PrimeThyme wrote:Out of all the excuses that people have made for Cole over the course of last season and this draft process, I think the one that holds the most weight for me is just the lack of offensive talent UNC had last year. I mean they truly had absolutely zero playmakers/shot creators on that team and I would be shocked if anyone on that roster ever made it to the league.
You can pick any one of those games (thanks for posting dr3!) and see just how many of their half court offensive possessions would result in the ball swinging to cole with 8 seconds left on the shot clock. This would be after a possession of failed post-up attempts and their guards playing perimeter hot potato for 10 seconds. Then at that point Cole would be forced to throw up a shot.
That's not to say that a good bit of the blame doesn't fall on him tho.
At the end of the day, he just hasn't yet shown the ability to elevate talent. NC desperately needed him to not only create his own shots, but shots for others as well, && he just wasn't able to at a high enough level.
There were also plenty of possessions that failed because of an ill advised shot by Cole or a costly turnover where he was simply trying to do too much
It just makes me wonder who is going to be that playmaker off the bench next season. If we try to force him into that same role with the second unit next year I think it could prove to be disastrous. Optimally, he would be on the floor with Fultz as the two-guard playing a minor secondary playmaking role.
If he is going to be forced to create shots for the Aminus/Bamba's/Bacons/Birchs of the world, he is going to be in for a really long season that won't exactly benefit his development imo.
Most likely it will be similar to what we saw last season with DJ. I think Cole could likely learn to run a PnR as well as DJ did, and make the pass to Ross every other play. If Bamba is back and spacing the paint it might help Cole finish better.
But then there will also be a lot of plays where he's left in a corner whilst MCW, or Gordon, or Fournier, or even Aminu (smh) decide to initiate a play.
At times it will be a point of frustration that he's not getting more minutes or burn, and at other times he will look like a bust and we'll want him off the court. Same story as every other rookie, for better or worse.
