Mancek is what, 6'9" and tips the scales around 235lbs and he can't at very least cover the 5 when Bacot needs a rest? Excuse me but that is really hard for me to understand. The role he played at Okey does not have to mean he plays that exact role at UNC and you can bet, our back up for Bacot right now is Mancek.
Look, you have a 4 that stretches the floor he is just going to be outside the paint a lot, stretching the floor, drawing out a big man defender from the paint. Doesn't matter if he has the ball in his hands or not, he is a constant threat for the ball to get to him and he to shoot. If Mancek were 7'4" and was still a stretch guy he would still spend a lot of time outside the paint and drawing away his big man defender who has to respect his outside shooting.
You guys worried about Mancek spending any time at the 5 are stuck between how Roy wanted them to play and how Hubert is wanting them to play. Roy wanted 2 conventional big men in the paint to both alter shots and dominate the boards but that resulted in to much congestion in the paint and created at times mismatches outside with smaller 4s (more like our wings) that were being defended by bigger defenders out in space, advantage smaller guy.
Now I (have said many times) am a fan of the big man game, IMO a great big man wins more college games than a great small man because a big man defended by a small guy that catches the ball deep in the post is not going to be stopped by a small defender. But with so many programs now going to the smaller 4s, guys that were solid shooting wings (3s) before, they are taking advantage that big men do not defend as well out in space. Sharpe for example defended smaller guys much better than most would have expected but most opposing coaches liked their chances of their 6'6" power forward being defended by Sharpe 30" from the basket.
After watching last season, I do think it is pretty clear that we were being torched by good ball movement, especially helping to much on a drive and allowing a wide open spot up shooter to be in great position to splash a 3 on us. We had to have counter to that and the counter I can get behind (as well as what it looks like Hubert is looking to do) is look to draw defending bigs out of the paint with a smaller or at least a more legit out side shooting threat what happen to be guys that have more mobility than the old school power forwards had. If we do that, I do hope that we maintain having a long wing (3) similar to our 4s length but is a respected shooting threat (Puff) rather than go 3 shooting guards (interchangeable 2s and 3s) meaning not as our primary look. I love us switching off between our 3 & 4 positions off those high screens and lose little defender length. Examples, Leaky and Mckoy in together or Puff and Styles. While Leaky struggles to shoot, Mckoy should be a decent shooter, where Puff really is thin, Styles has a really good motor and loves to mix it up physically.
