Not sure that will be the case this year. It would help if he shows improvement with his 3pt shot but I don't think the house burns down if he doesn't because this team should have quite a few more scoring options both inside and out this season. We may struggle if EC doesn't get 30+ mpg though for whatever reason .. fouls .. coach .. coach.
Oz I agree with every word after the first paragraph. He has to feel the pressure. He’d better been feeling the pressure. He has to be a better shooter.
I get ya 'Bama... I do believe he's put the pressure on himself to improve those areas.... but you get my point about his importance to the offence.
I don't want to start a problem before there is one, but if EC can't become an outside threat he could be benched!
This is what I miss about Carolina basketball more than anything else. I remember when UNC owned crunch time, the Heels simply did not make a mistake. I do not know if that is due to lack of preparation or poor execution but it is definitely different. A careless TO, missed defensive rotation, whatever the mistake - it always used to happen to the other guy, now it's 50/50 at best it seems.
I actually thought EC was a pretty good defensively as a frosh and got tagged with some really bad foul calls early in the season and it hurt both his confidence and more importantly his PT early in his first yr.
It also helped when Dean and Roy could roll out the lineups they could. I know everyone romanticizes about the past regarding UNC basketball. And while I'm sure it's true that there's a level of quality from the sideline that played a part, I also think having ultra-talented 5*, NBA first-round talent really helped make the coaches look good.
If RJ and Tyson shoot at elite high volume levels from 3... The offense should be predicated around open 3's, shots at the basket, and free throws. There's probably no reason to rely on mid-range jumpers if there are numerous better options. Cadeau would have to shoot 60% on mid-range jumpers if RJ and Tyson are 40% 3PT shooters. Cadeau is also extremely unlikely to draw fouls shooting mid-range jumpers. There are many better options on paper.
I thought "mid-range" shots typically were 2PT shots not in the paint. Because paint shots and shots in the restricted area have been tracked. Synergy Sports has 2 2PT jump shot metrics. Short Jumpers are from less than 17 feet. Mid Range Jumpers are from 17 feet to the 3PT line. That's why I said 17 foot jumpers. At least per the people who track the data, it isn't as open ended. If you're considering most shots outside the restricted area as mid-range shots, that's probably where my confusion comes from.
RJ shooting 50% from the field is probably unrealistic. Just using last year's numbers, for RJ to have a 50% FG percentage, he would've needed to shoot 59.1% from 2. RJ's career high from 2PT is 49.4%. He also doesn't shoot the quality of shots from 2 to get there. Lawson was a 50/40 player his junior year but Lawson shot layups from 2. RJ shoots mid-range 2's.
| Player | Hgt | Wgt | Pts | Rbs | TS% |
| Tyson | 6'7 | 200-205 | 20.5 | 7.5 | 63.4 |
| Withers | 6'8-6'9 | 215-230 | 13.6 | 11.6 | 61.4 |
| Lubin | 6'8 | 226-230 | 17.5 | 9.0 | 56.7 |
| Claude | 6'7-6'8 | 226-240 | 10.9 | 11.8 | 55.0 |
I think I would start JWit at the 4 and Jalen at the 5, Tyson at the 3. My reason is that I am bringing in Lubin at either the 4 or 5 as my first front court guy off the bench, I would actually have Lubin playing more minutes than JWit, I just like the idea of having Lubin come in with fresh legs as opposed to his moving over to another position when the first sub comes in. Just as I would start Tyson before pulling either Drake or Ian in.
Sounds similar to the argument last year to have Cormac come off the bench to play SG or SF as needed, with the expectation that he would play starter minutes in that capacity.
He doesn't have the height to play in the post, but he does have the heft. I haven seen much in the way of clips, but those I saw show him operating very effectively close to the basket.
100% SPOT ON WW, it is VERY similar! My argument last season was that first there was no need to go artificially small at the 3 spot when we had Ingram that would have had a very strong length and strength advantage, I still believe that. Loved Ryan but Ryan didn't jump shoot as consistently as was believed he would, Ingram was the better jump shooter. IN addition, I didn't totally rely on JWit, if you recall I was really split as to if I wanted JWit or Jalen to start at the 4, I edged just slightly to Jalen for him jump shooting stretchability muted some what by a concern as to how far he had come back from that knee. Think about how long that would have us with Ingram at the 3, Jalen the 2, and Bacot, important with us starting a really small back court of EC and RJ. Ryan and Seth could have come in and given us good back court length from the bench.
It was a scrimmage and he is still working to mesh his game with everyone else on our roster. If you go back and watch some of his games at Vandy, he really started to come along really well later season, he had a injury issue early season that slowed him and he had to adjust to the 5. I don't think he is a 5, had to play out of position because Vandy didn't have a better option. I am FAR less worried about him than I am JWit. Didn't see it in the scrimmages but he plays with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, he will go to battle, I like that (oh, and there is a mid range game there no one seems to know about so don't tell anyone) LOL.
Cormac Ryan was also UNC’s second best 2 way player behind Ingram last year. Withers was a no way player until like the final 8 games. And Washington was a one way player.
From what little I have seen of VAL .. and what I have seen from Wit last season I'm curious to know why you would start Wit?
Early on it could be because JWit knows the system. The first order of business is to see if JWash is up to the task of starting in the post and playing starter minutes there. It may be easier on JWash to get off to a quick start if he has JWit alongside him instead of new guys.
If it wasn't Wit it would be VAL. I just think VAL may have more game experience and a bit more bulk and length that may compliment, and help, Wash especially on the defensive end. But I could be completely wrong because I haven't had the luxury of watching either of them play in the off season and Wit may just be more comfortable coming in off the bench. Could be we see a lot of Wit and VAL on the floor together depending on how Wash does. I'm just looking forward to bball season starting so we can see them live !!
In reply to al's question, I agree with WW on this but would add, if I start Lubin at the 4 and need to sit Jalen to catch his breath, I have to move Lubin to the 5 on legs he has been playing for several minutes on and I would be feel better if he battled at the 5 with as fresh a set of legs as I can have him with. May seem like a small point but it just a consideration I value. I do want to be clear, JWit IMO is the better athlete but I think Lubin is the better player, I clearly want Lubin with more minutes. And to put this simply, JWit has a lot of work to do to prove to me that I can trust him for extended minutes, his decision making for me just was not good, I expected FAR BETTER that I see we got. Start JWit and maybe it strokes his ego enough that his decision making will slow down and becomes much better.
Everybody remembers the bad shot JWit took, but we should also remember that he was playing much better at the end of the season. If he can pick up where he left off - and not all players do that, so we'll have to see - then I think he can be trusted.
I've been thinking Claude is strong. Is that wrong? I've seen very little of him. Maybe I should track down some good clips.
I guess when your a multi year D1 player and you land at UNC you obviously have something the staff likes and TC is one of those players. There are a LOT of UNC players that could see a lot of minutes this year but the one weakness is depth at the 5. Even though the playing roster is set the minutes aren't and we can throw a lot of players and player combo's at teams this year and I still think one of the biggest questions about this years team is how it will be coached. jmo
Yes, give him the most valued skill in today’s game then he’d be a much better player.
Claude does have some physicality and I do think his motor runs hotter than not, he does finish some thru contact, he could be used and maybe how I would use him, as a bit of an enforcer who isn't all that concerned with picking up a foul if he can send a message. He is just really raw, I don't see a special skill that becomes a weapon. Skills like RJ & Tyson jump shooting, Jalen's turn around jumper, EC's ability to create for others, Ian and Drake's ability to create for both themselves as well as others, Seth's lock down back court defense, even the athletism of JWit, all special skills that I consider weapons. I don't see that with Claude, hope I am wrong but just saying.
"Impossible to stop shot"? You are officially the Mack Brown of these boards. Continually putting lipstick on a pig and selling ice to eskimo's.
