The Facts: C.J. Leslie his sophomore season with tremendous hype. The question circling ACC circles now is what will he do? Will he come back and be the favorite for ACC Player of the Year, or will he be drafted to the NBA late in the first round or early in the second?
Our Opinion: The question shouldn’t be what will he do. That’s up to him, the question should be what should he do? Leslie has certainly developed in two seasons, but he still has a long way to go.
Here’s the situation: There’s 25 seconds left on the shot clock, the game is relatively close, and C.J. Leslie gets the ball 22 feet out. Over the course of the season, if you’re like us, you find yourself doing the same thing. You hold your breath and wait. There’s no telling what he’s going to do next.
Leslie has a tendency to do one of two things when he gets the ball: He’ll either make the most bone-headed play imaginable or put his sheer athleticism and potential on display for the world to see. We curse his name for the former and praise him for the latter.
Even with basketball season over, we find ourselves holding our breath on Leslie’s decision: is he going to leave for the National Basketball Association, or is he going to stay here for another year? And, just like when he’s holding the ball 22 feet out, his decision will go one of two ways; we’ll either be ecstatic or a bit confused.
Whether Leslie enters the draft this year or not, he’ll find himself in the League soon enough. Before he enters the NBA, Leslie needs to work on an aspect or two of his game, his perimeter shooting being one. A three-point percentage below .300 at the college level will not cut it at the next level. He needs the three-pointer to add round out his game. While he may be able to finagle his way through defenses at the college level, he simply doesn’t have the size, 210-pound compared to a 250-pound Lebron James, to compete at the next level. An outside shot would keep defenders at bay while he bulks up and keep him from being muscled out of the league.
Leslie also needs to learn how to be a winner. While N.C. State basketball had a tremendous year this past season, we were underdogs. Going into next year, with one of the top recruiting classes in the country, we find ourselves in the top 10 of the majority of polls. With all of the hype comes the ability for Leslie to lead the team to greatness. It’s one thing to win when nobody expects it; it’s a whole other level to do it when everyone is watching and expecting it. He has a chance to learn a lesson in what it means to win that he may never be faced with again.
This is not a challenge for Leslie; this is not a group of detractors telling him he can never make it in the NBA. We just believe, at his current level, he’s a long shot for sustained success. He’d be much better served staying and developing with us for another year.
