UNC Basketball: How Much Will Joel Berry Contribute to Heels' 2014-15 Season?

The North Carolina Tar Heels will compete for an ACC and national title in 2014-15, but the only way those dreams will become a reality is with contributions from Roy Williams’ impressive freshmen class.

One particularly important piece from that group is guard Joel Berry.

Berry checks in at 6'0" and is listed as a 4-star point guard by 247Sports, but is versatile and athletic enough to play off the ball as well. His athleticism and overall strength immediately jump out when watching him play, and he is quick enough to push the tempo in transition and finish at the rim.

Tom Gannam/Associated Press

His explosive first step also helps Berry beat defenders off the dribble in half-court sets, and he is more than capable of drilling shots from three-point range or setting up teammates with crisp passes.

Berry will certainly be the point guard of the future at Chapel Hill when Marcus Paige graduates or leaves for the NBA, but it is Berry’s ability to play either guard position that will help him see the floor and contribute to this year’s team.

C.L. Brown of ESPN.com believes that Berry and his fellow freshmen will institute a level of toughness on both ends of the court that fans haven’t seen in North Carolina for some time:

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It’s kind of hard to build a reputation for being tough as a team with all those All-Americans wearing baby blue. The Tar Heels have long been perceived as leaning toward finesse well before Roy Williams' tenure began. But Carolina’s freshman class of Berry, Theo Pinson and Justin Jackson could alter that this season.

The trio arrived on campus with the kind of hunger -- better yet, heart -- that has been missing in Chapel Hill for some time.

When’s the last time a Carolina team was defined by its toughness? The 2009 national championship team? Maybe, but more often than not, the teams were defined by players who played like a bunch of nice guys who didn't have a lot of fight.

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North Carolina’s schedule is daunting on paper. With ACC clashes against Duke, Syracuse, Louisville and Virginia, among others, and nonconference tilts with Kentucky, Ohio State and whichever top-notch teams it faces in the Battle 4 Atlantis, the Tar Heels are going to need some depth and toughness.

Berry provides just that.

Returning superstar Paige was certainly impressed with Berry as well, via Brown:

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The thing I like about them most is they all have a real tough competitive edge, you can even tell in pickup games and in drills -- especially Joel. He’s such a fiery competitor, and having that on the team is going to help. Because not everyone has it, let’s be honest. Everyone wants to win, but not everyone is super-fiery and competitive and I think all three of them have that and to go with their talent, it’s going to push our team to make it better.

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Where Berry fits into the Tar Heels' rotation on a deep team will ultimately help determine how much he is used this year.

Remember, five of the seven players who earned double-digit minutes a year ago are back this season, which makes playing time hard to come by. Paige, Kennedy Meeks, J.P. Tokoto, Brice Johnson and Nate Britt will see the floor early and often, and Isaiah Hicks should find himself playing more in his sophomore season than the 7.3 minutes a game he saw last year.

Gerry Broome/Associated Press

Then there are the freshmen.

Berry, Justin Jackson and Theo Pinson give the Tar Heels the opportunity to go as many as nine-deep on a regular basis. The good news for Berry in terms of his playing time and opportunity to contribute is the fact that there is less congestion in the backcourt than the forward spots.

Pinson and Jackson are versatile enough to play shooting guard, but their games and overall length are better suited for playing small forward.

That means Berry could be competing with Britt for playing time in the backcourt alongside Paige. While Britt is a nice piece to have for depth purposes on the perimeter and can be a pesky outside defender, Berry’s ceiling is simply higher on both ends of the floor. It will mean good things for the Tar Heels if Berry can earn more playing time once he grows accustomed to the college game.

Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

Berry’s presence as a natural point guard also means Williams could move Paige off the ball and into better positions to score.

Berry’s ultimate value for North Carolina is in the help he can offer Paige in the backcourt this season.

Last year, Paige led North Carolina in scoring with 17.5 points a game and assists with 4.2 a game. He was also a critical perimeter defender, tallying 1.5 steals a game. However, he shot the ball 12.8 times a night, largely because there were so many times when the Tar Heels offense would simply give the ball to him with the shot clock running down and see what he could create with it.

While Paige is one of the best players in the country and more than capable of making plays with his back against the wall, it would help Paige’s efficiency and the offense as a whole if he didn’t have to force as many difficult looks because defenses collapsed on him.

Having Berry as an outside shooter who can spot up from three-point range when Paige penetrates will be beneficial for the offense and Paige’s assist numbers.

Berry is the versatile point guard Williams needed last year to help spell Paige over the course of a long season. Berry will work in sync with the All-American to help create ball pressure on one end of the floor and then take some of the offensive pressure off Paige’s shoulders on the other. 

By the time ACC play rolls around, Berry will be a major part of North Carolina’s rotation every single night.

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