Wake insider breaks down Andrew Carr's game
Following OU wing Otega Oweh's commitment Cats Illustrated spoke with a Sooner insider for insight into his game.
We're continuing that trend tonight following Andrew Carr's commitment.
Conor O'Neill covers Wake Forest on the Rivals.com network and has covered Carr since he has been with the Demon Deacons.
Cats Illustrated: So what kind of player has Andrew Carr been for Wake Forest and what does he bring to the table?
Conor O'Neill: "Obviously based on the numbers he was a really productive player for two years at Wake. He came in and they were trying to replace Jake LaRavia, who was almost better than anybody expected. It was one of those too good, too early situations where he wound up leaving to be the 20th overall pick. To get the Andrew Carr story you have to explain to people what it was like when he came in. You had to explain to people, 'He's not Jake LaRavia.' He's not a lights out shooter like Jake was. He was more of a grind it out guy who had some experience playing the five and played really good defense at the four. He was better this year than he was last year. He had a little bit better of a team around him. He's a decent shooter and he can get hot. It takes a little bit for him to get his shot set up. I started referring to him as Robbie Hummel because he has that kind of jumper where there's nothing fundamentally wrong with it, but it just has that full body engagement jumper that isn't the most aesthetically pleasing. It's effective, obviously. The percentage tells you that. You just have to see it a couple of times to get used to it. He's not a guy who's going to take somebody 1-on-1 and create his own shot on the perimeter.
"Now if you're talking about throwing the ball to him inside, that's another story. But the thing is, I don't know how much Mark Pope's offense will call for post ups. One of the main ways Wake beat Duke late in the season was having Andrew Carr post up Mark Mitchell and scoring on him in the post several times in the second half. That really got Wake's offense going. He made a game winner against NC State. We had no idea at the time that it was a Final Four bound NC State team, but in the closing seconds he made a really tough jumper I think over Mo Diarrra. Kevin Keatts in the postgame was telling us he taught his guys not to let him get over that left shoulder. He caught it low and it was game over. He's a reliable down low scorer. Again, that's one of the things that makes this a little bit of a weird fit, as my initial reaction. I don't know how much Pope will want him posting up.
"He was more valuable to Wake on the defensive end of the court than offensively. It's not that he was a poor offensive player. He was just better defensively. He's a good rim protector. It's not like he's going to be up there swatting balls off the backboard but he'll wind up with some good fundamental blocks. He'll move his feet well. He could be overpowered at times but you're going to get that with a guy who's 6'10 and I think they have him listed at 222. I don't think you want him out there for 28 minutes per game at the five, but he can steal you some minutes at the five and play good defense at the four. He can do some versatile things in pick and roll coverages, whether you want to trap.
CI: How should UK fans view this addition? Is he more of a role player/rotation player or a guy they should expect to be a leading performer and go to guy?
O'Neill: "I think it's somewhere between those. He's not a guy who's going to come in and score 18 points per game. He's not going to carry you on a consistent basis. He's just going to be a really solid and reliable player, that, frankly Kentucky probably needs a few of. They probably need a breath of fresh air from having to ask the 18th-rated player in the country who's a freshman to fill that role. He will give them some role definition really helped out by having a fifth year guy who's there."