RJ Davis is back
- Thread starter imajericho
- Start date
There HAS NOT BEEN ANYTHING FROM CHAPEL HILL indicating he is officially back
It’s not official until it’s official. I’m sure his phone is still ringing. Let’s just hope he doesn’t answer it.
So if he does I wonder what his minute allocation plan from the HC will be at the 1 and/or 2. His next level position is as a pg but he's not been a very good pg (so far) and he will take pg mins. from EC and Seth. Interesting situation HD has in front of him for the back court options next season should RJ return. Gonna be tough keeping everyone happy .. if he returns. jmo
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It will be easy. If EC can shoot at all then RJ will be where he needs to be. If EC can’t shoot then RJ will be where he needs to be.
I think you guys are putting to much weight on EC's outside shooting and to little on his skills as the primary ball handler. RJ is not a pg .. EC is and if RJ becomes a 50/50 pg UNC will suck this coming season and will not get the most of the incoming team and end up with multiple loses to inferior teams like bama. And Seth is not coming back to be a 2 because his future is most likely as a pg and with his athleticism he could be a damn good one .. I'd just as soon see RJ move on .. though it's likely not a widely held view in this forum but it's my opinion.
I don’t put too much on his outside shooting. I put it on all of his shooting. Mark it down, RJ will play some pg this next year and if we lose it won’t be because he’s there. Really odd to not want a proven talent like RJ but like you said it’s your opinion.
Alabamaheel said it so very simple:
“ It will be easy. If EC can shoot at all then RJ will be where he needs to be. If EC can’t shoot then RJ will be where he needs to be!”
Boom!
Agreed. If RJ is going to play 50% PG I’d rather he move on. It will limit the team’s upside for this year and he’s gone after anyway, not to mention negatively impacting other players’ opportunities and development.
Bama, I don't think that is what he is saying, my read is he does not want RJ playing PG for 50% of his minutes, I don't either. I don't consider Cadeau to be our part time PG, I consider him to be our PG period full stop. I watched the RJ running the point for 2 seasons, sharing it every now and then with another non-PG in Caleb and for that I saw 2 disaster regular seasons and a hot streak that happened in large part due to Manek's ability to be a 3rd threat shooting the ball. Constant theme I watched was RJ at the point well here comes another half court called set play.
Finally this past season we had a PG and the regular season result was regular season champs and #1 seed in the NCAAT. And we see our season end when, it wasn't due to the 54points we scored in the first half when Cadeau played more, it was a second half of RJ at the point. RJ is a great player but he was ACC POY last season in my eye due to his NOT having to run the team AND look for his own scoring and looking for his own scoring is exactly what you want RJ to focus on. RJ is a 2 guard in a PGs body, Magic Johnson was a PG in a power forwards body. I don't really like the suggestion that RJ would demand to play even more PG next season else he not return to us, not saying RJ is doing that but the suggestion from fans seem to indicate that. If RJ comes back to UNC for next season, which I assume he will, do you really think he will finally at last show UNC PG chops, will we be consistently running UNC breaks even when Cadeau sits because that was not the case this past season. Last season, I think it was to clear, RJ had the keys and Cadeau to often was along for the ride if he wasn't on the bench, OK maybe for a freshman season but as a soph, Cadeau needs to run this thing and RJ just like EVERY other player needs to play his role and not worry about the role some other player has. Yes, RJ is a role player but then again, every player is a role player, that is a great definition of a team, roles players playing their roles properly and trusting each other to play their roles!
Please stop contributing the first half to EC. You were corrected in the other thread with numbers regarding it, and you keep saying the same thing. We had 17 points total in the first half in 8 minutes with Cadeau at the point out of the 54.
Our points and biggest run in the first half was with EC on the bench. I do agree that EC needs to run the point but I also think everyone overlooks how much RJ did running the team when you have a player that couldn’t shoot. That’s the only reason EC sat so much. Can’t blame anyone but himself. 💯 if he shoot’s it better then he’ll play a lot more. Imo of course.
I just don't see the great need for Cadeau to be a shooter, now you do have to attack differently than you would with a Joel Berry like shooting PG. It is like telling me and folks did tell me, that the only way we could win was to have Leaky pumping up treys? Now yes of course, Cadeau's mentality was a bit to fragile, some of which I frankly did NOT care for. But that kid was our juice, he energized us, RJ at the point slowed us down. We played small ball, 3 guards, and a point forward with a broad shoulders big man cleaning up inside. You don't play small ball to play half court slowed down tempo?
I don't have the box score in front of me, fine, we scored more with Cadeau on the bench in that first half of the bama game. Did our best defensive guard defender play any minutes in that first half, did our best defensive guard play as many second half minutes against a team whose guards were killing us or was that Paxon I saw out there for big minutes and not Seth?
The point I was trying to make was about NEXT season and this feeling that we can not win unless Cadeau becomes a knock down jump shooter I want him to shoot better for sure but I don't want him taking double digit jump shots. But if he doesn't shoot well I want us to adjust our attack to do a better job of clearing out the paint and spreading so he has a lane to drive thru and options off that drive. Have your center clear the lane, leave the paint far enough that the center defender cannot get away with simply turning to harass the driver like Cadeau. Now you have Cadeu's defender playing drop coverage with no help, and Cadeau having 2 or 3 steps down hill? The center defender would have to turn and try to give help and allow our center either a wide open mid range jumper or he cuts down for the drop off from Cadeau.
I agree brother. I don’t think he needs to be a 15 point scorer or even 40% from anything but layups but he has to be able to hold the defense accountable. As the year progressed he had a tougher time near the end because teams played him as a non shooter. It was glaring.
As for the second half I thought it was crazy who got how much time. I agree that Seth and EC both should have been out there. HD plays for matchups and I say roll with your best 5. Sub when we’re getting toasted by their 4man, I get it. But dang it it was hard to watch.
Exactly. Sorry if that wasn't clear and a great follow up D.
There is always a cost, the reward has to be greater than the cost. Am I willing to pay the cost that Seth for example may not be a great jump shooter for the reward that he gives us in every other aspect, yeah, I am. Am I willing to pay the defensive cost of Jalen for the reward of his ability to jump shoot, maybe but he has to take that jumper if I am willing to pay the cost. The cost of Cadeau, especially later season was in fact his inability to drop jump shots but the reward should not be forgotten? There is no way the reward of Cadeau is not worth adjusting what you do against a defense that wants to play off him and dare him to jump shoot, first I am not in to doing what the defense wants me to do, that ends up more often in a loss than a win. It is the defense's job to entice you to do what they want you to do, it is the offense's job to do what they want to do, what they are best at doing.
In the event it may not be clear, I have a good bit of remaining frustration from this past season, going in to the post season, no doubt in my mind we were one of 4 teams that could win it all, no, I am not over than bama game. But it was more than that, I just got the sense that for some reason we did not use all the weapons we had. Example, we went small ball as our primary look where I would have had Ingram as my 3 and started either JWit or Jalen at the 4. I would have rode that Jalen jump shot all season because it was cash money. I am ripping a page out of Roy's book and running even off made baskets. I am not waiting to use Paxon in the most important half of our season, I incorporating him in all season, we played 8 deep, I going a solid 10 deep and daring you to have the legs late game to hang with me. Where is the UNC staple for short corner cuts for the ooops and we had Jwit on the team healthy? Even High could give us some strong motor and some shot blocking, he has a knack for that and you don't worry about his foul count, maybe even Konkwo.
I just feel like we left weapons in the gun cabinet that could/should have been used. You can tell me a bench of Styles/Dunn/Puff/Justin was weak, OK but that was not the case last season. I felt like we gravitated to depending to much on RJ to save us and as we did some of the other guys were less aggressive. Then in THE game RJ is cold and we looked lost, next season and it is next season without bacot?
Correlation doesn't imply causation. But KenPom looked at all bench minutes and efficiency from 2010-2022 and found that better teams played their benches less. More teams with negative efficiency margins play their bench more (X-Axis).
I think Villanova won the 2017 title and their bench usage ranked in the 300s. When Duke played Wisconsin in the final, I remember those were 2 teams that went like 7 deep. The last time UNC was in the Final Four, all four teams ranked in the 300s in bench usage.
I'm generally against extremes either way. But for bench usage, there's more March success from teams that don't play their bench vs the ones that play their bench at a top 50 national clip.
But this also depends on what style of basketball you prefer. I'm assuming you want to run fast, faster, and faster after that. Well then you need more players. If you feel that's the best way to win in March, then great. But that's not how the results have played out in recent tournaments. But again, correlation doesn't imply causation.
I'll disagree with the quality off the UNC bench this past season. I didn't see what you saw there. I saw 3 role players that all had significant limitations that would keep them from playing consistently throughout the season. Wojcik and High were absolute disasters when they did get playing time.
Hey cool, you getting ready for duck season, nice pattern for bird shot! Sorry I don't have a sight in target to share, it is all about fishin around these parts!Correlation doesn't imply causation. But KenPom looked at all bench minutes and efficiency from 2010-2022 and found that better teams played their benches less. More teams with negative efficiency margins play their bench more (X-Axis).
I think Villanova won the 2017 title and their bench usage ranked in the 300s. When Duke played Wisconsin in the final, I remember those were 2 teams that went like 7 deep. The last time UNC was in the Final Four, all four teams ranked in the 300s in bench usage.
I'm generally against extremes either way. But for bench usage, there's more March success from teams that don't play their bench vs the ones that play their bench at a top 50 national clip.
But this also depends on what style of basketball you prefer. I'm assuming you want to run fast, faster, and faster after that. Well then you need more players. If you feel that's the best way to win in March, then great. But that's not how the results have played out in recent tournaments. But again, correlation doesn't imply causation.
I'll disagree with the quality off the UNC bench this past season. I didn't see what you saw there. I saw 3 role players that all had significant limitations that would keep them from playing consistently throughout the season. Wojcik and High were absolute disasters when they did get playing time.
Yeah .. we do live in a perfect world .. more likely a Deja 2 where the HC turns in to a no show come game time and reverts back to bad habits. Hope springs eternal but hope has never done a thing for me. If / when RJ comes back for a 5th yr. he's gonna throw sand in the gears for others wanting for their time to shine cause he's had his and then some. Another reason I don't like the NIL crap. jmo
No ish .. if you have to ask the chances are probably not .. he's still an undersized 2 .. even in the NCAA D1 and not in any way shape or form a natural pg. I aint making any more post about RJ and his pg game. He will likely be a beast in a lot of games this coming season but when he plays pg the clock strikes midnight and superman will turn in to Clark Kent and a less than average joe, and the thoroughbreds around him will turn in to dis-interested plow horses, mules and donkeys standing around the pasture waiting for a sugar cube or lick of salt. We will see together. jmo
The box score from Dean's 1st National Title would certainly fit.Correlation doesn't imply causation. But KenPom looked at all bench minutes and efficiency from 2010-2022 and found that better teams played their benches less. More teams with negative efficiency margins play their bench more (X-Axis).
I think Villanova won the 2017 title and their bench usage ranked in the 300s. When Duke played Wisconsin in the final, I remember those were 2 teams that went like 7 deep. The last time UNC was in the Final Four, all four teams ranked in the 300s in bench usage.
I'm generally against extremes either way. But for bench usage, there's more March success from teams that don't play their bench vs the ones that play their bench at a top 50 national clip.
But this also depends on what style of basketball you prefer. I'm assuming you want to run fast, faster, and faster after that. Well then you need more players. If you feel that's the best way to win in March, then great. But that's not how the results have played out in recent tournaments. But again, correlation doesn't imply causation.
I'll disagree with the quality off the UNC bench this past season. I didn't see what you saw there. I saw 3 role players that all had significant limitations that would keep them from playing consistently throughout the season. Wojcik and High were absolute disasters when they did get playing time.
Minutes/starters
Doherty 39
Worthy 38
Perkins 38
Black 38
Jordan 34
Minutes/bench
Peterson 7
Brust 4
Braddock 2
It's ok. Most 5'11" 250lb ballers aren't relied on in the paint anyway. As for speed...ok. You're right. But you never really know unless you put your name in the hat.
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