Going into the 2008-09 Season, I thought we had a very deep team. I saw 11 players in the rotation, specifically Hansbrough, Thompson, Zeller, Davis, Green, Ginyard, Graves, Ellington, Frasor, Lawson, and Drew. Once again, expect the unexpected.
First: Ginyard is lost for the season.
Second: Zeller was lost for 12 weeks due to an injury.
Third: Graves was suspended from the team.
Fourth: Drew didn't develop his role during the season.
Right now, we are playing a 7-8 player rotation. Green, Hanbrough, and Frasor are graduating, and Lawson and Ellington may be leaving for the NBA. So who is left?
Next year, I see Ed Davis and Thompson starting at the Forward position. We have Zeller coming off the bench, plus we have 3 freshmen power forwards that will be in the mix: John Henson, David Wear, and Travis Wear. Between these players, we should be fine at our forward positions.
We will have Marcus Ginyard back. He will be our swingman and defensive specialist. Leslie McDonald can sub for him next year, so I feel good about this position, too.
At shooting guard, if Ellington doesn't return, we will definitely have Dexter Strickland playing, along with Leslie McDonald. We may even have Will Graves back, but that's still up in the air. I feel fine about our shooting guard prospects for next year.
The dilemma will be at the point guard position. If Lawson doesn't return, Larry Drew is the heir apparent. He's had a shaky freshman year, but I do like his defensive skills. His ballhandling, however, has been suspect. Averaging 9.7 minutes/game, Drew's assist to turnover ratio is 1.45. While that's not a bad ratio, this stat is misleading. In ACC action, he's had 19 assists against 23 turnovers. As a result, his minutes has dwindled during the ACC regular season. He averages only 7.4 minutes/game against ACC opponents. He's shooting less than 40% from the field, and only 50% on the charity stripe.
Does Larry Drew have the talent to play point guard against ACC competition? I think he's capable, but he will need to regain his confidence before the next season. What the Heels do not have is depth at this position. If he falters, the Heels may have to play Ginyard at the point, and to be quite honest, he's far from an ideal point guard.
Overall next year, we will have the depth, we will have some experience, and we will have solid coaching. The burden lies on Larry Drew. Drew is a fierce competitior, so don't count him out yet!
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