North Carolina parting ways with five-star point guard recruit Dylan Mingo on Monday night has hung like something of a dark cloud over the growing optimism for the Michael Malone era in Chapel Hill. Mingo was one of the highest-rated commits in recent program history, but though it’s painful, moving on makes sense for the Tar Heels.
On Tuesday, Grant Hughes of 247Sports shared insights into why the separation happened, citing NIL and fit as the primary drivers. “The Tar Heels have reportedly wiped $6 million off the books following the exits of Mingo, Kyan Evans, and Luka Bogavac.”
With that money freed up, Malone can go big-game hunting because, frankly, it’s better spent elsewhere.
Michael Malone wanted to clear the deck for veteran portal pickups
It’ll be interesting to see how Malone prefers to build out a roster, especially once he gets a full high school recruiting cycle. In the NBA, he wasn’t one to throw rookies on the floor and deal with the growing pains. He almost always favored veteran experience, even at the expense of getting his most talented players on the floor.
This offseason, Malone is almost forced to build through the portal, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if that’s his preferred avenue for talent acquisition in the future as well. A lead-guard like Mingo is going to have the ball in their hands on nearly every possession as a freshman, and no matter how highly-regarded he is as a prospect, that won’t be smooth sailing the entire way.
If Malone isn’t willing to accept some of the volatility that comes with a talented freshman like Mingo, then he’s smart to allocate his resources elsewhere, particularly to Utah transfer target Terrence Brown. Brown is still taking visits to Kansas and Kentucky, but he’s expected to land in Chapel Hill, and that would further complicate Mingo’s arrival.
Brown is a downhill attacking guard. He can shoot at an acceptable level from three, but he doesn’t do it often. That’s fine for one ball-dominant guard, especially playing with a stretch five like Henri Veesaar, who is presumably returning to the Tar Heels. It’s almost impossible to have to.
For all of Mingo’s talent, he shot 23 percent from three in 13 EYBL games and doesn’t have seamless shot mechanics. That will make it difficult for him to play off the ball, and if Brown and Mingo were to share the floor, even with a 40 percent three-point shooter like Veesaar at the five, UNC would lack the spacing both Brown and Mingo need to attack off the dribble.
Now, if UNC fails to land Brown, then it will be fair to question Malone’s willingness to part ways with a player like Mingo. Until he makes his decision, though, the logic is sound.
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