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Hit up TarheelDaily....Check it out this week's article. I appear weekly as a guest columnist along with my appearances on WXYC FM 89.3 Chapel Hill for Sunday Night SportsRap, 9-10PM, and for SoulGrooves on Wednesday 6-8AM. Scroll on down to the article, and email me if you want to discuss my opinions.....BD |
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Tarheel Daily Article September 30, 2003 The Right Fit-Quentin Thomas/Steve Robinson & Ghost Dog
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Yessss!! Fits like a Prada.... *** I can't tell you how much the signing of Quentin Thomas has made my day. The question of the past weekend was, who do we choose? However, Quentin was the best fit chemistry wise. Believe me, there still isn't the guarantee that Raymond is going to leave next year, (even though it seems everyone is trying to will it to happen). What we needed was a guy who could be an insurance policy to make things happen if Felton goes. As much as I love Raymond's game, this year is going to be huge for him. This will be the first time that he's going to run a system. He's going to have someone who will get upset with him for coming down and no pass launches. He is also going to have to show that he can do what he can do night after night. I love his game, and I think he'll be a Top 10 pick in the draft....in 2005.... In the meantime, we needed a guy who could fit in a role that could play behind Raymond, and would be happy with it. If Raymond leaves Carolina needs a guy who is strong enough to pick up the slack, bring the ball up the court, but would be able to share time with Ginyard in 2005-06. If Raymond stays, you have a guy who can give 10-15 minutes and can be seasoned to play a major role by his third or fourth year. Quentin must be cool with that situation, because he would have had the same situation at Kansas by playing behind Aaron Miles during Miles' senior year. ***Yes, there are people who wanted Livingston, and they're going to be concerned with him going to Duke. There are also a lot of people who are not going to find Quentin in the Top 100. Don't sleep...I still go back to the rumblings last year that I heard all throughout Oakland and the SF Pro-Ams...It’s not about Leon Powe at Oakland Tech...it's all about their point guard.....This guy is going to be tough....Oakland Public School League is nails-tough.....However, the beautiful thing about Quentin is that he's here for the long run. Unless he gets homesick, he's not going anywhere....With Livingston.....I don't know.... There was something about Livingston's process that was getting at me. I think the combo of the NBA talk, the entourage in Peoria, the swagger, and the talk at the tourneys and camps all combined to make me cringe a little. Did we really want a guy with the hustle of "only one year" for him around here? Do we want that in the program? What if reality hits and Raymond stays? What if reality hits Livingston like it did when he came down here and realized during pick-up games that this is another level, which would lead Livingston to be around college for the next couple of years. If Livingston is at Carolina, can you say....logjam...bad things bro...bad things.... The whole thing is all coming together, and Carolina forced the hand beautifully with getting Kyle Lowry in the mix. We didn't over-recruit anyone, and we got a good kid who will develop. This will make up a very deep team in 04-05....With the depth, the traps can come back...oooooohh it's on....One more thing....by choosing Quentin, we didn't lose anyone...we chose.... *** I still can't believe where we're at compared to last year at this time, and the guy that I've been blown away by is Steve Robinson. I have to admit I wanted Coach "The Bridge" Ford on the deal, and I didn't know which way to lean with Coach Robinson. Now I know the path. It came to me the same way when I first saw the ad for Ghost Dog....When I saw Forrest Whitaker in corn-rows and a hoodie, my first reaction was c'mon man....what the hell is this....Then, I check out the flick to see Ghost Dog in the BK meditating to quotes from 'Hagakure' and performing Samurai sword exercises with RZA beats in the background, and I'm left with my mouth wide open and a nodding head....My head is nodding and my mouth is wide open again after watching Steve Robinson work with Roy.....Damn....Marvin Williams, J.R. Smith, Quentin Thomas....Steve Robinson ..Ghost Dog, kid...Ghost Dog.... I'm off to Lenoir for a Jamba Juice with two protein boosts..... Support Public High School Sports, BD Bret Dougherty is a UNC-Chapel Hill alum and current graduate student
at UNC-Chapel Hill. Bret is a co-host of WXYC SportsRap (9 PM Sundays
on FM 89.3 & www.wxyc.org). He also has a SoulGroove music show on
Wednesday mornings from 6-8 AM on WXYC. His area of study is "The
Revitalization of Public Spaces". |
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