ever dominates this team, then they all need to eat their Wheaties or something because they are so big. Same thing with the rebounds, but I expect the rebounding margin to lessen with better competition.
Free throw shooting has been solid for 2 games, which is great, especially from Deon Thompson and Ed Davis because they are weak from the line, but so far so good.
It's hard to know this team very well yet with all the sporadic minutes so far this season. Marcus Ginyard led the team with 23 minutes played and all the rotational players logged at least 10 minutes. Dexter Strickland also had a nice bounce back game after Monday's disaster.
I am very impressed with Tyler Zeller's play, as well as Justin Watts. I know Zeller will play quite a bit this year and will probably be the first Heel off the bench, so I expect his play to stay steady. Watts is a question mark to me. I'm not sure if Coach Williams is playing him as much because he expects him to be a regular player, or if he's trying to build confidence in Watts, or if he is just trying to throw different line-ups out there and seeing what happens. I know last year, Watts usually only played at the end of routs, and there was a reason for that. I was very nervous watching him play in tight games, but if he can continue to keep up his energy play, I will feel more relaxed watching him play, but one must understand as the competition improves, the pressure may get to him. We'll see, but hopefully he can be a nice surprise.
Turnovers were lower, but still could be better. The whole team did a nice job working the ball around with a jaw-dropping 29 total assists. Will Graves was the only regular rotation player to not register an assist. One assist I was particularly impressed with was when one of the Wear twins was double-teamed in the post and he made a nice little dump pass to Tyler Zeller for the two handed flush. Those Wear twins are impressive to me so far this year.
Defensively, the blocked shots are awesome. If an opposing frontcourt ever dominates this team, then they all need to eat their Wheaties or something because they are so big. Same thing with the rebounds, but I expect the rebounding margin to lessen with better competition.
Free throw shooting has been solid for 2 games, which is great, especially from Deon Thompson and Ed Davis because they are weak from the line, but so far so good.
It's hard to know this team very well yet with all the sporadic minutes so far this season. Marcus Ginyard led the team with 23 minutes played and all the rotational players logged at least 10 minutes. Dexter Strickland also had a nice bounce back game after Monday's disaster.
I am very impressed with Tyler Zeller's play, as well as Justin Watts. I know Zeller will play quite a bit this year and will probably be the first Heel off the bench, so I expect his play to stay steady. Watts is a question mark to me. I'm not sure if Coach Williams is playing him as much because he expects him to be a regular player, or if he's trying to build confidence in Watts, or if he is just trying to throw different line-ups out there and seeing what happens. I know last year, Watts usually only played at the end of routs, and there was a reason for that. I was very nervous watching him play in tight games, but if he can continue to keep up his energy play, I will feel more relaxed watching him play, but one must understand as the competition improves, the pressure may get to him. We'll see, but hopefully he can be a nice surprise.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Check This
Holy lots of information. I was checking out some of the Tar Heel sites today and came across this one from Tar Heel Fan Blog. It's from some observers who watch practice after Roy's Coaching Clinic and there is a ton of analysis about the current Tar Heel team. I'll post the whole piece below and then have some comments about it.
A work in progress.
Those are the words from Roy Williams himself. After spending two practices watching the Tar Heels, I would agree. Let’s just say that it’s a good thing the Final Four isn’t any time soon. This team has a chance to be very, very good. Up front, they’re huge. And they all run. And they all handle the ball extremely well. And…….you get the picture. I’ll elaborate more on the personnel in a bit, but the strength of this year’s team will be the 6 guys in the front court. If those six play well, UNC could have a terrific year.
Going in to this season, there are some assumptions I think we’re all making. First, shooting the ball will be a problem. Second, it’s unclear how effective Larry Drew will be as the starting point guard. Third, while Deon Thompson has shown nice promise as a low post threat, the Tar Heels will have to develop a true replacement for Tyler Hansbrough on offense. Fourth, despite their youth the Heels look to be a good defensive team.
Before going in to specifics, here a few overall observations. Marcus Ginyard looks good. Defensively, he’s everywhere. He’s tone, he’s lost a little weight, and he can really guard the ball. The five rookies are all no-nonsense guys. They all take basketball seriously and it shows. Roy Williams is catering to Will Graves (I’ll elaborate in a bit). Larry Drew has the tools to be a top-flight point guard, but his experience level is so low that his maturation may take a while (like, the whole season).
So, after a sort of pessimistic start to this email let’s talk about some things UNC will be good at this year. Rebounding should be a major plus for the Heels. The Big 6 and Ginyard will be a formidable board group (these six consist of Deon Thompson, Ed Davis, Tyler Zeller, and freshmen John Henson, David Wear, and Travis Wear). More importantly, the Tar Heel coaching staff is emphasizing crashing the glass. During the sessions of the clinic on Saturday, both Roy and C.B. McGrath talked about how critical rebounding will be to UNC’s success. The other clear advantage Carolina will have over virtually every team it plays this year may come as a surprise. The Heels should be the best ball-handling team on the floor every night. Typically a young team will kick the ball all over the gym for a while. In 2005, I was almost depressed leaving the clinic weekend after watching Bobby Frasor, Danny Green, Hansbrough, and Ginyard throw the ball in to the third row for two days. Thankfully I didn’t have to suffer through the same thing this year.
Ok, let’s dive in to some specifics. The best place to start is with the new offense that Roy is installing. Let me say that again. The University of North Carolina Men ’s basketball team is going to use an offense it has never used in my lifetime (or before, I imagine). The genesis of this new offense came a few weeks ago during the staff’s annual retreat. Each year the basketball staff gets out of the office just before practice starts to discuss the upcoming season. This year’s retreat focused on trying to figure out what to do with all the new bodies. Answer: They have no idea (this is almost the exact quote from Roy ). But, one thing that came out of the retreat was the realization that there are no proven low post scorers on this team. Sure, Ed Davis could be awesome. And Deon Thompson could come on big-time. Tyler Zeller may be improved too. But none of those guys is Hansbrough. It was the most glaring issue I saw in the two practices – a slew of big guys who can’t finish in traffic. Hansbrough made his living carrying people to the bucket, and then to the foul line. To paraphrase a line from Rick Pitino, Tyler Hansbrough ain’t walking through that door. Somehow, some way, Carolina is going to have to get consistent production from it’s stable of big guys.
Roy and his staff figure the best way to do that is to play to the strength of its post players. Without question, the greatest strength of this group is their ability to handle the basketball. So, when you have good ball-handling post guys what do you do? You let them handle the ball. And that’s exactly what Roy is going to do with the new offense. Instead of trying to slam the ball in to the post to players that aren’t able to finish with defenders draped all over them, he’s going to bring those big guys out away from the basket. In the new offense – which is still driven by Carolina ’s age-old motion offense principles – the post guys will start at the foul line extended. The three perimeter players will be in roughly the same places they have been. The goal is to open up the lane to allow cutters and drivers. This should create fantastic passing opportunities for UNC’s big folks. In particular, the Wears, Zeller and Henson are superb passers. Henson and the Wears are equally as good off the dribble too. Frankly, it was stunning to see the Wears handle the ball like guards. Those are two big dudes, but they can really handle the rock. They aren’t going to blow past any guards or win any Cousy awards, but I doubt there are any big guys in the country who pass and dribble as effectively as they do.
A hidden benefit of the new “open” offense (that’s its name) is the offensive rebounding advantage it should give the Heels. It’s one thing for the defense to check out a guy in limited space near or under the goal. It’s an entirely different thing for a defensive big to have to guard away from the bucket and then turn to box out 15 feet from where the ball will end up. Most big guys will just turn and follow the ball, giving no thought to putting a body on Carolina ’s bigs. For Davis , Henson, and the Wears (especially the Wears) that will be trouble for the opposition.
Another plus for the new offense centers on the ability of UNC’s big guys to knock down the mid-range jumper. Henson, Zeller, and David Wear are extremely good shooters near the foul line. In fact, David Wear could be a huge threat from 3 if he’s left alone. That big boy can really shoot. If he’s open, he’s gonna knock down a slew of 3’s. As you can probably tell, I’m a big fan of this type of offense. Larry Drew should thrive. He won’t have to be depended on to feed the post. Instead, he can concentrate on what he does best – drive and dish. If Drew had to run a set play each time down it would be a long year for all of us. Clearly, Roy has figured that out too.
It’s not a definite (according to Roy ) that the Heels will stick with this new offense. But, my gut is that he likes it enough already to keep it. They worked on it both days in practice and the players very much like being able to operate with increased space through the lane. So what wonderful things will this offense bring? I would get used to seeing lots of face-up jumpers by post guys, lots of drive-and-dish buckets, and (hopefully) lots of follow slams. What you aren’t likely to see too much of is what we’ve been used to during Roy’s tenure in Chapel Hill – traditional post baskets from a traditional post feed, and early three-point shots created by the secondary break.
The elephant in the room, of course, is the whole “can they shoot?” question. The answer to that depends on who’s shooting and where they’re shooting from. Just to eliminate the suspense – this is a poor perimeter shooting squad. There is no way to candy-coat it – they just can’t shoot. The Heels went about 30 minutes of practice time – both days – without making a jump shot of any kind. Ugly is a word that comes to mind. I guess the best way to say it is that this team is, and will continue to be, offensively challenged at times. The one guy who can shoot is a bit of a head-case – Will Graves. But as with Rasheed Wallace, Vince Carter, Rashad McCants, and Danny Green, the Heels have managed to win a lot of games with head-cases. Unfortunately, Graves is no where near the player those guys were. Yet, amazingly, Roy has him in the starting lineup right now. I have to be honest – I don’t get it. Graves looks improved, but not that much improved. But Roy talked at some length about not giving up on players. He said that while most days he feels like “punching Will Graves in the face with his ring”, he isn’t going to give up on him. Roy even went as far as to say he’s trying to give Graves more confidence. Well, I would think making Graves a starter would accomplish that in spades. The reality, though, is that Graves is not a starter. He just doesn’t bring enough to the table. Defensively, he’s a liability. He doesn’t rebound well (and he should given his size and strength), he doesn’t handle the ball well, and he lacks the savvy of most of the other players. The one thing he can do, and do well at times, is shoot the 3. But he’s no Danny or Wayne. He’s a good reserve to have, but a starter? I don’t think so.
Aside from watching the new offense, two other things were fantastic to watch. First, this could be a special team defensively. To be fair, some of the poor shooting I saw was the result of some good defense. Guys are there on every catch, there were very few blow-bys, and most of the rotations were sound. Given the fact that these were practices 7 and 8, it was remarkable that they would be so sound defensively. Sure, there is a ton of teaching going on and they don’t do everything perfectly on every pass or drive. But, they get after it. After what we’ve seen the last three years, it was refreshing to see a team really go hard on defense. Even Roy had to comment on the lack of defense in previous seasons, specifically last year. When asked by a high school coach how you motivate players, Roy used last year’s gang as an example of needing the players to believe in the importance of what you’re teaching in order for the motivation to kick in. According to Roy , he could sense that his guys just didn’t think they needed to play much D last year. No matter how much he talked about it, they just “stunk”…..until the NCAA tournament. Then, the motivation kicked in and defense mattered. Consequently, Carolina obliterated the field. This year I doubt Roy will have to cajole his team in to playing defense. Last year’s team was the most efficient offensive group I’ve seen in more than 30 years of watching Carolina basketball. This year’s team? Not so much. So…I bet Roy has their attention when he preaches defense. Given what I saw this weekend, I know he does.
Second, I was blown away by just how smart the rookies are. All five of them possess well above average basketball IQ. The best example of this is the lack of making the same mistake repeatedly. I’ll reference the ’05-‘06 group again. That year, they all made the same mistake time after time (after time after time….and they was a fairly smart bunch). This year, all Roy had to do was make the correction and keep moving. There is no way to overstate just how valuable this will be to the Heels as the year progresses. I watched the rookies get on the floor as a group and run through six options of the secondary break, and do it flawlessly. To be able to do this during the FIRST week of practice is incredible. To underscore this a bit more, after the first practice of the year Dexter Strickland came up to Roy and asked how he did and what he needed to work on. Roy was caught off guard, “I’m worried about whether he’ll have his pants on the right way, and he’s asking me what he needs to work on”. I promise you, Ty Lawson and Danny Green weren’t thinking about what they needed to work on after their first practices.
With that, here are player break-downs (beginning with the starters):
Larry Drew – He’s improved, that much is clear. But he’s not a good shooter. He’ll make a few 3’s, but he won’t make many. I think his biggest issue right now is his need to show that he’s the man. If he’ll just blend in he’ll be fine. He showed good ability to get in the lane, and he can finish. As I mentioned above, his best asset is his knack for getting in to the lane and finding the right guy at the right time. I was pleased with one thing: He didn’t turn it over much, and never above the key (where it almost always leads to a layup on the other end). Larry’s real value will come with the pressure he can put on the other team’s guards. He still struggles a bit off the ball, but on the ball he can be a menace.
Marcus Ginyard – Marcus is the same old Marcus. This is both good and bad. Defensively, he’s a beast. He’s good off the ball, he’s a terror when he’s guarding you, and he crashes the glass with authority. I’d be shocked if he isn’t the defensive player of the year in the ACC. Offensively he’s got a ways to go, sadly. He really has no jumper. You can tell he’s worked on it, but you can also tell he’s not all that confident in it. He is, however, a much improved ball-handler. Not that he was ever bad, but he is much more comfortable with the ball in his hands than he ever has been. Technically, he’s the third point guard. But I would not be shocked to see him at PG in late game situations.
Will Graves – (Shaking my head). Part of me understands what Roy is doing here. The Heels need a three point threat, they need an experienced perimeter player, and Graves is one of the few Tar Heels that can score with a defender hanging on him. But..but..but….Graves is just not the answer. Henson or Leslie McDonald are much better options. What scares me is that historically Roy doesn’t change his lineup once the season begins. If Graves starts the first game there is a better than 50-50 chance he’ll be there all year. That worries me.
Deon Thompson – Two good practices. Deon has picked it up a great deal on the glass. And that is no small feat given who he’s competing against for every rebound. He’s in fantastic shape, and his hands have improved too. He still has trouble scoring in traffic, but he has no trouble operating one-on-one away from the basket. The new offense suits him.
Tyler Zeller – You’re reading this correctly – Zeller instead of Davis .. I think this one is temporary. Davis is not in great shape right now, and he had two lackluster practices. Zeller was equally unimpressive too. He is bigger and stronger though, which is a big plus for him. And he can shoot (one of the few Heels that can). But Davis is better, and the whole world knows it. From what I could tell, Roy is sending Ed a subtle message.
Ed Davis – So, how do you follow-up a stellar NCAA tournament that culminated in a clutch title performance? By being demoted. Again, this is going to be temporary. Davis has a better face-up game now, and he’s just as imposing as a shot-blocker as he was last year. By all accounts, Ed has never been a great practice guy. But when the lights come on he’s a monster. Still, he’ll need to pick it up a bit over the next week or so.
John Henson – Big-time player. I could go through a bunch of “Wow” moments with Henson, but there are two that stand out. On two separate occasions he was matched up with a true guard and had to defend them on the perimeter (Ginyard and Graves ). Each time, Henson stripped them both. Stunning, very stunning. Henson is a playmaker, pure and simple. He’ll block a shot, make a steal, attack the glass, or make a fantastic hi-lo feed to create and easy basket. His skill set is wide. If he doesn’t start over Will Graves I’ll be disappointed. Based on what I saw, he’s already earned it. If he does, no one will be able to handle him – he’s a 6’9 guy with the reach of a 7’1 guy, and the skills of a 6’3 guy. Big-time player indeed.
Dexter Strickland – Dex was moving slow. And that’s to be expected. He’s the back-up point guard and he’s trying to learn a lot. Still, he’s a big-time player too. The thing with Strickland – and I noticed this last year when I saw him play in high school – is that he just doesn’t screw up. He doesn’t turn it over, he doesn’t take bad shots, and he doesn’t get beat on defense. And athletically he’s in the near-freak range. His speed, quickness, and “want to” make him a superior defender even as a freshman. His shot can be good, but I’m not sure he’ll be ready to fire until he can get a little more comfortable mentally. Given how smart he is, though, my money says he gets comfortable pretty quick.
Leslie McDonald – Along with the Wears, McDonald was the nicest surprise. Leslie is Marcus Ginyard with solid offensive skills. He can shoot it decently, he can slash with effectiveness, and does a nice job of finishing in traffic. Defensively he can play too. He’s built like Jackie Manuel, and at times I thought Jackie was running around out on the floor. He’s going to get minutes at the 2 and 3. I like this guy a lot.
David and Travis Wear – I debated on whether to separate these guys in this section. No need – they play almost exactly alike. Which is to say, they’re both really good. I can’t get over how skilled they are with the ball in their hands. At 6’9, you’d think they would not be comfortable on the perimeter. Not so. They are going create a bunch of matchup problems for just about every team UNC plays. David is the better shooter, Travis is the better defender. Both of them are willing to bang. If a team wants to press the Heels, there is no doubt these guys will be in the game.
Justin Watts – Justin has really improved. He has a decent shot and he’s not afraid to stick his nose in on defense and on the glass. For a 12th man, Watts is fantastic.
Normally I wouldn’t mention the walk-ons too much. But I have to say, this year’s group is exceptional. Marc Campbell is now a senior and he’s not bad. He has good quickness and knows exactly what to do. The star of this group is a guy they call T.P. (settle down…it’s not that funny). This dude is fast, fast, fast. He had several moments where you had to check his number to make sure it wasn’t Strickland or Drew. If he’s in at the end of some blow-outs he’s going to get some steals and run-outs. With Campbell , Watts , and T.P, the last 2-3 minutes of the run-away wins are going to be fun. Those three guys can flat-out play, and there are two other guys who are pretty good too. I’d say that this is the best group of walk-ons I’ve ever seen at UNC in all my years of going to this clinic.
Time to sum up. This year’s team thinks it can be good. In fact, Roy was all over them during the two days. He wouldn’t be that way if he wasn’t convinced that they could be good too. The Heels must find a way to create offense from defense. The good news is that this shouldn’t be a problem. The perimeter defenders are awfully good. More importantly, with Zeller, Henson, and Davis protecting the basket, the opposition will have a hard time getting easy baskets in the half-court. Some teams may think this is the year to run with the Carolina . That would be a mistake.
Ultimately, UNC is going to see a bunch of zone. Both practices included zone offense segments, which is early for Roy . The Heels don’t need to knock down a bunch of 3’s, but they need one or two a half to go down. Otherwise, the lane will be full of defenders. “Open” will help, but not as much as a timely 3 here and there.
The schedule is not kind to UNC early. There are a ton of tough games right out of the gate. If the Heels can survive and get to January, they’ll be very difficult to beat. As long as Larry Drew is not exposed, and assuming they figure out how to make a jump shot, it’s not far-fetched to believe the Tar Heels could wind up in Indy. Again, the post players will carry this team. If that group will rebound and defend, things will be fine. Best case, 27-4 in the regular season. Worst case, 23-8. Somewhere in between is likely. If you really want to be an optimist, if the Heels manage to make four or five 3’s a game (they averaged just under 7 a game last year, Kenny I had this one wrong), they’ll lose very rarely.
Settle in quick. The season starts two weeks from Monday. Hallelujah.
Yeah, like I said a lot of information. First thought is why is Graves starting over Henson? When I come across situations where I think Roy does not know what he is doing, I remind myself that the guy has won nearly 600 games and has two championship rings. I have won ZERO games and ZERO championships. I really would like Henson to start, but what I like and what Roy likes are obviously different things and I know Williams has his reason for doing so. One fact to keep in mind is that this was early on in the practice schedule, so maybe Williams wanted experience (be it little). Another thought is that Graves would do better over starting rather than coming off the bench. I feel this is just an excuse for players. I know Rashad McCants used it before when playing for North Carolina, but that's my opinion. Even one more thought is the fact that Graves could theoretically stretch the defense farther out and open up more space for the bigs down low, but with the new offense that seems to be in place, I'm not sure if that matters as much.
Secondly, the offense may struggle finding shooters, but isn't one of the traits of a Roy Williams-coached team is the fast break? Plus, if the defense is better, they should be able to force more turnovers, thus leading to easy buckets, right?
Thirdly, if the rookies have as smart of an IQ as the writer stated they did, then hopefully the learning curve throughout the season will be slimmer. I am especially impressed with the Wear twins because I didn't think they would see a lot of minutes - not to say that they are going to get 15 minutes per game, but I really didn't think they would see the floor much at all, and figured one of them could possibly red-shirt because of the plethera of bigs, but it seems they can contribute, so please, let the contributions come forth.
Fourthly, hallelujiah, the season starts Monday and we will see what happens.
A work in progress.
Those are the words from Roy Williams himself. After spending two practices watching the Tar Heels, I would agree. Let’s just say that it’s a good thing the Final Four isn’t any time soon. This team has a chance to be very, very good. Up front, they’re huge. And they all run. And they all handle the ball extremely well. And…….you get the picture. I’ll elaborate more on the personnel in a bit, but the strength of this year’s team will be the 6 guys in the front court. If those six play well, UNC could have a terrific year.
Going in to this season, there are some assumptions I think we’re all making. First, shooting the ball will be a problem. Second, it’s unclear how effective Larry Drew will be as the starting point guard. Third, while Deon Thompson has shown nice promise as a low post threat, the Tar Heels will have to develop a true replacement for Tyler Hansbrough on offense. Fourth, despite their youth the Heels look to be a good defensive team.
Before going in to specifics, here a few overall observations. Marcus Ginyard looks good. Defensively, he’s everywhere. He’s tone, he’s lost a little weight, and he can really guard the ball. The five rookies are all no-nonsense guys. They all take basketball seriously and it shows. Roy Williams is catering to Will Graves (I’ll elaborate in a bit). Larry Drew has the tools to be a top-flight point guard, but his experience level is so low that his maturation may take a while (like, the whole season).
So, after a sort of pessimistic start to this email let’s talk about some things UNC will be good at this year. Rebounding should be a major plus for the Heels. The Big 6 and Ginyard will be a formidable board group (these six consist of Deon Thompson, Ed Davis, Tyler Zeller, and freshmen John Henson, David Wear, and Travis Wear). More importantly, the Tar Heel coaching staff is emphasizing crashing the glass. During the sessions of the clinic on Saturday, both Roy and C.B. McGrath talked about how critical rebounding will be to UNC’s success. The other clear advantage Carolina will have over virtually every team it plays this year may come as a surprise. The Heels should be the best ball-handling team on the floor every night. Typically a young team will kick the ball all over the gym for a while. In 2005, I was almost depressed leaving the clinic weekend after watching Bobby Frasor, Danny Green, Hansbrough, and Ginyard throw the ball in to the third row for two days. Thankfully I didn’t have to suffer through the same thing this year.
Ok, let’s dive in to some specifics. The best place to start is with the new offense that Roy is installing. Let me say that again. The University of North Carolina Men ’s basketball team is going to use an offense it has never used in my lifetime (or before, I imagine). The genesis of this new offense came a few weeks ago during the staff’s annual retreat. Each year the basketball staff gets out of the office just before practice starts to discuss the upcoming season. This year’s retreat focused on trying to figure out what to do with all the new bodies. Answer: They have no idea (this is almost the exact quote from Roy ). But, one thing that came out of the retreat was the realization that there are no proven low post scorers on this team. Sure, Ed Davis could be awesome. And Deon Thompson could come on big-time. Tyler Zeller may be improved too. But none of those guys is Hansbrough. It was the most glaring issue I saw in the two practices – a slew of big guys who can’t finish in traffic. Hansbrough made his living carrying people to the bucket, and then to the foul line. To paraphrase a line from Rick Pitino, Tyler Hansbrough ain’t walking through that door. Somehow, some way, Carolina is going to have to get consistent production from it’s stable of big guys.
Roy and his staff figure the best way to do that is to play to the strength of its post players. Without question, the greatest strength of this group is their ability to handle the basketball. So, when you have good ball-handling post guys what do you do? You let them handle the ball. And that’s exactly what Roy is going to do with the new offense. Instead of trying to slam the ball in to the post to players that aren’t able to finish with defenders draped all over them, he’s going to bring those big guys out away from the basket. In the new offense – which is still driven by Carolina ’s age-old motion offense principles – the post guys will start at the foul line extended. The three perimeter players will be in roughly the same places they have been. The goal is to open up the lane to allow cutters and drivers. This should create fantastic passing opportunities for UNC’s big folks. In particular, the Wears, Zeller and Henson are superb passers. Henson and the Wears are equally as good off the dribble too. Frankly, it was stunning to see the Wears handle the ball like guards. Those are two big dudes, but they can really handle the rock. They aren’t going to blow past any guards or win any Cousy awards, but I doubt there are any big guys in the country who pass and dribble as effectively as they do.
A hidden benefit of the new “open” offense (that’s its name) is the offensive rebounding advantage it should give the Heels. It’s one thing for the defense to check out a guy in limited space near or under the goal. It’s an entirely different thing for a defensive big to have to guard away from the bucket and then turn to box out 15 feet from where the ball will end up. Most big guys will just turn and follow the ball, giving no thought to putting a body on Carolina ’s bigs. For Davis , Henson, and the Wears (especially the Wears) that will be trouble for the opposition.
Another plus for the new offense centers on the ability of UNC’s big guys to knock down the mid-range jumper. Henson, Zeller, and David Wear are extremely good shooters near the foul line. In fact, David Wear could be a huge threat from 3 if he’s left alone. That big boy can really shoot. If he’s open, he’s gonna knock down a slew of 3’s. As you can probably tell, I’m a big fan of this type of offense. Larry Drew should thrive. He won’t have to be depended on to feed the post. Instead, he can concentrate on what he does best – drive and dish. If Drew had to run a set play each time down it would be a long year for all of us. Clearly, Roy has figured that out too.
It’s not a definite (according to Roy ) that the Heels will stick with this new offense. But, my gut is that he likes it enough already to keep it. They worked on it both days in practice and the players very much like being able to operate with increased space through the lane. So what wonderful things will this offense bring? I would get used to seeing lots of face-up jumpers by post guys, lots of drive-and-dish buckets, and (hopefully) lots of follow slams. What you aren’t likely to see too much of is what we’ve been used to during Roy’s tenure in Chapel Hill – traditional post baskets from a traditional post feed, and early three-point shots created by the secondary break.
The elephant in the room, of course, is the whole “can they shoot?” question. The answer to that depends on who’s shooting and where they’re shooting from. Just to eliminate the suspense – this is a poor perimeter shooting squad. There is no way to candy-coat it – they just can’t shoot. The Heels went about 30 minutes of practice time – both days – without making a jump shot of any kind. Ugly is a word that comes to mind. I guess the best way to say it is that this team is, and will continue to be, offensively challenged at times. The one guy who can shoot is a bit of a head-case – Will Graves. But as with Rasheed Wallace, Vince Carter, Rashad McCants, and Danny Green, the Heels have managed to win a lot of games with head-cases. Unfortunately, Graves is no where near the player those guys were. Yet, amazingly, Roy has him in the starting lineup right now. I have to be honest – I don’t get it. Graves looks improved, but not that much improved. But Roy talked at some length about not giving up on players. He said that while most days he feels like “punching Will Graves in the face with his ring”, he isn’t going to give up on him. Roy even went as far as to say he’s trying to give Graves more confidence. Well, I would think making Graves a starter would accomplish that in spades. The reality, though, is that Graves is not a starter. He just doesn’t bring enough to the table. Defensively, he’s a liability. He doesn’t rebound well (and he should given his size and strength), he doesn’t handle the ball well, and he lacks the savvy of most of the other players. The one thing he can do, and do well at times, is shoot the 3. But he’s no Danny or Wayne. He’s a good reserve to have, but a starter? I don’t think so.
Aside from watching the new offense, two other things were fantastic to watch. First, this could be a special team defensively. To be fair, some of the poor shooting I saw was the result of some good defense. Guys are there on every catch, there were very few blow-bys, and most of the rotations were sound. Given the fact that these were practices 7 and 8, it was remarkable that they would be so sound defensively. Sure, there is a ton of teaching going on and they don’t do everything perfectly on every pass or drive. But, they get after it. After what we’ve seen the last three years, it was refreshing to see a team really go hard on defense. Even Roy had to comment on the lack of defense in previous seasons, specifically last year. When asked by a high school coach how you motivate players, Roy used last year’s gang as an example of needing the players to believe in the importance of what you’re teaching in order for the motivation to kick in. According to Roy , he could sense that his guys just didn’t think they needed to play much D last year. No matter how much he talked about it, they just “stunk”…..until the NCAA tournament. Then, the motivation kicked in and defense mattered. Consequently, Carolina obliterated the field. This year I doubt Roy will have to cajole his team in to playing defense. Last year’s team was the most efficient offensive group I’ve seen in more than 30 years of watching Carolina basketball. This year’s team? Not so much. So…I bet Roy has their attention when he preaches defense. Given what I saw this weekend, I know he does.
Second, I was blown away by just how smart the rookies are. All five of them possess well above average basketball IQ. The best example of this is the lack of making the same mistake repeatedly. I’ll reference the ’05-‘06 group again. That year, they all made the same mistake time after time (after time after time….and they was a fairly smart bunch). This year, all Roy had to do was make the correction and keep moving. There is no way to overstate just how valuable this will be to the Heels as the year progresses. I watched the rookies get on the floor as a group and run through six options of the secondary break, and do it flawlessly. To be able to do this during the FIRST week of practice is incredible. To underscore this a bit more, after the first practice of the year Dexter Strickland came up to Roy and asked how he did and what he needed to work on. Roy was caught off guard, “I’m worried about whether he’ll have his pants on the right way, and he’s asking me what he needs to work on”. I promise you, Ty Lawson and Danny Green weren’t thinking about what they needed to work on after their first practices.
With that, here are player break-downs (beginning with the starters):
Larry Drew – He’s improved, that much is clear. But he’s not a good shooter. He’ll make a few 3’s, but he won’t make many. I think his biggest issue right now is his need to show that he’s the man. If he’ll just blend in he’ll be fine. He showed good ability to get in the lane, and he can finish. As I mentioned above, his best asset is his knack for getting in to the lane and finding the right guy at the right time. I was pleased with one thing: He didn’t turn it over much, and never above the key (where it almost always leads to a layup on the other end). Larry’s real value will come with the pressure he can put on the other team’s guards. He still struggles a bit off the ball, but on the ball he can be a menace.
Marcus Ginyard – Marcus is the same old Marcus. This is both good and bad. Defensively, he’s a beast. He’s good off the ball, he’s a terror when he’s guarding you, and he crashes the glass with authority. I’d be shocked if he isn’t the defensive player of the year in the ACC. Offensively he’s got a ways to go, sadly. He really has no jumper. You can tell he’s worked on it, but you can also tell he’s not all that confident in it. He is, however, a much improved ball-handler. Not that he was ever bad, but he is much more comfortable with the ball in his hands than he ever has been. Technically, he’s the third point guard. But I would not be shocked to see him at PG in late game situations.
Will Graves – (Shaking my head). Part of me understands what Roy is doing here. The Heels need a three point threat, they need an experienced perimeter player, and Graves is one of the few Tar Heels that can score with a defender hanging on him. But..but..but….Graves is just not the answer. Henson or Leslie McDonald are much better options. What scares me is that historically Roy doesn’t change his lineup once the season begins. If Graves starts the first game there is a better than 50-50 chance he’ll be there all year. That worries me.
Deon Thompson – Two good practices. Deon has picked it up a great deal on the glass. And that is no small feat given who he’s competing against for every rebound. He’s in fantastic shape, and his hands have improved too. He still has trouble scoring in traffic, but he has no trouble operating one-on-one away from the basket. The new offense suits him.
Tyler Zeller – You’re reading this correctly – Zeller instead of Davis .. I think this one is temporary. Davis is not in great shape right now, and he had two lackluster practices. Zeller was equally unimpressive too. He is bigger and stronger though, which is a big plus for him. And he can shoot (one of the few Heels that can). But Davis is better, and the whole world knows it. From what I could tell, Roy is sending Ed a subtle message.
Ed Davis – So, how do you follow-up a stellar NCAA tournament that culminated in a clutch title performance? By being demoted. Again, this is going to be temporary. Davis has a better face-up game now, and he’s just as imposing as a shot-blocker as he was last year. By all accounts, Ed has never been a great practice guy. But when the lights come on he’s a monster. Still, he’ll need to pick it up a bit over the next week or so.
John Henson – Big-time player. I could go through a bunch of “Wow” moments with Henson, but there are two that stand out. On two separate occasions he was matched up with a true guard and had to defend them on the perimeter (Ginyard and Graves ). Each time, Henson stripped them both. Stunning, very stunning. Henson is a playmaker, pure and simple. He’ll block a shot, make a steal, attack the glass, or make a fantastic hi-lo feed to create and easy basket. His skill set is wide. If he doesn’t start over Will Graves I’ll be disappointed. Based on what I saw, he’s already earned it. If he does, no one will be able to handle him – he’s a 6’9 guy with the reach of a 7’1 guy, and the skills of a 6’3 guy. Big-time player indeed.
Dexter Strickland – Dex was moving slow. And that’s to be expected. He’s the back-up point guard and he’s trying to learn a lot. Still, he’s a big-time player too. The thing with Strickland – and I noticed this last year when I saw him play in high school – is that he just doesn’t screw up. He doesn’t turn it over, he doesn’t take bad shots, and he doesn’t get beat on defense. And athletically he’s in the near-freak range. His speed, quickness, and “want to” make him a superior defender even as a freshman. His shot can be good, but I’m not sure he’ll be ready to fire until he can get a little more comfortable mentally. Given how smart he is, though, my money says he gets comfortable pretty quick.
Leslie McDonald – Along with the Wears, McDonald was the nicest surprise. Leslie is Marcus Ginyard with solid offensive skills. He can shoot it decently, he can slash with effectiveness, and does a nice job of finishing in traffic. Defensively he can play too. He’s built like Jackie Manuel, and at times I thought Jackie was running around out on the floor. He’s going to get minutes at the 2 and 3. I like this guy a lot.
David and Travis Wear – I debated on whether to separate these guys in this section. No need – they play almost exactly alike. Which is to say, they’re both really good. I can’t get over how skilled they are with the ball in their hands. At 6’9, you’d think they would not be comfortable on the perimeter. Not so. They are going create a bunch of matchup problems for just about every team UNC plays. David is the better shooter, Travis is the better defender. Both of them are willing to bang. If a team wants to press the Heels, there is no doubt these guys will be in the game.
Justin Watts – Justin has really improved. He has a decent shot and he’s not afraid to stick his nose in on defense and on the glass. For a 12th man, Watts is fantastic.
Normally I wouldn’t mention the walk-ons too much. But I have to say, this year’s group is exceptional. Marc Campbell is now a senior and he’s not bad. He has good quickness and knows exactly what to do. The star of this group is a guy they call T.P. (settle down…it’s not that funny). This dude is fast, fast, fast. He had several moments where you had to check his number to make sure it wasn’t Strickland or Drew. If he’s in at the end of some blow-outs he’s going to get some steals and run-outs. With Campbell , Watts , and T.P, the last 2-3 minutes of the run-away wins are going to be fun. Those three guys can flat-out play, and there are two other guys who are pretty good too. I’d say that this is the best group of walk-ons I’ve ever seen at UNC in all my years of going to this clinic.
Time to sum up. This year’s team thinks it can be good. In fact, Roy was all over them during the two days. He wouldn’t be that way if he wasn’t convinced that they could be good too. The Heels must find a way to create offense from defense. The good news is that this shouldn’t be a problem. The perimeter defenders are awfully good. More importantly, with Zeller, Henson, and Davis protecting the basket, the opposition will have a hard time getting easy baskets in the half-court. Some teams may think this is the year to run with the Carolina . That would be a mistake.
Ultimately, UNC is going to see a bunch of zone. Both practices included zone offense segments, which is early for Roy . The Heels don’t need to knock down a bunch of 3’s, but they need one or two a half to go down. Otherwise, the lane will be full of defenders. “Open” will help, but not as much as a timely 3 here and there.
The schedule is not kind to UNC early. There are a ton of tough games right out of the gate. If the Heels can survive and get to January, they’ll be very difficult to beat. As long as Larry Drew is not exposed, and assuming they figure out how to make a jump shot, it’s not far-fetched to believe the Tar Heels could wind up in Indy. Again, the post players will carry this team. If that group will rebound and defend, things will be fine. Best case, 27-4 in the regular season. Worst case, 23-8. Somewhere in between is likely. If you really want to be an optimist, if the Heels manage to make four or five 3’s a game (they averaged just under 7 a game last year, Kenny I had this one wrong), they’ll lose very rarely.
Settle in quick. The season starts two weeks from Monday. Hallelujah.
Yeah, like I said a lot of information. First thought is why is Graves starting over Henson? When I come across situations where I think Roy does not know what he is doing, I remind myself that the guy has won nearly 600 games and has two championship rings. I have won ZERO games and ZERO championships. I really would like Henson to start, but what I like and what Roy likes are obviously different things and I know Williams has his reason for doing so. One fact to keep in mind is that this was early on in the practice schedule, so maybe Williams wanted experience (be it little). Another thought is that Graves would do better over starting rather than coming off the bench. I feel this is just an excuse for players. I know Rashad McCants used it before when playing for North Carolina, but that's my opinion. Even one more thought is the fact that Graves could theoretically stretch the defense farther out and open up more space for the bigs down low, but with the new offense that seems to be in place, I'm not sure if that matters as much.
Secondly, the offense may struggle finding shooters, but isn't one of the traits of a Roy Williams-coached team is the fast break? Plus, if the defense is better, they should be able to force more turnovers, thus leading to easy buckets, right?
Thirdly, if the rookies have as smart of an IQ as the writer stated they did, then hopefully the learning curve throughout the season will be slimmer. I am especially impressed with the Wear twins because I didn't think they would see a lot of minutes - not to say that they are going to get 15 minutes per game, but I really didn't think they would see the floor much at all, and figured one of them could possibly red-shirt because of the plethera of bigs, but it seems they can contribute, so please, let the contributions come forth.
Fourthly, hallelujiah, the season starts Monday and we will see what happens.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The Information Age
Technology can be a curse for some, but for this Tar Heel fan, it's pretty sweet right now. Facebook, one of the major social networking sights is very popular and especially popular with college students, at least in my experience. It turns out that even Tar Heels use Facebook and some of them, quite a bit. I am "friends" with some of the North Carolina players and I use the term friend loosely, because there is no way that some of these players would be friends with me. Some of my Tar Heel friends include: Surry Wood, JB Tanner Dewey Burke, Quentin Thomas, Tyler Zeller, Marc Campbell, John Henson, Dexter Strickland, and Leslie McDonald. I used to be friends with Danny Green, but he has since figured he was better off without me as his friend. Wes Miller was also one of my buddies, but has since deleted his account. I've sent messages to Marcus Ginyard commending him for his leadership, but he still has not accepted my friend request. Tyler Hansbrough, Deon Thompson, and Alex Stepheson also must not realize who I am, but Cam Sexton has (Carolina QB - gotta give the football team a shoutout once in awhile).
Anyway, I share all this information because this year's current freshman, Henson, Strickland, and McDonald all update their Facebook status quite a bit. Some of it is pretty random, saying their going to movies or their in class, but sometimes they say they are working out and then they curse Jonas for working them too hard in the weight room. But here is Dexter Strickland's last update:
"Leadership is the ability to persuade others to do what you want them to do because they want to do it...i hope to lead my team to another championship this year as a freshmen...sounds hard but its possible!....UNC i love u!..."
That sounds pretty encouraging to me, coming from a freshman, but one could argue that he hasn't even played a game, which he hasn't yet. But I don't think you can argue that the desire isn't there.
Another social network that is quite popular is Twitter. I joined Twitter maybe 2 months ago and don't spend a lot of time there, but you can follow people and don't really have to worry about them rejected you as their friend. There are a lot of current and former Tar Heels on Twitter. I think Rashad McCants lives on Twitter; Sean May also updates a lot about his workouts in the Smith Center. Marcus Ginyard updates when there is pickup games in the Smith Center, when he is in the ice tub, and when he's getting shots in. Ed Davis and John Henson are also on Twitter, but do not update as frequently. Will Graves and Mike Copeland are also common Twitters and even Roy Williams and Tyler Hansbrough are on Twitter.
Technology has some cons, I would be the first to tell you that, but I think this is pretty cool because it brings me closer to the players and to Tar Heel Basketball.
Anyway, I share all this information because this year's current freshman, Henson, Strickland, and McDonald all update their Facebook status quite a bit. Some of it is pretty random, saying their going to movies or their in class, but sometimes they say they are working out and then they curse Jonas for working them too hard in the weight room. But here is Dexter Strickland's last update:
"Leadership is the ability to persuade others to do what you want them to do because they want to do it...i hope to lead my team to another championship this year as a freshmen...sounds hard but its possible!....UNC i love u!..."
That sounds pretty encouraging to me, coming from a freshman, but one could argue that he hasn't even played a game, which he hasn't yet. But I don't think you can argue that the desire isn't there.
Another social network that is quite popular is Twitter. I joined Twitter maybe 2 months ago and don't spend a lot of time there, but you can follow people and don't really have to worry about them rejected you as their friend. There are a lot of current and former Tar Heels on Twitter. I think Rashad McCants lives on Twitter; Sean May also updates a lot about his workouts in the Smith Center. Marcus Ginyard updates when there is pickup games in the Smith Center, when he is in the ice tub, and when he's getting shots in. Ed Davis and John Henson are also on Twitter, but do not update as frequently. Will Graves and Mike Copeland are also common Twitters and even Roy Williams and Tyler Hansbrough are on Twitter.
Technology has some cons, I would be the first to tell you that, but I think this is pretty cool because it brings me closer to the players and to Tar Heel Basketball.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Top 5 Most Important Players
So I have thought and thought and thought about this and I really still don't know. I know my top two are set in stone and there is no way I'm going to change it. Probably my top three are not going to change. So here it is.
5. Leslie McDonald/Dexter Strickland. Yes, I put two players here because one of them will be starting at shooting guard, most likely, and both of them will be given some ball handling responsibilities because Larry Drew cannot play 40 minutes. Also both of these players are important because they will be needed to fill in the void from behind the arc, left by the draftees and graduates. It's very important they these two guards can handle the ball well enough to not have Larry Drew playing 37 minutes a game, mainly because I don't think Drew could handle that many minutes over the course of the season, and shoot the ball well. If these two could hit at 33% or around there, that would be awesome. I thought about throwing Will Graves in here at #5, because he's such a wild card, but I'm thinking that Graves could be the Danny Green spark plug off the bench this upcoming year.
4. Ed Davis. So I put who the scouts have as the best player on the Tar Heels roster at #4. Yes, yes I did. Because I think there are three other players who are more important that Davis, maybe not necessarily better than Davis. But Davis will be important. I think his defensive presence is going to be more important than his offensive presence, but I will take both. His ability to block and alter shots is something that North Carolina has lacked the last few years and he can turn them around. His rebounding is automatic-Sam Perkins style. If Davis goes out and gets 12 and 9, with 2 blocks, I'd be happy, but I think he'll do better than that.
I will reveal the other three over the next few days.
5. Leslie McDonald/Dexter Strickland. Yes, I put two players here because one of them will be starting at shooting guard, most likely, and both of them will be given some ball handling responsibilities because Larry Drew cannot play 40 minutes. Also both of these players are important because they will be needed to fill in the void from behind the arc, left by the draftees and graduates. It's very important they these two guards can handle the ball well enough to not have Larry Drew playing 37 minutes a game, mainly because I don't think Drew could handle that many minutes over the course of the season, and shoot the ball well. If these two could hit at 33% or around there, that would be awesome. I thought about throwing Will Graves in here at #5, because he's such a wild card, but I'm thinking that Graves could be the Danny Green spark plug off the bench this upcoming year.
4. Ed Davis. So I put who the scouts have as the best player on the Tar Heels roster at #4. Yes, yes I did. Because I think there are three other players who are more important that Davis, maybe not necessarily better than Davis. But Davis will be important. I think his defensive presence is going to be more important than his offensive presence, but I will take both. His ability to block and alter shots is something that North Carolina has lacked the last few years and he can turn them around. His rebounding is automatic-Sam Perkins style. If Davis goes out and gets 12 and 9, with 2 blocks, I'd be happy, but I think he'll do better than that.
I will reveal the other three over the next few days.
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