North Carolina legend and 2005 Bob Cousy Award winner Raymond Felton shared his thoughts on the state of the UNC basketball roster following the Tar Heels' 87-70 loss at Duke on Saturday. Felton pointed to deficiencies in the team's frontcourt as a reason for UNC's disappointing 13-10 start to the season and also criticized the play of point guard Elliot Cadeau on a recent podcast appearance.
"We need two bigs. We need a point guard, too," Felton said following the Duke game, via Run Your Race. "I like the kid (Cadeau) as a kid. He's a good kid. We need a point guard. He's got a lot to learn, shall I say. A lot of the decisions he makes going to the basket. He plays a lot of bully ball, but he's not a bully. He tries to go to the basket and run people over."
Cadeau scored eight points on 3-of-10 shooting against Duke and committed a team-high eight turnovers. The sophomore point guard leads the ACC with 73 turnovers in 23 games this season (3.2 avg.), eclipsing his turnover total from last season at 67 in 37 games (1.8 avg.). He committed five of UNC's first nine turnovers against Duke.
"Some of the passes he makes in the winning times of the game [are questionable]," Felton said of Cadeau. "Let's go back a game. The bounce pass he made against Pitt when we were up two with two minutes left in the game. We got the ball. We got in position. You don't make that bounce pass to that big when he's running through traffic. That's not Sean May, I'm sorry. Sean May had some of the best hands of any big I ever played with. I could have made that pass to Sean May, and he would've caught it. I knew that as a point guard. He's been playing with these bigs all year. He knows his players. For him to make that pass in crunch time is absurd to me. I'm not saying he's the reason we are losing. We are losing for a lot of reasons. We need to get a lot in the transfer portal."
Felton's co-host, 2017 national champion Theo Pinson, also shared disappointment in how the point guard position is being played at UNC this season. Cadeau is on pace to average the highest turnovers for any Tar Heel since Cole Anthony averaged 3.5 as a freshman in the 2019-20 season.
"The point guard position is very pivotal for us, and it's not being played at a high level," Pinson said. "That's just me calling a spade a spade. It's not being played at a high level. Our margin of error is too thin for us to be making those decisions at the end of games. It's not getting played at a high level."
"We need two bigs. We need a point guard, too," Felton said following the Duke game, via Run Your Race. "I like the kid (Cadeau) as a kid. He's a good kid. We need a point guard. He's got a lot to learn, shall I say. A lot of the decisions he makes going to the basket. He plays a lot of bully ball, but he's not a bully. He tries to go to the basket and run people over."
Cadeau scored eight points on 3-of-10 shooting against Duke and committed a team-high eight turnovers. The sophomore point guard leads the ACC with 73 turnovers in 23 games this season (3.2 avg.), eclipsing his turnover total from last season at 67 in 37 games (1.8 avg.). He committed five of UNC's first nine turnovers against Duke.
"Some of the passes he makes in the winning times of the game [are questionable]," Felton said of Cadeau. "Let's go back a game. The bounce pass he made against Pitt when we were up two with two minutes left in the game. We got the ball. We got in position. You don't make that bounce pass to that big when he's running through traffic. That's not Sean May, I'm sorry. Sean May had some of the best hands of any big I ever played with. I could have made that pass to Sean May, and he would've caught it. I knew that as a point guard. He's been playing with these bigs all year. He knows his players. For him to make that pass in crunch time is absurd to me. I'm not saying he's the reason we are losing. We are losing for a lot of reasons. We need to get a lot in the transfer portal."
Felton's co-host, 2017 national champion Theo Pinson, also shared disappointment in how the point guard position is being played at UNC this season. Cadeau is on pace to average the highest turnovers for any Tar Heel since Cole Anthony averaged 3.5 as a freshman in the 2019-20 season.
"The point guard position is very pivotal for us, and it's not being played at a high level," Pinson said. "That's just me calling a spade a spade. It's not being played at a high level. Our margin of error is too thin for us to be making those decisions at the end of games. It's not getting played at a high level."
