Our returning players, what 1 thing...

[DSouthr]

What one part of their game would you most like to see our returning players develop over this off season and show off strong improvement for next season?

Meeks - more aggressive playing thru physical contact to draw fouls rather than having his shot blocked. I really wanted to add show us a jump shot out to 15' but I did say just one trait so I had top pick what IMO was the more important and him playing more physically just barely inched above the jump shooting, not by much thou.

Joel Berry - Take it to the rack to finish early this season like he did late last season.

Nate - Torn between getting his jumper more reliable and ball handling and attacking on the breaks. I think we need shooting more than anything else so steady up that jumper even more.

Hicks - easy, reduce the fouls...

Kenny Williams - Show us how good that jump shot is.

Theo - show us how good that jump shot can become !

Justin Jackson - Add some weight room strength and a few Lbs and show us more physical play using that added strength.

Luke - add some strength, you can shoot but really struggled to finish inside the paint, need to physically carve out some room because you are not going to out jump anyone but Meeks.

 

[Tom79]

Luke could give 10-15 lbs to Justin....and work all summer with Jonas to get more explosive.
Kennedy has a good jumper already, it is that same explosive effort inside we need from him as well. Work with Jonas all summer.

 

[gary-7]

What one part of their game would you most like to see our returning players develop over this off season and show off strong improvement for next season?

Meeks - more aggressive playing thru physical contact to draw fouls rather than having his shot blocked. I really wanted to add show us a jump shot out to 15' but I did say just one trait so I had top pick what IMO was the more important and him playing more physically just barely inched above the jump shooting, not by much thou.

Joel Berry - Take it to the rack to finish early this season like he did late last season.

Nate - Torn between getting his jumper more reliable and ball handling and attacking on the breaks. I think we need shooting more than anything else so steady up that jumper even more.

Hicks - easy, reduce the fouls...

Kenny Williams - Show us how good that jump shot is.

Theo - show us how good that jump shot can become !

Justin Jackson - Add some weight room strength and a few Lbs and show us more physical play using that added strength.

Luke - add some strength, you can shoot but really struggled to finish inside the paint, need to physically carve out some room because you are not going to out jump anyone but Meeks.

Hicks - learn to play defense with his feet.

 

[Tom79]

He is a good player, very active, natural skill set, but he knows (as do we all) that he must not continue to make the same mistakes, that is silly fouls following the odd missed play. If he cuts those type of plays out, he could be a very special senior for the Heels. I'd love for him to bust out and go all #52 on 'em....

 

[DSouthr]

Yall cheatin, give us 1 trait for each of our returning players! LOL

 

[gary-7]

Yall cheatin, give us 1 trait for each of our returning players! LOL

Arright Dave, if yer gonna be like that....

Kennedy - Stay healthy, big guy. Most Heel fans don't know how much that mid-season injury hurt his game and confidence.

Hicks - Already said it --- learn to play defense with his feet.

Luke - Adjust. Learn to use his strength and body to finish consistently against D1 Bigs

Jackson - Live up to your nickname. Can't be "Walking Buckets" with that shooting percentage. Gimme 40% from 3 and 75% from the line.

Theo - Get better at being Theo. Best way to do that is work on the handle and shooting stroke.

Nate - Finish. Nate made major needed advances last season. The last one is putting the ball in the basket. He finally realized last year he is not explosive enough to challenge at the rim. He must continue to be creative in getting the ball over defenders.

Stilman - Take full advantage (everyone leaves you out --- you gonna take that?). He reminded Roy and his teammates just how good he is while portraying Yogi for the Indiana game. Some early ops to claim minutes may well be there as a Senior. Play like that when you get em.

Kenny - Stroke it. Young fella was as sound a frosh wing defender as I've seen since, well... and did little wrong when he got critical minutes. Now just cash in on that picture-book shooting stroke. Make it rain, young fella.

JB - Take it... as in the reins and the rock. This is his team. When JB is right, it's his court --- everyone else just plays on it. Score more, attack the lane more and the rest will come. Bring back a Cousy, and who knows?... maybe a Natty.

 

[UNC Blue Hup]

Gary just dropped the microphone--to add on...Meeks needs to develop more aggression/own that lane big kid--Theos jumper and mental commitment--Jackson not backing down against contact/higher competition and toughness/strength--JB is awesome, would trade him for anyone--Hicks's footwork/D and court awareness, defensive help side..can't wait to see 7th--Big TBrad and BRob--I think we're a legit team again--preseason 4-7

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Since you guys covered the bases well, I will go intangibles:

JB: leadership (This is MY team!)
JJ: Commitment (I will not be stopped!)
TP: Focus (I'm locked in!)
Meeks: Aggression (Those are MY cookies!)
Hicks: Consistency (I'm going to be IN your grill all night!)
Britt: Toughness (Knocked down twice, got up 3 times!)
KW: Confidence ( I belong out here!)
Maye: Patience (MY time will come; I'll be ready!)
White: Persistence (Don't let the smooth look fool you!)
7th, BRob, TBrad: Potential (I will MAKE you remember my name!)
Rush: Growth (Don't see it? Just wait!)

Go Tar Heels!

 

[Ozheelfan]

Arright Dave, if yer gonna be like that....

Kennedy - Stay healthy, big guy. Most Heel fans don't know how much that mid-season injury hurt his game and confidence.

Hicks - Already said it --- learn to play defense with his feet.

Luke - Adjust. Learn to use his strength and body to finish consistently against D1 Bigs

Jackson - Live up to your nickname. Can't be "Walking Buckets" with that shooting percentage. Gimme 40% from 3 and 75% from the line.

Theo - Get better at being Theo. Best way to do that is work on the handle and shooting stroke.

Nate - Finish. Nate made major needed advances last season. The last one is putting the ball in the basket. He finally realized last year he is not explosive enough to challenge at the rim. He must continue to be creative in getting the ball over defenders.

Stilman - Take full advantage (everyone leaves you out --- you gonna take that?). He reminded Roy and his teammates just how good he is while portraying Yogi for the Indiana game. Some early ops to claim minutes may well be there as a Senior. Play like that when you get em.

Kenny - Stroke it. Young fella was as sound a frosh wing defender as I've seen since, well... and did little wrong when he got critical minutes. Now just cash in on that picture-book shooting stroke. Make it rain, young fella.

JB - Take it... as in the reins and the rock. This is his team. When JB is right, it's his court --- everyone else just plays on it. Score more, attack the lane more and the rest will come. Bring back a Cousy, and who knows?... maybe a Natty.

Nuff said for the players:
Roy - Keep positive, stay healthy and keep doing what you're doing, no matter what the overpaid talking heads say.

 

[DSouthr]

Luke could give 10-15 lbs to Justin....and work all summer with Jonas to get more explosive.
Kennedy has a good jumper already, it is that same explosive effort inside we need from him as well. Work with Jonas all summer.

I agree, I think Meeks does have a decent mid range jumper in the tool bag, problem is he leaves it in the tool bag far to much and pulls out the 4 pump fakes deep in the paint as defenders stay on their feet waiting to block his shot. If you cannot finish strong up and thru contact aggressively from deep in the paint, can someone, can anyone explain to me why time after time that is where we find him? I want to understand it, I really do, but for me this one is up there with why JP started as our 2 guard or PJ not starting for most of his soph season and when he does get the start it is at the 4. These are mysterys that I just have not and do not understand.

 

[DSouthr]

Arright Dave, if yer gonna be like that....

Kennedy - Stay healthy, big guy. Most Heel fans don't know how much that mid-season injury hurt his game and confidence.

Hicks - Already said it --- learn to play defense with his feet.

Luke - Adjust. Learn to use his strength and body to finish consistently against D1 Bigs

Jackson - Live up to your nickname. Can't be "Walking Buckets" with that shooting percentage. Gimme 40% from 3 and 75% from the line.

Theo - Get better at being Theo. Best way to do that is work on the handle and shooting stroke.

Nate - Finish. Nate made major needed advances last season. The last one is putting the ball in the basket. He finally realized last year he is not explosive enough to challenge at the rim. He must continue to be creative in getting the ball over defenders.

Stilman - Take full advantage (everyone leaves you out --- you gonna take that?). He reminded Roy and his teammates just how good he is while portraying Yogi for the Indiana game. Some early ops to claim minutes may well be there as a Senior. Play like that when you get em.

Kenny - Stroke it. Young fella was as sound a frosh wing defender as I've seen since, well... and did little wrong when he got critical minutes. Now just cash in on that picture-book shooting stroke. Make it rain, young fella.

JB - Take it... as in the reins and the rock. This is his team. When JB is right, it's his court --- everyone else just plays on it. Score more, attack the lane more and the rest will come. Bring back a Cousy, and who knows?... maybe a Natty.

gary, I am curious, what do you think the NBA told Justin he needed to work on that would better prepare him for the draft that resulted in him coming back? What I believe they told him and if they did IMO they were spot on is he has to work to get physically stronger to play the wing in the NBA and he needs to be ball stronger (stronger with the ball). And getting physically stronger can mess with your shot so yes of course keep shooting as you get stronger so the change is gradual and does not hurt his shooting rythem. Physical strength is just not a strong point in his game.

Example that you are so familiar with, that break away just before half time in the natty game. Now I agree with ya, he was bumped in the body and was knocked off balance because of it and I agree it should have been a foul but that isn't the point. Had he been physically stronger and ball stronger he would have been able to measure his steps better and take it thru the contact and the foul call would have been much more clear and easier to call. As it was he was trying to get there before the defender rather than not worry if the defender was there or not knowing he could finish up and thru contact, he tried to avoid contact and was not able to maintain balance thru slight body contact. Opps, let me add my IMO cause that is what that is.

 

[gary-7]

gary, I am curious, what do you think the NBA told Justin he needed to work on that would better prepare him for the draft that resulted in him coming back? What I believe they told him and if they did IMO they were spot on is he has to work to get physically stronger to play the wing in the NBA and he needs to be ball stronger (stronger with the ball). And getting physically stronger can mess with your shot so yes of course keep shooting as you get stronger so the change is gradual and does not hurt his shooting rythem. Physical strength is just not a strong point in his game.

Example that you are so familiar with, that break away just before half time in the natty game. Now I agree with ya, he was bumped in the body and was knocked off balance because of it and I agree it should have been a foul but that isn't the point. Had he been physically stronger and ball stronger he would have been able to measure his steps better and take it thru the contact and the foul call would have been much more clear and easier to call. As it was he was trying to get there before the defender rather than not worry if the defender was there or not knowing he could finish up and thru contact, he tried to avoid contact and was not able to maintain balance thru slight body contact. Opps, let me add my IMO cause that is what that is.

That's an interesting question. There's a chance I can find out (I'll try), but my guess is that it comes down to finishing --- obviously the shooting efficiency --- and, as you reference, being able to finish thru contact. His variety of shots and floaters will serve him well but the sad reality of the NBA is he amount of contact that gets allowed inside.

BTW: One last perspective on that foul (and it absolutely was) that folks are missing: If you think back to JJ's repertoire, on that play he went to one of his go-to moves that is actually designed NOT to avoid, but to DRAW contact --- leaning and knifing under the rim from the reverse side guaranteeing the only way a trailer can block his shot is to go through him, i.e. foul him. And that's exactly what happened --- just didn't get called. That move is actually used to tempt an ill-advised shot-block attempt. Lotsa players use that move --- I did. Hell, Kevin Durant used it the other night. Also, contrary to what people write, had he just dunked in all likelihood the defender would have just backed off at the last second unless he lost his cool. At least we'd have the 2 points, but again he was trying to score and maybe perpetrate a 3-point play in the process. It had nothing to do with being ball-strong, it just turned out not to be the best idea, given the officiating crew and all...

 

[DSouthr]

That's an interesting question. There's a chance I can find out (I'll try), but my guess is that it comes down to finishing --- obviously the shooting efficiency --- and, as you reference, being able to finish thru contact. His variety of shots and floaters will serve him well but the sad reality of the NBA is he amount of contact that gets allowed inside.

BTW: One last perspective on that foul (and it absolutely was) that folks are missing: If you think back to JJ's repertoire, on that play he went to one of his go-to moves that is actually designed NOT to avoid, but to DRAW contact --- leaning and knifing under the rim from the reverse side guaranteeing the only way a trailer can block his shot is to go through him, i.e. foul him. And that's exactly what happened --- just didn't get called. That move is actually used to tempt an ill-advised shot-block attempt. Lotsa players use that move --- I did. Hell, Kevin Durant used it the other night. Also, contrary to what people write, had he just dunked in all likelihood the defender would have just backed off at the last second unless he lost his cool. At least we'd have the 2 points, but again he was trying to score and maybe perpetrate a 3-point play in the process. It had nothing to do with being ball-strong, it just turned out not to be the best idea, given the officiating crew and all...

Yeah, all I was saying about that play was if he were physically and ball stronger he would have been more able to finish thru the contact, he could have slowed down and to care that the defender had the angle, so a minor bump would not have thrown him off.

As I have shared, I am not really a NBA fan but I usually do watch some during the play offs and this time I am maybe watching a bit more than I have in the recent past. Wile players play much harder in the playoffs, the big thing I see is there is in addition to a ton of contact allowed, that frankly does not upset me, defenders make it very hard to get a easy shot. At 6'6-7" Justin will not find many easy looks in the NBA, he has to work on his physical strength or get eaten alive. And you can not be weak with the dribble, they will be right in your grill and strip you before you can do anything about it, so you have to be solid ball strong. Guarantee ya that is what they told him he needed to focus in on and that is an area of weakness for him.