Retrospect: In Reality, Kendall Marshall Made the Smartest Decision
By Matt Hamm
I was not happy when I heard Kendall Marshall, like teammates Harrison Barnes and John Henson was forgoing his final two years of athletic eligibility and enter this June’s NBA Draft. Of all the other Tar Heels in the draft, including senior Tyler Zeller, Marshall may be in the best position of them all. It’s tough to do, but sometimes you have to understand the players point of view. With all the information that’s available it’s not that hard to understand your stock as a player if your paying attention. Marshall’s move to the NBA tells me that he is and when you look at it objectively, on the surface at least, this looks like a smart move for Marshall
Don’t get me wrong, Marshall leaving does nothing good for North Carolina. No matter how good freshman Marcus Paige is, the point guard position will take a step back in 2012. Before we talk about why this was the right time for Marshall to jump, let’s look at why his decision is the best of all the underclassmen.
Perceived Weaknesses Squashed in March: Unlike both Harrison Barnes and John Henson, Marshall’s “weaknesses” were shown the door in March. Kendall transformed from a guy teams left wide open and dared to shoot all year, to a scoring machine. He went from averaging barley seven points per game on just over 40% shooting all year long. To a break out of 15 ppg, 54% shooting with an amazing 50% from three point range. This all while slightly increasing his assists per game as well in an amazing March. I have no doubt if Marshall wouldn’t have broke his wrist, he would have been named the tournaments Most Outstanding Player and UNC would be hanging another championship banner.
Only Marshall, Roy Williams and maybe a couple other Tar Heel coaches know for sure if the Marshall we saw in March is one we will see consistently, or if Kendall was just hot. Who really knows if the kid is going to be able to play like that on a consistent basis. It’s nothing short of amazing how he just instantly became a scorer. Who’s to say he was going to absolutely keep that up all year long next season? And if he didn’t, would his draft stock be as high as it is today? Probably not.
Weak PG Draft class vs. Deep Draft on the front line: Marshall is by far the best PG in this draft. He’s so much better of a passer than anyone else in the draft I refuse to compare anyone else to him in that category. Going back to Marshall’s amazing March, if you look at just that sample of his play, Kendall’s the best dual threat PG in this draft as well. It’s hard to improve from being #1 in anything, again, if Marshall wasn’t able to duplicate or improve upon his March play all year next season, would his draft stock be as high as it is today? Probably not.
The injury factor: Breaking his right wrist sucked for UNC. It killed the teams national championship dreams. It also proved to everyone without a shadow of a doubt who the most important player on the Tar Heels roster was. As the most talented team in the nation, it’s pretty tough to improve from being the most important player on the best team in the country. So again, could Marshall really improve his draft stock by coming back next season? Probably not.
I would have loved for Kendall Marshall to come back next season. I do believe he would have improved as a player and helped incoming freshman Marcus Paige out a lot in his development. I’m reminded of 1984 when Michael Jordan went to Dean Smith and told him he would be returning for his senior season. Dean told the two time defending national player of the year that he was not coming back. He had nothing more to prove at the college level and Dean’s contacts informed him Michael would be a top five pick. How good would Carolina have been with Jordan as a senior? Forget about it, they would have killed the competition (anybody remember Jordan as a rookie?) however, it wasn’t what was best for young Michael Jordan. Something tells me Roy told Kendall something similar to what I had to say here today.
Sure, Roy would love to have him back. But Roy’s a college coach, the Tar Heels are a team of kids. It’s the coach’s job to not just win, not to just field the best team possible, but to advise these kids correctly for their lives. Kendall Marshall will be a Tar Heel for the rest of his life. He hasn’t even left yet but I’ll tell you right now, he’ll be back on campus annually to help our new players and work out in the off season. Sometimes the big picture sucks for the time being, I can’t smile about the fact that Marshall won’t be on the team next season. But it sure will be nice hearing his name called as the first PG off the board on draft night. And it absolutely will be great seeing him join Raymond Felton and Ty Lawson as another great PG coming out of Carolina and making an impact on the NBA. Kendall Marshall will be fine, UNC will be fine, most of all, they made the right decision here because it’s what’s best for the young man.
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