UNC Basketball: Battle for Playing Time on the Perimeter Will be Fun to Watch
By Matt Hamm
For the 2012 season North Carolina head coach Roy Williams will have five players who came to his program with a four or five star rating as a recruit. Despite losing likely lottery pick Harrison Barnes to the NBA Draft, along with the other three of the teams “Big 4” the team is stacked on the perimeter.
Before the 2011-12 season it was supposed to be Dexter Strickland and Leslie McDonald competing for the starting shooting guard spot. Roy recently said that McDonald was one of the six best players on the team recently when asked how all the injuries affected the team this season. When those two went down with injures it wasn’t the perimeter anyone was worried it, the backup PG spot was the worry at that time. That was because the team had five star recruits Reggie Bullock and PJ Hairston, Bullock who missed the majority of his freshman season with a knee injury of his own stepped in and did a nice job as the starting SG for most of the year. Hairston struggled to adapt to a shrinking role to go along with his shrinking confidence as a shooter. His freshman struggles are not indicative of his game, expect big things from Hairston his sophomore season. The team will finally have all of those players healthy, and even minus Harrison Barnes they will probably be even deeper in terms of sheer numbers, along with their returns is the arrival of JP Tokoto.
With the exception of Dexter Strickland, each of these players can play both wing positions. Bullock who started at shooting guard in 2011, may very well end up at small forward this season. The Heels have a lot of size on the perimeter with Bullock 6-7, Tokoto 6-7, and Hairston 6-6 all able to play both SG and SF. Strickland will likely pick up the majority of the minutes behind freshman starter Marcus Paige at the point guard position.
How Roy will split up those minutes will be interesting. He’s likely to open up the competition for both positions to everyone with the upperclassmen having the advantage. In my opinion the Heels would be best served to bring Strickland off the bench and allow him to come in and play his dual guard role more efficiently. Freshman JP Tokoto would likely have to noticeably outplay everyone by a decent margin to earn a starting spot.
Here’s how I see the battles shaking out:
PG: Marcus Paige, Dexter Strickland, Luke Davis- Here I see Paige playing somewhere between 22-25 minutes with Strickland getting the lion share of minutes behind him. Having Strickland play half of his minutes or more at the point makes sense on a lot of fronts. It gives the Heels an experienced back up point behind the freshman Paige. It allows Strickland to play the position he would be slated for if he’s going to make it at the next level. And maybe most importantly, it opens up more minutes on the perimeter where the Heels are stacked. It will be interesting to see if Roy plays Davis more than he did Stillman White early in the season. Roy may want to develop Davis a little sooner given the need for the “emergency” PG this season.
SG: Leslie McDonald, Dexter Strickland, PJ Hairston- At the two guard I see McDonald having a huge year and possibly becoming Carolinas best player. Roy has mentioned several times how good McDonald looked before his pre season injury. He recently stated that everybody around the program would have listed Leslie as a top six player on the roster at the time of his injury. With Strickland needed for minutes at the point and Bullock’s size making him a better fit at the small forward position, McDonald fits perfectly at the two. Strickland will play between 12-15 minutes at the point easily for Carolina meaning he will likely take up less time on the perimeter. Hairston is a tough case to call, he’s got the size to play either wing position. He also has the potential to be the best player of the bunch. If Hairston can develop better habits, specifically better shot selection and take the ball to the basket more, utilizing his athleticism, this battle could get very interesting. I don’t think Hairston can overtake McDonald on the defensive end and that’s likely what will determine the starting lineup. If Hairston does end up coming off the bench like I think he will, he’ll likely split his minutes between SG and SF.
SF: Reggie Bullock, PJ Hairston, JP Tokoto- Bullock did a very good job starting in place of Dexter Strickland this season. He grew tremendously on the defensive end and towards the end of the season also became a force on the glass. Bullock hit some big shots as his confidence grew and everything seemed to be clicking for the sophomore in the postseason. I got the feeling with Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes and John Henson around doing most of the scoring, it was difficult for Bullock to find his place offensively at first. He looked more and more comfortable as the season went on and could assert himself as a leader in 2012-13. The reserve minutes will depend on who steps up and shows they are ready. Which is why I think the upcoming season will largely be one of development for freshman JP Tokoto. Hairston should be able to overtake the freshman and play the majority of the backup minutes at SF while playing sparingly at the SG as well. Tokoto’s playing time will likely look a whole lot like Hairston’s freshman season.
But these are all just my educated guesses on how I think it will play out. The perimeter will be the strongest unit on the Tar Heels roster, one that we’ll see a war fun war for minutes take form early in the season.
Follow @Keeping_It_Heel
Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section (for help click HERE)