Carolina Without Drew II

Larry Drew II decided to transfer from UNC today, and I am willing to bet that the Tarheels will be better off without him.  As much as any team in the country, UNC relies on a system.  Roy Williams' version of this system (based on Dean Smith's system, of course), relies on a point guard that distributes the basketball and knows when to push the ball off a rebound, a blocked shot and, to a lesser extent, off a made basket (because it is more difficult to push the ball when you have to inbound it).

Carolina point guards do not have to be money shooters, and they certainly don't have to be shoot first point guards (that is counter productive).  Ty Lawson was a good scorer for Carolina, but his numbers were gravy - he was not the focal point of that offense.  Hansbrough was the player around whom they ran their offense, and the supporting cast (i.e., Ellington, Green, Davis) played a big part in their success as well.  Lawson was so unbelievably quick that he wound up getting lay-ups and wide open jumpers.  Nobody questioned what his primary job was...push the ball and run the offense.

Raymond Felton averaged 12.9 points a game in 2005 when the Heels won the NCAA Tournament.  He had 17 in the final against Illinois, but his value was in his ability to push the ball quickly and get the ball into the hands of other players for high percentage shots.

It seems to me that Larry Drew II was not satisfied with his role.  UNC is one of the programs in the country where, if you are not buying into the system, you have to go.  My guess is that the unwritten rule is do what we tell you to do, or declare for the draft (or we bench you until you decide to go elsewhere in this case).   UNC will hand the reigns to a freshman in Kendall Marshall, although they obviously had made it clear to Drew that he  had to conform to their system or risk losing minutes, which is what they did in January. They probably banked on Drew stepping up, but they're certainly not losing much with his decision.  After all, Marshall was a McDonald's All-American.  The consensus was that Marshall was the best passer / playmaker in the country last year.

I think Drew had chances to adapt his game to the role the UNC coaching staff needed him to play, and did not want to do it.  One thing this proves to me is that, no matter how good you think you are, you're not bigger than UNC basketball.  As an NC State graduate, I both hate them (which is required) and respect them for it.