University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Felton Deserves ACC ROY
March 4, 2003 | Men's Basketball
March 4, 2003
For more on the compelling story of Raymond Felton, check out Tar Heel Monthly's inside profile of Felton's first year in Chapel Hill.
By Adam Lucas
Voting for ACC basketball honors has become a lot like the Oscars.
In the days before the ballots are due, voters' email inboxes are filled with "Please consider" notes from sports information departments trumpeting the accomplishments of their players. A usual one goes like this:
"Joe Player: Scored 21 points against Wabash College...Had a three game no-clich? streak in postgame interviews in early January...Helped an old lady across the street when he was six...Likes long walks on the beach, moonlight dinners, and the color black."
The scary thing is, those emails probably have a real impact on some voters. Remember, we're talking about a group that last year left NC State's Ilian Evtimov off the All-Freshman team because they couldn't figure out how to spell his name.
To go ahead and head that problem off this year, we offer the following advice for voters who are filling in their ACC Rookie of the Year ballots this week: it's R-a-y-m-o-n-d F-e-l-t-o-n.
The rookie from Latta is not only the best player on this North Carolina basketball team, he's the best freshman in the league. Unfortunately, as is usually the case with these awards, it only takes one or two talking heads to snowball the voting, and in this case, it looks like the momentum is on the side of Georgia Tech's Chris Bosh.
Paul Hewitt's prize freshman is a popular choice because he does things people haven't seen before. Ooh, look at the tall guy bring the ball up the court. Ooh, watch the big dude shoot three-pointers. He's a great player, and any team would be lucky to have him.
But he's not the best freshman in the league.
The problem with Felton's candidacy is that you have to see him on a nightly basis to appreciate his contributions. Most voters vote by evaluating the ACC top-10 stat leaders or, if they're really diligent, checking some box scores. That's not the best way to gauge his contributions.
To do that, you have to see him live, preferably from floor level, where you can watch him make other defenses look silly. You have to watch him consciously get his teammates involved in every game. You have to watch him yank his teammates into a foul-line huddle and then deliver stern instructions on how to raise the level of play. You have to watch him fire off a blind pass for a dunk and then, after a teammate has slammed it through, jump up and down in excitement at midcourt with a Smith Center-wide smile on his face. You have to watch him wave off any potential help from his teammates, split an opposing double-team, and spin past two other helpless defenders at midcourt.
Let's face it: if Felton wasn't on this team, the Tar Heels would still be desperately trying to get out of a Rutgers trap.
Most voters will spend this week trying to compare Felton and Bosh, an unfair comparison. It's naturally easier to come into the ACC as a post player rather than a point guard--that's why Julius Peppers always seemed to make a seamless transition to hoops, while Ronald Curry required some seasoning.
Instead, the apt comparison for Felton is with other historically great point guards. The numbers:
It's pretty simple. Matched up against some of the best point guards in ACC history, and avoiding the trap of getting bogged down in points per game, Felton compares favorably. The numbers above are even a little misleading, because almost all his statistics have increased markedly in league play.
Actually, now that we think about it, Felton probably doesn't deserve to be called the best freshman in the league. That's because he can't possibly be a freshman. Freshmen don't come into the locker room after a loss and apologize to their teammates for a subpar game and claim full responsibility for the defeat, as Felton did after the NC State game. Freshmen don't get out on a two-on-none fast break and absolutely refuse to take the easy slam dunk, instead preferring to lob an alley-oop pass for a teammate, as he did against A&T. And freshmen certainly don't control the basketball with a late-game lead against an ACC opponent, split a pair of defenders and then deliver the game-winning pass while falling down and almost parallel to the floor, as he did against Clemson.
The roster, however, says he's a freshman, so when the rookie of the year is announced on March 20, there's only one real option.
Let us know if you need any spelling assistance.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.
