I started the thread so I'll chime back in here because I see both sides of the coin to a certain extent but also feel we give Hicks a little too much benefit of the doubt sometimes. Meaning, yes I do think he collects a few fouls here and there that are marginal, but as others have said, when you are routinely out of position and do just absolutely stupid shit on the defensive end, you will NOT get the benefit of the doubt any time there's the slightest bit of contact in the post. It's just the way it is. The sticking point here is that as a 4th year player at Carolina who has played significant minutes the last few years, there is no excuse for his general lack of awareness/basketball IQ on the defensive end. It is literally mind boggling. I can't recall a Carolina post player who is more inept at staying with his man, maintaining interior defensive position than this kid. Most all his fouls come from a few scenarios. He gets caught watching the ball and his man slips behind him thus walling him off at the rim. Rather than take the "loss" and give up a 2, he will foul every single time by reaching over the top to try and block the shot. The other scenario is where he faces an athletic big who has a face up game who stretches him out a bit. Hicks is athletic but for whatever reason simply can not stay in front of his man by moving his feet. Opposing big faces up on Hicks and take hicks off the dribble and hicks bumps extends his arms to nudge him off course, reaches, or tries to contest the shot horizontally and not vertically. It is a foul every time and not a ticky tack foul. It really is a foul. I wouldn't go as extreme to say hey take him out the minute he picks up foul #1 because he turns into a head case, but I do think there's an element there where if he gets in foul trouble in half 1, he's a non factor in half 2 no matter what or at least that's been the norm here over the last month. To be candid, he's been a big let down. If we look how well we have played in a few games over the last few weeks, Hicks has been non existent. Just think how much of a machine we'd be if we get anything from Hicks resembling his per game averages that he built the first half of the year. I'm not a fan of late season line up changes, but I'm also not opposed to Tony Bradley getting a start in the ACC tournament to just see what it looked like. Hicks is going to play minutes, we just have to figure out how to maximize the minutes we are able to get him before he fouls out or gets in foul trouble. Hicks in foul trouble is almost a given.
