I have been making this observation for a while, but just recently decided it was appropriate to publically hash out. For some time I have been convinced that NC State is actually a much better ball club than what it appears to be. As a baseline, I am going to compare NC State to rivals UNC and DUKE.
Sidenote: the definition of synergy is getting a collection of individuals and putting them together so that what they can accomplish, as a unit, is greater than the sum of their parts. In other words, by gathering 1 and 1 and 1 and 1 together, rather than it being 4, it becomes 6 because there is synergy increasing the work between the individuals. Just hang onto that definition until the end of this article.
Generally, what I see when NC State attacks the rim is a drive towards the basket, then a stall. Luckily, NC State has been able to utilize big men like Leslie and Howell on the inside to avoid embarrassments against powder-puff opponents like Wake Forest (God bless ‘em, they’re trying… I think). Unfortunately, it takes more than a couple big players to dominate the inside of the rim and fight for baskets. The only time we shoot from the field is if there is an open shot due to the opponents lining up poorly, or if the ball hasn’t gone under the basket yet. So what is the apparent problem with NC State? Simple: we don’t look for opportunities, we force them.
Case-in-point, look at our team statistics on assists. Our guards, Brown, Harrow, and Gonzalez, are averaging 3.2, 3.5, and 2.0 assists per game (APG), respectively. Note that Brown and Harrow both have over 3.0 APG while Javi is coming in right at 2.0 APG. Carolina’s guards, Drew, Marshall, and Strickland, are averaging 4.6, 3.6, and 1.7 APG respectively. Marshall and Strickland both average much better on assists than Brown and Harrow, but their points per game (PPG) are significantly lower than NC State’s top two guards. In total, Harrow and Brown are scoring around 20 PPG while Carolina’s equivalent two guards are scoring barely above 8.5 PPG. Conclusion? Our guards are very talented, but we aren’t getting the ball around enough. Guards have to be able to feed shots and teammates have to run routes that create opportunities. What we see in Carolina is that they have been able to use their guards to not just knock off shots, but move the ball to where it is needed and create the opportunity when necessary. This kind of team mentality can only be accomplished by a competant off-court coach that instills a concept of synergy amongst his players so that they can accomplish more than what their individual parts add up to.
What I am trying to statistically show is that NC State runs a type of ball game that relies on the sheer talent of the players on our squad rather than sound fundamental team-play. So, is this even necessarily a problem? In theory, this system would work if your squad had overwhelming talent, and I would suggest that NC State is starting to get to that point with respect to talent, alone. Well, that is where I wanted to bring DUKE into this equation (mainly because we can all agree DUKE is an incredibly scary team). DUKE’s top two guards, Smith and Irving, are averaging 5.6 and 5.1 APG respectively. That’s just scary-good. So, if it’s just the “style†we play, I would assume to see a similar effect with Duke’s guard statistics: high assists, but low PPG. Smith and Irving average 37.4 PPG, combined. Wow. So excluding the fact that DUKE’s talent alone raises the expectations for PPG on guards, what would explain their guard’s high level of assists and high scoring games?  Simple: DUKE creates synergies between their guards and the rest of the team. Coach K has created a team atmosphere where players understand that they are to make opportunities happen, but also acknowledge when the opportunity is no longer there. This allows their team to take smarter shots, which leads to less missed shots, which leads to more PPG. That’s how synergy between players works. That’s how teams are built.
So here is what I’m suggesting: our players are not bad players. Their numbers are impressive and comparable to others in the top of the conference (not just rivals UNC and DUKE). Execution on a player level is not necessarily the biggest problem. The problem is that there is a noticeable lack in fundamental team play at NC State and a glaring lack of synergies between guard-play and the rest of the team. NC State resembles a group of And 1 players that refuse to give up on a drive even if its hopeless. If you have any doubts of this, then just watch this weekend’s game against UNC. I would be willing to promise that what we will see is an NC State team that either moves the ball around the perimeter and takes a jumper or rushes to the rim without ever considering kicking the ball back out for an open shot. No communication. No synergy. No team.
This is Lowe’s NC State. We have the talent. We have the tradition. We have the fan support. We have the unversity support. We have the money and we have the facilities. We have the hype and the motivated players we need, eager for blood. We we do not have is a team. NC State: the best squad of players with the worst team.
