The Carolina Tarheels

   Let me start off by saying Preseason polls mean absolutely nothing.  It's just something that's done to get the casual fans excite about their team.  Real basketball heads know you don't know what teams will look like this year until you see them play games against quality competition.  With that being said here are my thoughts on Carolina so far.  I started writing with intentions to included State and Duke, but once I got started on my Tarheels I became long winded so Duke and NC State previews will be in the next blog spot. 
    Carolina got a boat load of issues. I'm a Carolina fan, but I'm a realist. They were ranked way to high to start the season after losing 4 of 5 starters and the only returning player (Reggie Bullock) not even averaging over 10 ppg. Plus he is not a go to player, but only a roll player.  They are relying on 4 freshman and have a freshman starting at the most important position on the floor PG.  I actually think Paige is pretty good and is far from the problem with this team.  The problems are they don't rebound well, they got the wrong people starting at 2 positions, and they lack experience.  Strickland should not be starting a the 2.  The only reason Roy is starting him is because he's a Senior.  If your goal is winning you got to start the best players and not worry about Seniority.  And don't tell me about Strickland defense because Bullock is as good as if not a better defender.  PJ Hairston should be starting at the 2 and Brice Johnson should be starting instead of Hubert.  I don't know why Roy is starting that Hubert.  That boy shouldn't even be in the rotation much less starting.  MacAdoo needs to cut down on his turnovers if he is going to be the go to guy for this team and he's got to rebound better.  No way a big should turn the ball over as much as he does.  I think Roy needs to give the ball to Paige and tell him this his team and he needs to take over.  He is the only player on the team that can create his own shot and set others up to score. When he was aggressive at the start of that Indiana game before he got in foul trouble Carolina was playing them even. After he got in foul trouble and Strickland took over the point the wheels fell off.  Bullock is a catch and shoot guy.  If he's guarded closely and ran off the 3 pt line he becomes ineffective.  He need to develop a 1-2 dribble pull-up that he can go to if teams crowd his jump-shot.  He's got to be more effective on Offensive for this team to be successful.  Period..  PJ Hairston is the same although he has proven to be a little more effective than Bullock at going to the rim.  But he haven't proven he can set others up with penetration when teams run him off the 3pt line either. McDonald is another jump-shooter with not much else to offer if his shot isn't on.  Brice Johnson got the best low-post game out of all of them, but that boy is rail-thin and is getting pushed around easily when trying to rebound.  Joel James got the frame to bang down low but he gotta get tougher.  I have seen when he got the ball in the post guards just come down & double and take the ball from him more than once this season.  This team has gotten blown out twice already and were down by 30pts. That's unacceptable for Carolina. It's time for Roy to make changes and play the guys who give them the best chance to win or it's going to be a long season. 

Thoughts from the 1st Week in the NBA

    A few thoughts from the first week of action in the NBA. Gotta love the NBA league pass especially when the feature game is a blowout like the Heat/Knicks game was last night.  Fist off I think James Harden will win the NBA scoring title this year.  I said he had a change to do this when he first got traded last week, but after watching the first couple games this year I think he will do it.  Not just because he scored 37 and 45 in his first two games because I think its impossible for him to continue on this pace, but more so because of Houston style of play.  They don't have a player they can feed the ball to in the post so their whole offense revolves around pick and roll with Harden or Lin.  This is going to create unlimited scoring opportunities, shot attempts, free throw attempts, and drives to the basket.  Remember where you heard it first and holla at me later.  Second, the 0-3 Lakers will be just fine.  Anytime you have Dwight Howard manning the post on Defense no way that team keeps losing.  Expect the Lakers to win around 55 games this season.  The bobcats snapped a 23 game losing streak.  How bad do you have to be to lose 23 straight games? Congratulations is in order Mike.  Nobody deserves that type of futility. And last I'm not so sure about this small ball the Miami Heat is going to.  Its one thing to go to it in the 4th quarter, but they trying it for the whole game.  I think that is taking a lot out of them defensively with all the rotating and switching and no protector at the rim.  They might want to activate a couple of bigs on their roster.  And when a team is hot from the outside like the Knicks were last night blowouts can be expected.  Also will Lebron suffer from the fat and happy Dirk syndrome. After Dirk Nowitzki won his first title a couple years ago he came into the season saying he lack motivation after getting that monkey off his back and winning the championship.  I wonder if this is maybe happening to Lebron also because he has look lackluster and unimpressive in his first couple of games.  One last thing about the Heat, I notice Dwyane Wade appears to be unwilling to accept his second fiddle Robbin roll.  I've seen a lot of forced action, forced shots, and bad turnovers from Wade who appears to be trying to prove something and is only putting his team in bad spots.  This from someone who is just returning from injury and coming off knee surgery.  Give it up D-Wade you aint got it no more.  Just let Lebron be batman and play the background.