Should I have gone or should I have stayed?

There is a very interesting buzz going around of late regarding Ty Lawson. As most of the Tar Heels fans know, this buzz is whether or not the speedy point guard made the right choice in coming back to Chapel Hill. Some say that coming back is only going to improve Lawson's chances of making it into the lottery next year (most mock drafts had him at 20, going to Denver). The other side of the discussion says that no one truly gains from coming back another year. So, since I love UNC sports and this is a player that I've been following for all of his college career I thought that I would share my opinion.



Ty Lawson's major skill and the one that is going to get him a nice contract with an NBA team is his speed. And that, whether he is in college starting for head coach Roy Williams or in the NBA sitting on a bench somewhere waiting to get his minutes in, isn't going to lose its power. You can't teach speed (or height for that matter). But before you think I'm on the side of Lawson needing to go, let me finish my whole thought.

Yes, his speed will earn him a guaranteed contract. I believe it would have done so this year already, so why wouldn't it do so next year as well? That being said, what Lawson needs to stay around in the NBA are things that need game time reality. Lawson needs to make better shots and only against a real opponent, when the chips are down, when the pressure is at its fullest, will he have an opportunity to learn to do so. The saying "practice makes perfect" might be right and all, but only game time makes a boy into a man.

So now you think I am leaning for him staying. And the answer to that is: "yes". But for other reasons as well, not just the shooting. I think that Lawson, in some ways, has been compared to other great guards, and somehow the opinion of his play has always been "good, but just not good enough". Be it that he has been on two great teams that ended their season abruptly, be it that some thought he took too much time coming back from his high ankle injury (and I am NOT one of those that thought that), be it what it may, Ty Lawson's legacy at UNC is not as good as many others that have been there before him. I think that is something that a player that has something to prove will want to change.

Am I saying that Lawson came back because he wanted to make sure that the fans in Chapel Hill thought more of him than they did last year? No, but in the back of his mind, when he's adding up all the pro's and con's to going to the NBA, that one was there as well. Adding to this now is the rumors that his coming back could be bad for the chemistry of the team, and how he and the other two that tested the waters (Ellington and Green) might be playing more for the scouts than the team.

All of those things are in the back of a player's mind, and they either rise to the occasion because of them or they fall because of them. As I said before, Lawson (fairly or not) has been compared to so many greats before him and in most people's eyes has come up short against them. Well, with the talent he has to lead this year, with every single so-called analyst thinking that this is the Heels year to win it all, with the pressure of anything and everything they do on the lips of reporters, this is going to make the legacy of one Ty Lawson. Because if he can lead this team to victory, if he can make them stay on track, if he can be the floor general that I (along with a lot of other people) believe he is, then when his name is mentioned in the future with the rest of the point guards that have worn the Carolina Blue, he won't be as low as he is now.