The reasons Hicks cannot start yet

[IDUNK4HEELS]

Other than Berry has anybody on the team improved more than Hicks from last year. The answer is a big NO and his off season of work with a NBA player has paid big dividends for his stock and the team's overall success but with that being said I too would love him to start except for two obvious reasons: It seems like every game he gets into early foul trouble and most importantly who on the bench would come into the game when he and Brice need a break. Maybe Meeks for Hicks but then Maye for Johnson. Not a lot of points there. Normally Hicks comes in with Pinson and Britt to give the team a energy boost without much of a scoring drop off. Just cannot make that move of starting Hicks for those two reasons. Yes it would give more fire power up front to start the game but again where would the points come from once they went to the bench.

 

[Archer2]

There's nothing that says you have to spell them both simultaneously. I agree that all our bigs have trouble defending without fouling and that is a major concern of mine. Don't know that I've seen an entire front line so prone to pick up cheap fouls. A main reason is our lack of communication between our bigs, something Roy has been harping on all season.

 

[HuntingtonHeel]

Honestly, I would also fear that we could lose Kennedy mentally by benching him. Just have to ride this out, we'll be ok. All tournament games are neutral site.

 

[Hark_The_Sound_2010]

We shouldn't have a lineup in which both of Hicks and Brice are on the bench, or one where Paige and Berry are both on the bench. If James or Meeks is in there with Luke, or Britt and pinson are the backcourt, we have very limited scoring ability.

Pinson and Jackson in together isn't great either, but I'd be ok with it if Jackson was playing a stretch 4 role and we had Brice or maybe even Meeks down low to take care of the block.

The problem is we lose leads with funky lineups Roy decides to throw out there. A Berry, Nate, Pinson, Luke, James lineup or something like that.

 

[Archer2]

Kennedy is an enigma to me. JJ/Marcus/Theo have been struggling with their shot but still seem to be giving the effort. Kennedy appears to just mail it in effortwise at times. For someone who rumor has it would like to go pro after this season, that is completely irrational behavior to me. I have to think his pro stock is ebbing more and more. His somewhat limited physical skills would appear to make it imperative that he distinguish himself by effort and his basketball IQ. He just doesn't appear to be giving 100% effort.

TBS, he's a great young man who represents our university well. Love having him on the team. Would love to see more fire in his belly. MP3 has limited skills as well but plays with a passion Kennedy has only displayed sporadically thus far.

Hope springs eternal that he will discover it.

 

[DSouthr]

Kennedy is an enigma to me. JJ/Marcus/Theo have been struggling with their shot but still seem to be giving the effort. Kennedy appears to just mail it in effortwise at times. For someone who rumor has it would like to go pro after this season, that is completely irrational behavior to me. I have to think his pro stock is ebbing more and more. His somewhat limited physical skills would appear to make it imperative that he distinguish himself by effort and his basketball IQ. He just doesn't appear to be giving 100% effort.

TBS, he's a great young man who represents our university well. Love having him on the team. Would love to see more fire in his belly. MP3 has limited skills as well but plays with a passion Kennedy has only displayed sporadically thus far.

Hope springs eternal that he will discover it.

Absolutely Archer, absolutely! No offense to Kennedy, really good young man and he does represent this program well but my comments are about him as a player and not him as a young man. You are absolutely right, he does not have the measurable gifts many that play his position do and to make up for those short comings he has to out work his opponents. Case in point Sullenger, he was a below the rim guy to but he went to war for OSU, imagine him with a block charge circle! Meeks is very skilled, really good basketball IQ, freakish in that as a freshman even if he was really out of shape back then. But while he has slimmed down his effort level has not consistently amped up, you would think it would have actually? That is the mystery for me, how he slimmed down and slowed down, we would have all expected just the opposite. maybe that is a bit harsh but we sure have not seen the improvement in his game that you would have expected to see.

Right now meeks is steady playing his way back to a senior season at UNC, I don't know that he would get a second round pick at this point, I think a first round slot is out of the question for now. Forget about 1st or 2nd round NBA spots, he has a ton of work to do to even be in the discussion of a 3rd team all ACC, a spot I do not think he would come close to if they picked those teams today. Right now I don't see meeks or Jackson any place but back in Chapel Hill next season. Still time to change that but this season is getting long in the tooth for such a turn around to occur.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

Archer his the nail on the head. Kennedy doesn't have the physical ability to make up for his lack of effort on both ends of the floor sometimes. At this point in the season, Kennedy frankly isn't willing to do the things we need him to do on the defensive end in particular, and tends to lose effort when he's not getting the ball consistently on the offensive end. In defense of our guards, Kennedy doesn't get fed the ball when Kennedy isn't active and moving. That's on him. Kennedy also clogs up the lane for Brice Johnson and Isaah Hicks when he's squatting in the lane which is what he usually does.

We may be more explosive with Hicks and Johnson, but sadly Kennedy Meeks doesn't have the emotional/mental capacity to accept a lesser role and be productive for this team which is why we are babysitting him at this point until he gets his head on straight.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

As Hark alluded to, our players are who they are. They are ours so when the basketball rolls out, we have to play with what we have which isn't terrible so don't think I'm saying our talent level is terrible because it's not. What I am saying is that Roy must do a better job with his sub patterns. They have been atrocious lately, absolutely terrible. Due to the strengths and weaknesses of our players, we can't have certain players on the floor at the same time and expect to be effective. Kennedy Meeks and Joel James on the floor at the same time=awful. Justin Jackson and Theo Pinson at the same time=awful. Britt or Paige must be on the floor at all times. Britt with any other mix on the floor that doesn't include Paige or Britt=awful.

the lineup we had on the floor against Notre Dame with Maye, James, and Pinson was brutal. this stuff is on Roy. I get foul trouble will throw a wrench into things but our sub patterns have been pretty consistent for most of the year and they aren't great. We can get away with it against less talented teams but against other good teams, it will bite us every time hence our losses.

 

[jah420]

Meeks could learn a thing or two from Draymond Green about how you out work people to make plays!!

 

[Archer2]

And therein lies the bigger mystery to me with Kennedy. His motor seems to have diminished with his improvement in conditioning, not increased. And I have to agree about him and JJ returning. Unless they get red hot down the stretch and lead us to the title, I can't see a pro team drafting them in the first round. I certainly never thought I'd say that about JJ this year.

In all honesty, I've long thought Kennedy was a marginal pro prospect at best. And that's no knock on him because the vast majority of college players have little chance of making the pros, even at UNC. There's no shame in that. They will have played at a much higher level than most people are capable of. If a dominant college player like Hansbrough equates to a role player in the NBA, that speaks volumes as to the diffiçulty of even making a pro team.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

even if Kennedy plays well down the stretch, he's a marginal pro prospect in my eyes. his physical limitations are glaring at the college level, what makes you think they'll improve at the pro level? they won't. you can't teach height and explosiveness.

 

[Heelicious]

even if Kennedy plays well down the stretch, he's a marginal pro prospect in my eyes. his physical limitations are glaring at the college level, what makes you think they'll improve at the pro level? they won't. you can't teach height and explosiveness.

I know GSW is scary good, and is the exception to the rule, probably the best team since the peak Jorand Bulls years, but think of Meeks on the court in today's NBA, trying to compete with any position guy from Golden State (or from San Antonio, or OKC, or the Clippers for that matter). He'd get embarrassed within 5 game minutes.

The decent-to-great NBA teams move the ball so quickly and efficiently and accurately, there is just no way to keep up if you aren't in shape, and trained and have the skill set to move quickly and be explosive. That doesn't mean you have to be that way for 94 feet of the court, some guys are just really good and athletic in the paint, and they thrive in the NBA.

Some people like to compare Meeks to Sean May. Maybe its not fair to Kennedy. Probably Sean had a lot more, better pieces around him. But the motor and meanness, and determination and fire, between these two guys, there is no comparison....

If May got the ball in the paint about 6 feet and in from the hoop, the play was already over. Go ahead and try to defend him. If May broke the defender's hand on the rim because the defender tried to block Sean, Sean was fine with that.... he went up strong most every time, and finished with a healthy dose of PO that put fear in defenders....

.... and even he- Sean - with these great skills and fire - was not long for the NBA. So how is it that a guy (Meeks) with maybe half the skills, and 25% of the fire and want-to and intimidation of May, is going to cut it in the NBA?

 

[Archer2]

There's no doubt the lane has become more crowded since our perimeter shots have stopped falling. I'd like to see us bring Kennedy out to the foul line where he could shoot a 15 foot jumper or dump it down low to Brice or Isaiah. It might open up the lane a bit and give our 3's and 4's more room to operate.

 

[32TheEnigma]

I'd like to see us bring Kennedy out to the foul line where he could shoot a 15 foot jumper or dump it down low to Brice or Isaiah. It might open up the lane a bit and give our 3's and 4's more room to operate.

If you're going to bring any big to the foul line it would be Hicks to play that role. He's more capable from 15 ft. than any of our bigs.