Category: Tar Heels in NBA

Michael Jordan voted NBA’s GOAT in anonymous NBA player poll

NBA players voted between Michael Jordan and LeBron James, choosing who the GOAT is

There’s a select few professional basketball players you could include in the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) debate.

Most of that debate, however, centers on Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and former UNC/Chicago Bulls standout Michael Jordan.

James is continuing to dominate the NBA at age 39, averaging just over 25 points per game, against much younger stars like Luka and Wemby. MJ played in an era just as talented, but less complex, highlighted by going a perfect 6-for-6 in NBA Finals tries.

If you’ve gone back and watched Jordan highlights, his legacy started on TV during the 1982 National Championship game, when he hit “the shot” to beat Georgetown.

This debate could go on forever, but there’s one news outlet that made up its mind – a decision which UNC fans will like.

According to an anonymous NBA Player Poll, via The Athletic, MJ was voted the GOAT.

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Similar to LeBron, Jordan averaged 20 points per game in every professional season. This included a stretch of seven straight seasons (1987-1993) in which he averaged 30 points, plus two consecutive 20-point seasons with the Washington Wizards, to close out his playing career.

As amazing a player MJ was, his basketball ownership tenure never largely panned out. The Charlotte Hornets made the NBA Postseason three times under Jordan, but never won a playoff series.

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Coby White has Paul George’s vote for Most Improved Player

Former UNC point guard Coby White is putting up career numbers with the Chicago Bulls this year. Could he be the NBA’s Most Improved Player?

When a basketball team loses its starting point guard, it loses the orchestrator of its offense.

Such was the case with the Chicago Bulls entering the 2022-2023 season, who lost Lonzo Ball to a knee surgery. Ball has since suffered complications, delaying his return to the court.

Luckily for Chicago, it has another budding star at point guard in Coby White, who spent his lone collegiate season at UNC in 2018-2019. White helped lead North Carolina to the Sweet 16 that season, when it lost in the Sweet 16 to Auburn, by averaging 16.1 points per game.

White hasn’t started a majority of the Bulls’ games in three years, but is making the most of his opportunities. He’s averaging a career-high 19.6 points per game, which ranks Top-50 in the NBA, while reaching double-digits in 60 of Chicago’s 62 games.

This type of play is gaining White national attention, including from future Hall-of-Famer Paul George.

To give you an idea of how good PG is, he’s a 9-time All-Star and 2-time All-Defensive First Team. He’s part of a loaded Los Angeles Clippers squad with James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, one that’s expected to contend for its first NBA title.

The Bulls (34-35) have been hovering around .500 most of the year, but White has them ninth in the Eastern Conference. This would normally put them outside of the playoffs, but introduction of the Play-In Tournament has Chicago 3.5 games ahead of the Atlanta Hawks for that final spot.

Unless White’s Bulls suffer an epic late-season collapse, he’ll lead them back to the playoffs for the first time in two years.

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Psycho T named FanDuel’s best college hoops player since 2000

Tyler Hansbrough was one of the greatest basketball players to come through UNC. He’s also one of college’s best players of all-time.

If you ever had an opportunity to see Tyler Hansbrough suit up for the North Carolina Tar Heels, you may not have realized you’d eventually be watching one of college basketball’s all-time greats.

Hansbrough, also known by his nickname “Psycho T” for his aggressive, on-court play, is the best big man to ever come through Chapel Hill. He was named All-ACC each of his four seasons at UNC, highlighted by a 2008 ACC Player of the Year selection.

To put in perspective how dominant Hansbrough was, he averaged 20.2 points per game as a Tar Heel.

Hansbrough was also part of arguably the greatest North Carolina team assembled, which won the 2009 National Championship over Michigan State. He went on to play seven NBA seasons, including his final one (2014-2015) with the Charlotte Hornets, but never enjoyed the same success he did at the collegiate level.

There’s been several uber-talented players at the college level over the years, but none quite like Hansbrough.

In FanDuel’s rankings of Top 25 college basketball players since 2000, Hansbrough topped the list.

Being up there with several other college greats is incredible, but to lead them is a whole additional level of awesome. Several players on this list have gone on to become future Hall-of-Famers in the NBA, such as Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and possibly Anthony Davis.

I don’t think many people saw Hansbrough’s pro career flaming out after seven years, but that sadly happens to even the best of college players. His best NBA season came in Year Two with the Indiana Pacers, when he averaged a career-best 11 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

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Coby White drops career high in win over Sacramento Kings

Former UNC basketball guard Coby White drops a career-high 37 points while dropping fellow Tar Heel Harrison Barnes in a highlight finish.

It’s been quite the season for former UNC basketball star [autotag]Coby White[/autotag], who continues to improve his chances for the NBA Most Improved Player of the Year award.

White has been posterizing the competition and added another poster Monday night against another fellow Tar Heel. White and the Chicago Bulls played in Sacramento, taking on [autotag]Harrison Barnes[/autotag] and the Kings.

The second quarter is where White added Barnes to his highlight reel, as both Tar Heels matched up at the top of the key. White utilizing his handles and speed, not only crossed up Barnes to get to the rim, but added an exclamation point with a thunderous dunk over the former UNC star.

The monstrous finish added to what ended up being a huge night for White, scoring a career-high 37 points and seven assists. White led the charge for Chicago, who came back after being down 22 points to beat the Kings 113-109.

He had the go-ahead bucket in the win, scoring a layup late to give the Bulls a 111-109 lead.

This is White’s fifth game in the last two months, eclipsing 30 points or more, adding to his MIP resume. White and the Bulls will be back in action Wednesday to take on the Utah Jazz.

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Justin Jackson signs 10-day contract with Timberwolves

Former UNC basketball standout Justin Jackson has signed a 10-day contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves out of the All-Star break.

Former North Carolina Tar Heels standout Justin Jackson is getting another crack at the NBA.

On Wednesday, Jackson signed a 10-day contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the top team in the Western Conference at the NBA All-Star break. The 28-year-old Jackson has spent the entire season with the Texas Legends in the G-League, averaging 19.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 19 games.

He was last in the NBA with the Boston Celtics during the 2022-23 season and was traded at the 2023 NBA deadline to Oklahoma City before being cut by the Thunder. The 10-day contract will give him another shot in the league with a different team.

The former first-round pick back in 2017 has played six seasons, averaging 6.0 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in the NBA. He won a title with the Milwaukee Bucks back in 2021. But since then, he’s appeared in just 37 total games.

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Vince Carter reveals NBA’s dunk contest plans that featured top stars

Vince Carter reveals the NBA’s dunk contest plans that featured top stars, including Lebron James and Kobe Bryant.

[autotag]Vince Carter[/autotag] reveals NBA’s dunk contest plans that featured the biggest stars but failed due to lack of participation.

According to Carter, the NBA schemed up every hoop fan’s dream of a slam dunk contest that would’ve featured Lebron James, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, and Carter himself. The story was revealed on Fanduel’s flagship NBA show, Run it Back, and caught the attention of the masses as speculation took over on why the dream dunk contest did not happen.

The story becomes even more bizarre when it is revealed that each star would’ve walked away with 1 million dollars each, giving a hefty incentive to put on a show for the crowd. Fans pinpointed James as why, seeing the other three testing their luck in the competition.

Undoubtedly there is no way to confirm or deny why this lineup didn’t take place, but it’s fun to think about what could’ve been arguably the greatest dunk contest of all time.

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Social media reacts to George Karl calling Carmelo Anthony overrated

Social media reacts to former UNC player turned NBA head coach George Karl calling Carmelo Anthony overrated.

Many damaged coach-player relationships have existed in sports, but none has had the amount of bad blood like former UNC player turned NBA coach [autotag]George Karl[/autotag] and [autotag]Carmelo Anthony[/autotag].

Karl coached Anthony for the Denver Nuggets, and ever since their breakup that saw Anthony get traded to the New York Knicks, the two have shared jabs. Well, we now have a bit more insight into what went wrong between the two, with Anthony describing how everything went wrong as soon as Karl was hired for the head coaching job.

Karl already had a coaching career that spoke for itself with 16 seasons already under his belt, including the 90s Seattle Sonics team led by Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, and Sam Perkins. However, never getting the ultimate prize of an NBA championship, Karl had plenty to prove and was paired up with the 3rd overall pick to get that job done.

Anthony revealed on his Podcast that in the first meeting with Karl, he called him overrated. Karl confirmed this story on the X platform while sharing the viral snippet.

 

The wild exchange sent social media into a frenzy, with hoop fans taking sides between the two. Since posting the snippet Friday, it has garnered more than 5 million views.

Let’s take a look at how social media reacted to Karl calling Anthony overrated.

Theo Pinson has impressive performance

Theo Pinson was an integral part of UNC’s 2017-2018 National Championship-winning team. What did he do in NBA G-League action Friday night?

Theo Pinson brought a little bit of everything to the UNC men’s basketball program from 2014-2018.

Pinson steadily improved his scoring ability over his four years, averaging a collegiate-high 10.3 points per game during the Tar Heels’ national championship season in 2017-2018, but he was primarily known for his passing, defense and occasional thunderous dunks.

No one selected Pinson in the 2018 NBA Draft, but he signed with the Brooklyn Nets as an undrafted free agent. Pinson also played with the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks, recording his first career triple-double during the Mavs’ last game of their 2022-2023 campaign.

Pinson re-joined the Texas Legends, Dallas’ G-League affiliate, on October 29 last year in hopes of one day being promoted to the Mavericks.

His latest effort might earn him a call-up.

On Friday, Feb. 9 in Texas’ 135-128 over the Memphis Hustle, Pinson recorded a double-double by scoring 11 points and dishing out a whopping 20 assists.

In Pinson’s highlights above, the thing you can easily identify most is his exceptional passing ability – particularly in the full-court. You might also recognize one recipient of Pinson’s dimes – Justin Jackson, another former Tar Heel.

Pinson might be hard-pressed for playing time in Dallas, as their guard and forward rotation includes stars Luke Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the newly-acquired PJ Washington, but Pinson at least warrants a look.

I’m not saying he needs to start in the NBA, but Pinson would certainly provide valuable minutes off the bench.

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RJ Davis surpasses this Tar Heel Hoops legend on all-time scoring list

UNC basketball standout RJ Davis passed Michael Jordan on the all-time scoring list during Tuesday’s game.

The level of stardom RJ Davis has risen to this year is a major reason why the UNC men’s basketball team – for the most part – looks like a Final Four contender.

Outside of consecutive Tuesday losses to Georgia Tech and Clemson, neither of whom have a winning record in ACC play, North Carolina is winning games by combining its high-scoring offense with a newfound defensive strength. UNC has both scored 100 points three times this year (Tennessee, Charleston Southern, Syracuse) and played through an impressive stretch that spanned through January, in which it limited 10 consecutive opponents to 70 or fewer points.

Every Tar Heel is contributing in some shape or form, but it’s Davis showing out mostly on the offensive end. He leads the ACC in scoring and ranks 11th nationally at 21.3 points per game, sandwiched between New Hampshire’s Clarence Daniels and North Carolina A&T’s Landon Glasper.

Davis was also one of the few bright spots in UNC’s loss to Clemson Tuesday night, scoring 22 points to finish third amongst all scorers. He shot under 33 percent from the field and just 60 percent from the charity stripe, but drained five 3-point attempts.

On one of Davis’ free throw makes, giving him 1,789 career points in baby blue, Davis moved himself up to 15th on the Tar Heels’ all-time scoring list

Who’d he pass, exactly?

Michael Jordan – the GOAT? Yes, the same Michael Jordan who: helped North Carolina capture the 1992 National Championship over Georgetown, went a perfect 6-for-6 in the NBA Finals as a Chicago Bull and became a 14-time NBA All-Star.

MJ ended his UNC career with 1,788 points in three seasons. There’s no word from MJ yet on Davis surpassing him in the record books, but I imagine he’s smiling somewhere.

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Leaky Black makes first career NBA start on Monday night

Leaky Black spent five years entertaining UNC basketball fans. He got the chance of a lifetime in the NBA on Monday, Feb. 5.

Odds are, every young athlete’s dream is to play their sport at the highest possible level.

Nowadays, you’ll see kids eating, sleeping and breathing sports. This means sacrificing time at home for travel sports, spending their rare free time watching collegiate players or the pros and – to further improve their skill sets, train with the best.

The young athlete I’m writing about in this story is Leaky Black, the former 5-year UNC basketball player who is now a member of the Charlotte Hornets.

Black originally signed a 2-way contract with Charlotte on July 19 last year, meaning he splits time with the Hornets and their G-League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm.

He’s been playing with Charlotte regularly and – on Monday night, started an NBA game for the first time.

Black did a little bit of everything in the Hornets’ 125-119 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night – scoring two points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out two assists in 16 minutes.

This move likely isn’t permanent, but was needed with Charlotte having three guards (LaMelo Ball, Cody Martin, Frank Ntilikina) listed on the injury report.

Having a versatile guard-forward like Black to count on, though, will certainly benefit a young, struggling Hornets team in the immediate future.

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