OK, so there is what I prefer to see happen and what I think will happen, the 2 are different. I want to assume Jackson will be back first. Now I love Theo as a player, I do not love Theo as a 2 guard for this team next season.
I think it is absolutely vital that we get solid jump shooting from our 2 guard position for next season and yeah, gonna say it, more consistent shooting than we got from that position this past season. Marcus was a wonderful kid and a great player for us but we all know, shooting the ball Marcus struggled last season. Fortunately, Brice stepped up and had a great season scoring the ball so it lessened the impact of Marcus shooting struggles but Brice will not be here next season. And while it is possible that one of our returning big men will step up like Brice did that was a ton of production gone now. I believe the best way to make up for that lost scoring is for us to score more consistently from the 2 guard spot.
I don't think we make up for that with just one guy but we may be able to with a combination of guys scoring from the 2 guard spot. With Justin and Theo on the floor together Theo was more of a 4, not so much a 2. For all the things I love about Theo his jump shooting so far is not one of them, jump shooting wise he was Jackie or JP last season and I do not think we can afford to have a lets dare him to shoot guy at the 2 for us this season. Of course if Jackson stays in the draft Theo starts at the wing and case closed but if JJ comes back I don't think we will see and I do not want to see Theo at the 2, not unless a miracle occurs in his jump shooting stroke and all the sudden he cans jump shots at a high 30s % and right now I can not bet on that.
So that for me leaves 4 canidates for the job and I do think all 4 can and most likely will contribute.
1) Nate Britt, Nate really upped his game this past season, most especially as a defender. I felt his scoring dipped a little, his jump shots seemed less accurate later season but his PT dropped with the emergence of Joel. Nate is still a small even for college 2 guard, heck he is a small PG and he isn't getting much bigger. But he is the most experienced guy we have in our back court and seemed to play with more committment last season, I felt his game strongly improved, if he can add to that improvement this coming season then his last could be his best. I believe he will be the day 1 starter at the 2 and could start all or most of the season. he is the what I think will happen guy.
2) Kenny Williams, valid point that he had a minor knee issue recently worked on but we are not talking major surgery here, he will be working hard on his game for the vast majority of this off season, not nearly as troublesome as what Theo had that took away his ability to work on his game last off season.
Kenny came to UNC with the rep as a knock down jump shooter and he was a very good jump shooter but defining him simply as a jump shooter was unfortunate for the kid, he is more of a over all player than just jump shooter. he was put in to a situation where he had to be the jump shooter in the year before coming to college and did well so he went from a guy no one knew to being labeled a jump shooter. In truth the kid is a gym rat and a kid that will do what ever his coach needs him to do in order to help his team win. Lot of kids would have sulked over on the bench with the low PT kenny got last season but not Kenny, he just kept busting his butt in practice and working hard on every aspect that we ask a guard to provide. For that hard work Roy put him in the game several times when the game was tight, everyone expected him to be a ace shooter when he got in and he was not that but he defended his butt off and he played smart.
Make no mistake, the jump shooting we all wanted to see is there, the kid now just needs the PT to show it, the kid does not take bad shots so he really didn't take enough shots for him to warm up or us to see. But word I consistently get is this kid can score, yeah he can jump shoot but this kid can score in a lot of ways not just jump shooting. One of the bigger regrets Roy has was not being able to get this kid more PT but the kid was a freshman behind one of our all time greats and nate really stepped up his defense to the extent he had to get the back up duty time at the 2 so Kenny was odd man out.
IMO, kenny has good size for a college 2, will be a very solid defender at the 2 and has a shooting stroke that has to be good for the high 30s to low 40s for treys. I think kenny is a kid that can give us 12-14 a night consistently in a back up role to the starter and could in the end claim that starting spot. I honestly feel he is a better shooter than Nate and has better size to defend the position than Nate and Nate will have his hands full holding on to his starter role and not watch kenny take it. Should not surprise anyone that I prefer kenny to be our starting 2 guard by now so my saying it is again is not needed but in this I have shared why.
3) Brandan Robinson, BRob, this kid is gonna surprise everyone, I recall when his recruitment was hot and he ended up comitting to Roy, it almost seemed like folks were, well OK, I would rather we got Rawlie or Furgerson, it seemed almost like a downer in that we settled for this kid and not someone the experts raved more about. All Brob did was go out and shoot the ball his last season in high school in the mid 50% range for treys! And that % from trey was not a small sample size, it was a large sample size and he did that as his team primary scoring threat and jump shooting was not all he did. This is a kid that flirted with a triple double in nearly every game he played last season as a guard! That is impressive no matter what the competiton is like, we have had 2 guards that played full seasons for us that could not hit 50% of their treys in an empty gym. At what, 6'5-6" he is pretty long for a 2, puts the ball on the floor OK for a 2, he isn't a PG. I may like him more as a wing, I think he has some Theo in him as a wing but is a day 1 better jump shooter than Theo is but Theo is by far the better defender and facilitator. If JJ leaves Brob will back up Theo at the wing, if Justin comes back then I see Theo backing Justin up and Brob as 3rd in line at the 3 an d maybe the 2 as well. Make no mistake, Roy will find a way to get this kid some PT and I think folks may be surprised.
4) Seventh Woods, 7th, very emotional player, loves to compete, he IMO does not exactly define a position, he is one of those kids that just goes out and plays, kinda like Theo in that respect in that it is hard to pigeon hole him in to a specific position on the court. I think he is more a 2 than anything else but I as well believe he can play any of he 1-3 positions. he wants to be a PG and Roy will work with him to try to develop that in his game but to me that isn't the best part of his game. I love him using that amazing athletic ability and driving the lane for spectacular finishes, he can be jaw dropping in that aspect.
Kid gets the rep of being a poor jump shooter, he really isn't a Dexter jump shooter, he is much better than that IMO. He is right now a streaky jump shooter because he tends to get to much body movement in his shot. I think some tweeks in his shot motion will steady his shooting up, not nearly a difficult to work on as what Theo has. But even now, when this kid gets hot he can go off and nail 5 or 6 treys in no time. He is so athletic that he can at times struggle with is release point on his jumpers but when he gets it grooved in watch out! You have that with kids that can really elevate, case in point VC when he first got to UNC, really struggled with his release point on his jumpers but when he got that sorted out we got Vinsanity and when Woods gets his sorted out we will have the 7th wonder !
Season 1 I see 7th taking a little time to settle in, he can defend but has to learn our system, he can be a lock down defender when he learns what we do. I think Roy will try to get him some back up at the point time, I think nate will be Joel's primary back up and 7th should get some time at the 2, could even see him at the wing at times. But he IMO has a lot of talent in front of him and lacks experience, same for Brob, they may exchange roles a lot and it could well be who steps up between those 2 that gets more court time this season and for neither it will it be a ton unless someone gets hurt. But I sure don't rule out the possibility that either of those 2 being able to step up even further and yes, either are players that could flat out win the starting 2 job, I am just not ready to bet on that at this point
I look at our back court, not just for next season but for years to come and I get excited, so much amazing young talent and so deep and Jalek has not even got here yet! If we can get our front court to match up with our back court talent and depth wise, it will not be long before we hang another banner and Roy gets another natty ring. Guys, there are ACC teams that would start our 3rd and 4th string 2 guards, that is how deep this back court is!
