To me a healthy Marcus will be the key, if he can get back to the way he played as a sophomore the heels will be a tough team to beat. His senior leadership will also be very important as well.
Paige will be the key to how far the Heels make it.
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Having another threat in the backcourt will determine how far Paige will go.
This year's team successes will be a great example of a team effort. .......good pieces everywhere. ....no unbelievable talents anywhere. .....good and bad. ......you won't be able to key on one player as we will bring it from all five positions, but no some cold, out of this world player either. .....this is my favorite type of team and truly is what a team is supposed to be.
GO HEELS! !!!
Tim
GO HEELS! !!!
Tim
Paige will not have to be a one man team this season at all. Nice to know and Go Heels!
And that, my friend, will be largely dependent on spending the vast majority of his minutes where he can be most effective on this team: at the 2.
I disagree slightly with this. He is only effective at 2 if both our pg and bigs are true threats. If the D can key on him because either of them is off then he can be taken out of the game. At point he dictates the O and the team is way more efficient. And point is better for his future as well. I bet we see Roy go to a true double point O with the first to the ball being the 1. With JB and KW and Britt we will be hard to slow down and Paige should kill the open court this year.
Actually, this past season proved that not to be the case. Our offensive efficiency was much better with Marcus off the ball, in particular when Berry was running the offense. With JB at the 1 and JJ at the 3 no one will dare double Marcus with these two rising stars on the court with him. and thus he won't take the physical pounding he too often absorbed last season. Plus, this trio gives us three deadly 3-point shooters which opens up things for the Bigs to operate without teams doubling down. The "book" on us for most of last season was to gang up (and beat up) on Paige and clog the paint.... ok, please let them try that this season.
As for the other issue, I doubt we'll see Roy go to a true two-guard front anytime soon, BUT yes, you are absolutely right: Having a second legit PG who can shoot playing the 2 works quite well in our system (e.g., Ford/Keuster, Smith/Lebo). It gives you two lights-out ball-handlers, two guys who can stretch the floor, feed the post and create, can switch on and off the ball on the fly, makes you almost impossible to press, and jazzes up the Secondary Break.
Berry/Paige fits that model to a T, plus they are both tenacious and smart enough defenders to mitigate size disadvantages that will sometimes arise. Our Guard back-ups (Britt, White, Williams) can all shoot, and Theo's slashing, athletic style will be a nice change-of-pace backing up Jackson at the 3 and/or occasional minutes at the 2 when we go "big" (I also expect his outside stroke to improve). Theo can also slide to the 4 if Roy wants to go "small".
Put all that perimeter versatility and firepower together with our experienced and deep frontcourt? Well, you get the picture...
Actually, this past season proved that not to be the case. Our offensive efficiency was much better with Marcus off the ball, in particular when Berry was running the offense. With JB at the 1 and JJ at the 3 no one will dare double Marcus with these two rising stars on the court with him. and thus he won't take the physical pounding he too often absorbed last season. Plus, this trio gives us three deadly 3-point shooters which opens up things for the Bigs to operate without teams doubling down. The "book" on us for most of last season was to gang up (and beat up) on Paige and clog the paint.... ok, please let them try that this season.
As for the other issue, I doubt we'll see Roy go to a true two-guard front anytime soon, BUT yes, you are absolutely right: Having a second legit PG who can shoot playing the 2 works quite well in our system (e.g., Ford/Keuster, Smith/Lebo). It gives you two lights-out ball-handlers, two guys who can stretch the floor, feed the post and create, can switch on and off the ball on the fly, makes you almost impossible to press, and jazzes up the Secondary Break.
Berry/Paige fits that model to a T, plus they are both tenacious and smart enough defenders to mitigate size disadvantages that will sometimes arise. Our Guard back-ups (Britt, White, Williams) can all shoot, and Theo's slashing, athletic style will be a nice change-of-pace backing up Jackson at the 3 and/or occasional minutes at the 2 when we go "big" (I also expect his outside stroke to improve). Theo can also slide to the 4 if Roy wants to go "small".
Put all that perimeter versatility and firepower together with our experienced and deep frontcourt? Well, you get the picture...
OK, so I am going to slightly disagree, with the title of this thread. I do because to me I feel comfortable that we have the back court to win as strong as we dream. I am just not yet sold we have the front court to get it done. I feel very strongly that we will go as far as our front court will lead us.
I gots lots-O-questions concerning our front court. Can Meeks develope in to a guy that shows up every game with solid production, so far to me he has been great one day and not so much the next. I need to see him show some go to scoring, as opposed to the several pump fakes, put up a prayer and rebound it. I need to see Brice be a solid factor on the defensive end but do so without getting in to the constant foul trouble that has been a problem. I need to see Issiah be more than a stick back scorer but a scorer that nails the mid range jump shots. I think we are going to have to swing Jackson or Theo down to the 4 at times unless unless maye is surprising productive as a frosh, which I am not banking on at this point. No disrespect to the kid but IMO it is going to take him a couple years to really help us.
I see us as solid at the 4 & 5 spots but not spectacular and by my count we have 3 guys I think we can all feel good about for those positions, I really think you need 4 guys able to play the 4 without a lot of drop off, especially considering how brice and Hicks struggle with foul trouble. The other concern I have about our front court is that we just do not have a rim protector, that guy that strikes fear in anyone looking to score inside the paint. Maybe Joel James is the answer I want to see, he has the size but when ya talking about Joel, I have found it better to under estimate and be happy if he surpasses my expectations. he actually did just that from the first duke game on. But was that his career highlite reel or was that a glimpse to things to come, I don't know for sure thus I am concerned.
I agree everything G7 said (usually we vastly disagree) IF he is right about JB and JJ becoming consistent 3 point threats. I believe that JB will be great at running the show alongside Paige as the other lead guard and he will become a more trustworthy shooter. (I pray for great) If he becomes a real outside threat then our bigs do not need to be as effective in their own right., but I know that the inside out approach is guaranteed to open the perimeter so I think big development is more important than little dev. I also think JJ will have a breakout year and truly scare peeps that have to guard him, but he will need to prove he can score consistently from 3 as well. With both JB and JJ the problem seems to be confidence, not mechanics so it is harder to fix. I saw flashes in both of them. Roy loves to employ two lead guards in his offense so if he has some why would he not play his preferred style? JB and Marcus would be easily interchangeable if Berry develops the kind of consistent outside shot you think he will. I love this team precisely because it can play just about any style of ball, but these racehorses will thrive best at warp speed. You gain a step on the break if the lead guard on the side of the ball becomes point rather than slowing down for a dedicated point to get to the ball.
Hicks, Meeks, B Johnson, and Joel will all be better if they just stay on their learning curves so far. I expect JJames to surprise with his progress and BJ to break out to possible stardom inside if he can stay in it mentally. B Johnson was developing into a pretty good rim protector by the end of last season. If we can play fast, prove we can shoot, and be effective inside there is no stopping us. I am excited to see what Ol' Roy can do with such a well built team. (true genius is never recognized until viewed with hindsight)
Heels are Family!
Hicks, Meeks, B Johnson, and Joel will all be better if they just stay on their learning curves so far. I expect JJames to surprise with his progress and BJ to break out to possible stardom inside if he can stay in it mentally. B Johnson was developing into a pretty good rim protector by the end of last season. If we can play fast, prove we can shoot, and be effective inside there is no stopping us. I am excited to see what Ol' Roy can do with such a well built team. (true genius is never recognized until viewed with hindsight)
Heels are Family!
All legit concerns, Dave.
Brice by all rights should be first-team All-ACC this season. He has NBA game right about now... staying outta foul trouble is the #1 issue there.
Kennedy indeed needs to step up in consistency and expand his post moves beyond the "put up a prayer and rebound it" approach, as you so aptly put it.
I do feel very confident from what I've heard that Hicks will sport an expanded offensive repertoire.
Big Joel? Well, we'll see. He can defend the block but can he stop being a turnover machine on offense? Hope so.
As for the lack of a rim protector, sound team D can more than make up for that.
I will reiterate this: IF we approach perimeter play as I described, the Bigs are gonna find themselves operating in a whole different (and way better) offensive environment from last year. Berry shot near 50% from 3 after coming back (which is consistent with his HS and AAU history), Jackson was over 50% in the post-season (and if you've seen any of his off-season clips, he's stroking it without last year's hesitation), and we know what Marcus can do when he's not being pummeled. Plus all three of them have mid-range games and can take it to the rack on ya. Who in their right mind is gonna drop a defender off any of these guys to help in the post?
And Dave, here's the aspect I didn't mention above... and I know you know this: Think how much better the (absolutely critical) floor spacing is when JB is at Point and Marcus is at the 2... and now we have are two guys on the floor who know how, when and where to feed the post... a big man's dream.
I totally agree with your point about floor spacing, has been a major problem for us for the last 3 seasons, will always be a problem when you have wings and off guards that can not force the defenses to respect their jump shots, defenses dare them to shoot just as they did JP for the last 2 seasons, just as they will Theo until he proves he can hit them, just as I suspect they will dare Joel until he shows it consistently. Joel did show solid jump shooting once his PT ramped up and Britt showed he was a threat as well. And of course as the season progressed Jackson showed the hype he came in with as a solid jump shooter was true or at least more true than the early part of the season indicated.
On thing I am not sure I have seen anyone mention, I noticed it with Joel Berry, his shooting stroke changed during the season. It went from pretty much a set shot to more of a jump shot and he went from almost pushing the ball out to taking a solid stroke with it, my guess is that Hubert had a lot to do with that. Just one of those little things I noticed that to me was important, I do hope that shot is even more consistent this season because I suspect it will be closer guarded, he got a lot of wide open looks, as did Britt. Will those shots drop if they are closer guarded, would sure like to see Joel's release point be more above his head than it was even at the end of last season, we will see.
My thing with Meeks is he tends to get the ball ( a function of where he sets up) a bit to deep in the paint to do much more than try to go straight up, he did not have the explosion in his legs last season to play up and thru contact to finish and get the and 1. Setting up a little further out he has more room to work for his shot and yeah a lesser clogged lane, maybe a lane that our outside shooters do not allow to be clogged by so many zone looks, will help the kid. But I want, I need to see him be able to corral all that bulk & power and play up and thru contact and not as much finess it. I mean geez, most of the time he is the strongest dude on the court, why ya need to finess around a kid that spots you 40lbs?
I am really and I mean REALLY glad to hear Hicks is working with David West, really glad to hear he is showing off confidence in a jump shot in summer play, really glad to hear that stuff but I need to see it with my own peepers before I buy it as fact. Until I do I still have to consider him a rebound and stick back guy. Example, I heard for 2 summers in a row how good a jump shooter Tyler was but I never really saw that in games, saw it every now & then but not in a go to manner. So do we actually see this with hIcks or do we hear about it and during the season & it is back to the same thing we have already seen, I do think it is in him to be at least a really solid mid range jump shooter out to about 10-15 feet. With Hicks IMO it is not so much about talent as it is about confidence. But Issiah has to stay on the court and not pick up so many quick fouls, kid really has a bad habit of reaching, from what I see I think it is more a balance & strength issue more so than a lack of ability to move his feet. Karate IMO would really help this kid with both is balance as well as confidence.
May surprise you but from what I see, our best mid range jump shooting big man is not Brice or Hicks or Meeks, was impressed with the mid range jump shooting I saw from Joel James last season, kid does have a really nice touch when he is confident enough to take it or does not have the time to think about it. If he can bring that with confidence then my frontcourt concerns would really be eased a ton. One thing Joel has to do is realize how big & strong he is, it is like he just does not realize that he is a huge man that opponents would not be able to handle if he brought all that size, strength, and weight in to them. How would you stop this kid from setting up pretty much any place he wants to, it isn't like a 240 lbs guy should be pushing him around. I want to see him play with a mean streak, strikes me as being to nice at times, he got pissed at Ochafor when we played duke, he went out to prove to that big man he was not someone that you need to piss off. I want to see that every game from him, some aggression, a bull in a china shop. If they are gonna call him for a foul make darn sure the opponents know they don't want any more of that big man fouling them !
And Brice, the one things that bugged me to no end last season is his habit of wanting to shoot fade aways and it was worse when he actually hit one cause he would shoot 3 more that clanged off. That kid really needs to use his jump hook that he has from either side, he is deadly with that and the solid squared up mid range jumpers. Kid has the length to play over most defenders, he does not need to fade away so much. BUt as we have both discussed, he doesn't help us when he is on the bench in foul trouble, when he picks up his second foul in the first half he is a totally different player than he is when he goes in to the half with no more than one, he is much better when he has no more than 1 foul at the half. If he still struggles with it this season I would bench him in the first half when he picks up his first foul and save him for the second half.
JJ,Hicks, and James have to improve. Even though JJ's game is kind of awkward he can be a handful to cover with his size. IMHO JJ will become a real threat every game from the outside. Hicks is another guy I see improving this year. He has a game already that already garners attention from other teams, but gets lost a lot. He has to shoot regardless of the result. James well I like him, but I would not expect more than him becoming a more mature player (Understanding his role).
Paige, Kennedy, and Johnson just need to keep doing what they are doing and if the role players improve we will achieve some great things this year.
Paige, Kennedy, and Johnson just need to keep doing what they are doing and if the role players improve we will achieve some great things this year.
