What's Up with Nate?

[What Would Jesus Do?]

He's usually very sharp out of the gate. He gave Berry a very strong run 2 years ago and was usually sharp in his backup role last year. But this is 2 lackluster games in a row. Not awful, and a few of his passes were sweet, but not the level I was expecting.

Anybody have any inside info?

 

[DSouthr]

Honestly, IMO, this is kinda Nate...Nate is IMO not a great shooter, he is a streaky shooter, he can knock off 3 in a row but he can as well miss 5 in a row. The more he plays the better he shoots, problem is it is hard to see 20+ minutes for him so he has the time to warm up.

 

[uncblueball]

Nate should probably still start over Kenny. Kenny still looks unsure of himself right now. If Nate gets more minutes he'll be fine.

 

[coryfly]

His shot was off but he had 5 assists. He didn't look great but not terrible. We kind of know what Britt is at this point. He has had some good moments in crucial spots before and probably will again from time to time.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I hope he perks up. I've always liked him.

 

[BillyL]

He was just purposefully trying to add to Berry's blown assist numbers . .

I hope he perks up. I've always liked him.

On this board, you're in the minority.

 

[uncfan in ky]

I this the best option for the team is to bring him off the bench. If Nate started then Seventh & Kenny would be the backcourt subs & I don't think Roy trust them both to play together yet.
Nate has solid experience & is the perfect player to back up Berry & also play the 2 spot.

 

[IDUNK4HEELS]

Maybe I watched a different game but stats do not lie: 5 assists and ZERO TURNOVERS in 18 minutes of play. Enough said...

 

[gary-7]

He's usually very sharp out of the gate. He gave Berry a very strong run 2 years ago and was usually sharp in his backup role last year. But this is 2 lackluster games in a row. Not awful, and a few of his passes were sweet, but not the level I was expecting.

Anybody have any inside info?

Nate didn't play badly really. Was decent on defense, but did struggle with his shot. And in his defense, he spent some time on the court with 7th and BRob when things weren't flowing well (see my Guard addendum in the Stats thread), but the team did well when he teamed with JB. We definitely need to see Nate get his shot going though.

BTW: One caveat to OP though --- Nate never really gave JB a strong run.

 

[BillyL]

G-7 . . as much as you like to bang on Nate(year after year), it really surprises me that you are a UNC fan . . its the one thing that I truly dislike about your pro-Berry posts. I'm not saying that JB isn't a great player, he is . . . but, its almost like you have either true hatred of Nate or you're a JB relative posting on this board. Either way, you're constant, and I do mean constant, demeaning of Britt is just unfathomable to us true UNC fans.

Keep banging, brother . . . its what you do best.

The true fact of the matter is, that Joel was slow to acclimate to Roy's system, thats not unexpected, most freshman do so . .

You'd be wise to show more credit to the senior player that has given his all, rather than kissing JB's arse as much as you do . .

Jus' saying there, Mr. Blown Assist.

GMAFB ~ Nate Britt

 

[soap - new and improved]

Shit, I guess I am weird. I really like ALL our players. And coaches too! If that makes me a homer that's fine by me. Just keep in mind what homer means in baseball!

 

[UNC Blue Hup]

Easy boys, we're all true Tar Heels here..I believe Kenny earned the job in practice by a horse hair and Roy likes having Nates experience off the bench--I'm sure he's had a lot of conversations with Britt and he's ok with it..Go Heels!

 

[gary-7]

G-7 . . as much as you like to bang on Nate(year after year), it really surprises me that you are a UNC fan . . its the one thing that I truly dislike about your pro-Berry posts. I'm not saying that JB isn't a great player, he is . . . but, its almost like you have either true hatred of Nate or you're a JB relative posting on this board. Either way, you're constant, and I do mean constant, demeaning of Britt is just unfathomable to us true UNC fans.

Keep banging, brother . . . its what you do best.

The true fact of the matter is, that Joel was slow to acclimate to Roy's system, thats not unexpected, most freshman do so . .

You'd be wise to show more credit to the senior player that has given his all, rather than kissing JB's arse as much as you do . .

Jus' saying there, Mr. Blown Assist.

GMAFB ~ Nate Britt

WTF was that about, Billy? I didn't bang on Nate one bit. Go back and read my response to this thread. I just defended him for krisakes. What the hell are you drinking anyway?

Your banging on Joel (which has pleasantly changed recently) was the constant. And for the record, while there's an adjustment curve for all PGs in this system, JB included, he was not "slow to acclimate". That's just a patently false statement.

And also for the record, Blown Assists was an issue that plagued us at times last season, and I kept track for the TEAM as a whole, not just JB. As for Nate, I appreciate his role and contribution and the fact that he has improved his game considerably (and in fact I say so here often), but pretending he was ever going to be the starting Carolina PG over Joel Berry is just not reality. Sorry if that somehow offends you.

 

[imajericho]

Looks to me like Nate has hit his ceiling while Berry is still improving.

 

[gary-7]

Looks to me like Nate has hit his ceiling while Berry is still improving.

Look, I'm not sure how all this got started (I blame WWJD ), but I just try to be fair. Nate has come a long way and I know from stuff I've picked up from some guys on the team that he had to swallow his pride and work his ass off to do it, and I applaud him. He's a valuable player for us and his team production numbers last season and Friday night were quite good. The basic fact is that Joel Berry is a special player, but that should not be something that diminishes Nate in any way.

 

[imajericho]

Look, I'm not sure how all this got started (I blame WWJD ), but I just try to be fair. Nate has come a long way and I know from stuff I've picked up from some guys on the team that he had to swallow his pride and work his ass off to do it, and I applaud him. He's a valuable player for us and his team production numbers last season and Friday night were quite good. The basic fact is that Joel Berry is a special player, but that should not be something that diminishes Nate in any way.

Well, I mean hitting his ceiling isn't diminishing him. Every player has a point they cap out at. Nate has likely hit it, and Joel Berry just simply hasn't is all. Nate likely will be the same exact player we had last year, and that is fine. He was a valuable contributor last year also.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

BTW: One caveat to OP though --- Nate never really gave JB a strong run.

We had a bunch of people here saying that Joel would start right away or would take the starting spot very quickly. That didn't happen. That's what I meant by that comment. Only at the end of Joel's freshman season was it clear that he had taken over the starting role. Somewhat delayed by injury, but still nowhere near as quick as some of our major posters were predicting.

 

[Archer2]

Like Soap, I like all of our players simply because they chose to become Tar Heels.

Nate is a great teammate who has subjugated his ego and done what Roy deems best for the whole team. He has been, and will continue to be, an important contributor and a classy ambassador for the university. That will suffice.

Like a lot of guys, his jumper is streaky. But he gives good effort and has improved defensively every year. If he can take care of the ball, drop a few dimes, make the occasional trey, and be a senior leader, he's done his job. He's a nice guy to have in there when we need clutch FT's as well.

 

[UNCPJH81]

I like Nate and his game very much. I love JB. He's just a stud.

 

[DSouthr]

Nate didn't play badly really. Was decent on defense, but did struggle with his shot. And in his defense, he spent some time on the court with 7th and BRob when things weren't flowing well (see my Guard addendum in the Stats thread), but the team did well when he teamed with JB. We definitely need to see Nate get his shot going though.

BTW: One caveat to OP though --- Nate never really gave JB a strong run.

7th and Brob in together is going to be a problem for now, both freshmen, both trying to feel their way and niether ready right now no matter if Joel or Nate are in there with them. Clearly Joel is our PG but Nate's game has really developed since he has been a Heel.

 

[mikeirbyusa]

Nate is the ultimate "Team Player". Love him to death, hate it's his last year.

Shooting not up to par after 2 games, my goodness, let's just throw him under the bus and back up over him. ........................ smh

 

[Steat]

Can you imagine Pinson in our starting line-up? OMG.

 

[BillyL]

Your banging on Joel (which has pleasantly changed recently) was the constant.

I love Joel Berry . . In fact, if you went back to all the game threads the past 2 years, you'd find that I shower Joel with high praise. To say that I bang on him is just false.

 

[DSouthr]

Look, I'm not sure how all this got started (I blame WWJD ), but I just try to be fair. Nate has come a long way and I know from stuff I've picked up from some guys on the team that he had to swallow his pride and work his ass off to do it, and I applaud him. He's a valuable player for us and his team production numbers last season and Friday night were quite good. The basic fact is that Joel Berry is a special player, but that should not be something that diminishes Nate in any way.

Here is what I know, we absolutely have to get better scoring from our 2 guard spot, it doesn't matter any more who I like more or less, I don't care who the ball goes in for, it has got to start dropping from someone playing the 2 for us. Nate is streaky but he has this knack for hitting timely shots over the last couple seasons and the shots he takes are good shots, don't see him taking heat checks. 7th is a streaky shooter as well but he does have good size for the position but in addition to not being 100% he is a freshman looking to find his way. BRob is a freshman as well and while he can shoot, ball handles is a problem for him right now. Kenny, well truth is kenny has to take advantage of the open looks he gets, little to much deferring, seems to be more trying to fit in than really establishing himself.

Truth is as much as I talked about wanting kenny to start at the 2 this summer a healthy Theo may be my pick right now, at least until someone else starts to establish and assert them self at the 2. With what I see from this team so far, when we get that 2 guard production cranked up this can be a really fun season for us but we are going to struggle at times until we get that.

 

[DSouthr]

We had a bunch of people here saying that Joel would start right away or would take the starting spot very quickly. That didn't happen. That's what I meant by that comment. Only at the end of Joel's freshman season was it clear that he had taken over the starting role. Somewhat delayed by injury, but still nowhere near as quick as some of our major posters were predicting.

I wanted Joel to start early his freshman season but the reason I did was I wanted Marcus to move over to the 2 so he could spend more time looking for his shooting. And no that didn't happen, just as it didn't happen when kendal came to us until the near half way point of his frosh season. Bobby was slated to start over Ty actually when Ty came to us, bobby's injury changed that. PG at UNC ain't easy to come in and take over. Marcus struggled at the point as Dex took over the PG duty and Marcus played more as a 2 that freshman season. Point being it does take kids a while to acclimate to what we do,our PG position is not dumbed down to make it easy for freshmen to pick up.

I loved Joel when he committed to us,felt then he would go down as a great PG for us and it is good to see him well on that path.

 

[Archer2]

Agree that the SG spot can't continue to be unproductive scoring wise if we're to reach our potential. I don't care who it is but at least one guy has to step up.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Nate is the ultimate "Team Player". Love him to death, hate it's his last year.

Shooting not up to par after 2 games, my goodness, let's just throw him under the bus and back up over him. ........................ smh

Come on, Mike. There's a HUGE difference between being concerned and throwing a player under the bus.

Moreover, you forget that I have been a stalwart defender of Nate when some of our other posters were absolutely throwing him under the bus in previous years. I think I've earned the right to be worried.

That said, I hope to see Nate play better today.

 

[keysersosay#1]

I like Nate at the end of games not necessarily to take the shot but handling the ball and going and MAKING those crucial FTs at game end. He is a really good FT shooter and I feel good when he goes to the line.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I like Nate at the end of games not necessarily to take the shot but handling the ball and going and MAKING those crucial FTs at game end. He is a really good FT shooter and I feel good when he goes to the line.

Definitely.

 

[gary-7]

I love Joel Berry . . In fact, if you went back to all the game threads the past 2 years, you'd find that I shower Joel with high praise. To say that I bang on him is just false.

Well, c'mon now B... you've had your moments, but we're all supposed to be on the same side here, as you said yourself last week. Let's just get back to that noble concept and move forward, brother.

 

[BillyL]

Well, c'mon now B... you've had your moments, but we're all supposed to be on the same side here, as you said yourself last week. Let's just get back to that noble concept and move forward, brother.

I don't have moments.

Here's what I saw today, Nate didn't look very good, Kenny is the better player and will only get better the more minutes he gets. I still feel that Tony is better than Kennedy. Brandon is starting to impress me. We missed a lot of easy short shots,
We are now 26 of 55 from 3Land this season including the exhibition game.

Theo looks like a sharply dressed Superman with those glasses he wears.

jmho

 

[tmatheny]

Kenny looked like what we need at the SG today....a little bit of everything- scoring, rebounding, assisting, steals and defense as a whole. I love his effort!

 

[mikeirbyusa]

You are aware Meeks has back to back double-doubles aren't you? I'm THRILLED we have Tony-Meeks-Hicks down low.

 

[toophly1124]

You are aware Meeks has back to back double-doubles aren't you? I'm THRILLED we have Tony-Meeks-Hicks down low.

Small edit but Meeks only scored 9 Friday night so just one double double. Has played much better than my expectations tho and I welcome that every night.

 

[mikeirbyusa]

Thought he had a D/D my bad.

 

[toophly1124]

Thought he had a D/D my bad.

I hated to be that guy ..bc your point still stands ..he's been really good in our two games

 

[mikeirbyusa]

I'm just thrilled we have all 3.

 

[Archer2]

Barring injury, our four man rotation at the C/PF spots should be able to hang with almost any front line.

 

[keysersosay#1]

This Tony Bradley is only going to get better and better. You can see he can easily add twenty pounds to his frame and be even more versatile

 

[HeelFan58]

Nate is fine. He just doesn't seem to be looking for the shot that much.