Ed Davis to make the jump, Heels may (or may not) notice
With all the ACC Coaching news this kind of snuck up on me yesterday, but Ed Davis will be leaving UNC after two years to take his chances in the NBA. His injury-riddled sophomore campaign certainly won’t be one to remember, but Davis is a talented player with a lot of potential.
In this morning’s N&O, Caulton Tudor made the assertion that the Heels won’t feel Davis’ exit much next season. Huh? I know Davis was never spectacular, but he is a heck of a lot better than the Wear boys. No offense to them, but sheesh.
Tudor equates not having a ‘huge’ impact on the program as not being worth having back? I bet Roy Williams wouldn’t mind having Davis again. If he had returned the Heels would have once again had a very intimidating front line, at least on paper. He might not be great, but Davis can be an impact player at the college level. Maybe I’m missing something here. Who knows?
The one thing Davis’ exit does do is clear up who is going to get most of the minutes in the front line next season. Tyler “I’m hurt almost as much as Ed Davis” Zeller and John Henson better be ready for 28-32 minutes a night. Davis’ exit likely will get incoming freshmen Reggie Bullock and Harrison Barnes more minutes as well. Not that those guys wouldn’t have gotten the minutes anyway, but this doesn’t hurt their cause.
Here’s Tudor’s take.
Though Ed Davis is a gifted athlete with the potential to become a very good basketball player, the sophomore forward never really had a huge impact on North Carolina’s program.
That being the case, it’s difficult to say his decision Monday to move on to the NBA is a crippling blow to the Tar Heels.
Although Davis – who missed the final 13 games of the season after breaking his wrist against Duke – was a fairly consistent scorer, he contributed most at shot-blocking and rebounding.
Here’s the story from Robbie Pickeral
Davis will leave early for the NBA Draft
With his left wrist still healing in a soft cast, North Carolina forward Ed Davis might be taking a risk by giving up his final two seasons of college eligibility to turn pro this summer.
But after the school announced the sophomore’s decision Monday afternoon, Ed’s father Terry Davis said a bigger concern loomed if the 6-foot-10 Tar Heels starter – whom NBA draft analysts still project as a first-round pick – didn’t go now: a potential lockout that could shut down the National Basketball Association in 2011.
The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement is set to expire after the 2010-11 season, and unless a new contract is reached, an NBA work stoppage could take place the following fall. Had Davis opted to stay for his junior season, a lockout might have kept him in Chapel Hill for his senior season, as well.
In other ACC news, it appears Wright State’s Brad Brownell will be the next coach at Clemson. A four o’clock press conference should make that official. Check back for more later in the day. FoxSports and Jeff Goodman have been all over this story.
11 Responses to “Ed Davis to make the jump, Heels may (or may not) notice”
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That’s quite a shame on Brownell. He and Marshall were the “best of the B list” candidates for NC State if we had to make a change. I think he’ll do quite well at Clemson.
To me, losing Davis will hurt UNC. Yes they have some replacements, but given their style of play, they need as many skilled bodies as possible to really maximize the advantages of their system.
I believe Davis’ return is the only reason Carolina beat State in our first meeting this year. Not only did he return, but he did so with a vengeance. He didn’t appear to have ever been injured.
They’re going to miss him, for sure.
Since Davis became ineligible when he signed with an agent in February this isn’t a surprise. Oh that’s right, someone hacked the PTA Sports Management website and only made it look like he had signed with an agent. Riiiiight.
This means CJ Leslie and any other possible one-and-done’s will probably become two-and-done’s….
RegularExpression, I suggested that on another blog and was accused of wearing a tin foil hat. But it’s STRANGELY ODD that around the time that agent thing happened, ole Ed seemed to stop playing. And Carolina has their own hospital. How difficult would it be to pretend it was a season-ending injury in order to keep the heat away. There’s no telling how much of that kind of thing goes on and we never know about it.
And Badinboarder09, that’s a very good point. With the NBA lockout or whatever is going on next year, it’s quite possible these one-and-doners WILL become two-and-doners this time around. Therefore, it’s of utmost importance for Sid to pull CJ Leslie out of a hat. Imagine if we could keep THAT dude for two years, along with the others that we have.
Hopefully CJ Leslie realizes that Coach Cal can’t bring him to the NBA any faster than any other coach b/c there will be no NBA in 2 years. Wherever he goes, he’ll be there for 2 years, he can go anywhere in the country and be ready for the NBA in 2 years, might as well go to NCSt and play with a nasty PG and good friend.
Anyone have an idea when CJ will make the call?
I am a born pessimistic Wolfpacker so am expecting him to miraculously end up at Duke or Carolina just to tick us off, but am holding out a glimmer of hope …
Poppa,
Supposedly this coming weekend. Saturday?
Excerpted from the article below on the Clemson BBall coach hire …
“The Tigers also put out feelers through a search firm to Arizona State’s Herb Sendek and Miami’s Frank Haith, among others, but they said they were not interested in the Clemson job.”
http://www.accsports.com/blogs/jim-young/201004137635/clemson-to-hire-brad-brownell.php
Now that would have been strange!
I honestly think that Brownell is a better coach than HWSNBN or Haith. I think in 3-5 years the Tigers will be very happy with this hire and be glad that they missed on some of the others (if they’re not today). I think that the kids will run through a wall for Brownell and that he’ll get Clemson into the second weekend of the tournament.
Time will tell…… I am sad that we’ve now missed out on this opportunity.
Clemson upgraded it’s staff this week, no question. UNC-ch will miss Davis and they will be a bubble team again, unless 96 are let in. Then the ACC may get 10 in.