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Friday, February 24, 2006
Emotional leader M.I.A.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Don’t have a lot to say today so I’ll kind of mirror the story in tomorrow’s paper.
It seems to me like Tech’s missing more than a true point guard. The Jackets lack an emotional leader.
It doesn’t always have to be a point guard, although that helps, but I don’t see any evidence that Tech has a player who polices his teammates the way Clarence Moore did two years ago.
Youth is no excuse for spotty play at point guard (a tangentially-related issue), as the league’s top two passers, Duke’s Paulus and UNC’s Frasor, are freshmen. But they obviously don’t have to be their teams’ emotional leaders. Plus, unlike Zam Fredrick and even Mario West, they’re true point guards.
Anthony Morrow is not the assertive type to fill this role and neither is the lone senior, Theodis Tarver.
It doesn’t mean they’re deficient, just not the guy everybody is going to rally around when times get tough.
For my two cents, Jeremis Smith is the most likely candidate, but having been a reserve last year, and an on-and-off starter this year (you read it first here: next year’s he’s going to be outstanding), he’s kind of in a difficult spot to enact the role of enforcer right now.
Zam’s caught trying to play a position that’s not comfortable, and West, while respected by teammates for his ethic and so forth, does not appear to be the guy.
Dickey’s a very talented player, but doesn’t seem comfortable in that role.
It’s kind of hard to define what the “role” really is, but I’m not sure the Jackets have a guy in it.
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