Basketball is a game of superstars, but it is also a team game that requires rotation players who play within their role and help their team with winning plays every game.
UNC has had its fair share of the former, but right now it should pride itself on the latter, with many of the quality starters and sixth men in the league coming out of North Carolina.
San Antonio Spurs defensive specialist Danny Green has been making the most of the injury to Kawhi Leonard, averaging 11.1 points a game through seven games while also regaining his shooting that had seen a dip in past seasons. Green is shooting 43.8 percent from three this year, as opposed to 37.9 percent last year and 33.2 percent the year before.
Perhaps most impressively, the lockdown defender has been averaging a career high in steals and blocks at 1.4 and 1.3 per game, respectively.
Hornets forward Marvin Williams is also providing his team a veteran boost. Williams reinvented his career after the 2012-13 season by moving full time to power forward, and his shooting should continue to bring spacing and open up driving lanes for star Hornets guard Kemba Walker.
The forward regressed after his career year in the 2015-16 season, and he looks to be an even smaller part of the offense after the addition of Dwight Howard to the team this past offseason, but Williams still provides use as a floor-spacer and defender.
At 6-foot-9 and 237 pounds, Williams can arguably guard up to three positions, and has the strength to hold his own in the post against larger defenders on switches. Combined with the fact that he doesn’t require the ball in his hands to be effective, he serves as a good compliment piece to the backcourt-driven Hornets.
Raymond Felton is serving as the backup point guard to reigning MVP Russell Westbrook, filling in a role the Thunder desperately needed as a competent ball handler who can run an offense for the short time Westbrook sits.
Felton has averaged 2.9 assists for his career when he’s a reserve, and he shot 44.1 percent on wide-open threes last year for the Clippers. Felton won’t be asked to do more than hit spot-up threes and run the occasional play, and his presence will help a weaker bench which relies on young players.
