Nov. 1, 2007

By Adam Lucas

Ty Lawson knows how to control a game.

That's what he's been doing since he first picked up a basketball. That's why he was Roy Williams's most sought-after point guard in an impressive 2006 crop of prep points (Javaris Crittenton and Mike Conley, are already in the NBA, and D.J. Augustin ranked fourth in the nation in assists and earned Associated Press honorable mention All-America).

By the end of his freshman season, Lawson says he'd grown comfortable with how to change a game's tempo. He'd learned the nuances of when to keep his foot on the gas pedal--in a Williams-coached system, the answer is almost always--and when to throttle back. He'd even begun to master the subtle art of playing fast...while also playing under control, Williams's top maxim for his point guards.

But as the Tar Heels open their exhibition season Saturday night at 8:15 against Shaw (fans can watch both exhibitions live on TarHeelBlue.com), Lawson is learning an entirely new way to control a game.

"Coach told me if I disrupt the other point guard defensively I can disrupt their entire offense," Lawson says. "I want to make it hard for them to get up the court and hard for them to run what they want to run."

The Oak Hill product is quick to admit that this is a new concept for him. He played defense as a freshman but he didn't really work at it. To him, being a point guard was more about scoring and passing and driving.

"Tywon can guard anybody," says Bobby Frasor, who sometimes has to deal with Lawson in practice. "He can stay in front of them for the entire 94 feet if he wants to. But guarding the ball, he took some plays off last year."

Taking plays off, of course, is a significant transgression on a Roy Williams team. That's the whole reason the tired signal was invented by Dean Smith. It enables a player to give maximum effort on the court with the knowledge that he can rest--on the bench--at will.

So when the head coach sat down with his point guard before the summer break, he had three simple requests for Lawson: work on your midrange game, become more of a leader, and become a better defender.

For the last request, Williams provided an easy study guide.

"He told me to watch tapes of Raymond (Felton)," Lawson says. "He said Raymond had been one of his best defensive point guards here."

That's the underrated part of Felton's game, and it's an underappreciated factor that led his teammates to recognize him as the 2005 team's co-MVP.

Everyone knows about the assists (fourth in Carolina history) and the scoring (one of just 46 1,200-point scorers in Tar Heel history). He made gigantic shots, like the three-pointer against Illinois in the title game or the four clutch free throws in the final minute of the Wisconsin game.

But if there's a quintessential Felton image from that 2005 title season, it might not be a basket or a pass. Conjure up an image of him in your mind and you're just as likely to picture him with his back to the basket, hands clapping vigorously as he encourages his teammates while the opposing team tries to bring the ball up the court.

"Last year, I just ran back on defense and let the other team walk the ball up the court," Lawson says. "I watched a couple tapes of Raymond this summer. He would pressure full court and make them turn three or four times. He would get steals and deflections."

He's right. Although steals aren't always an exact measurement of defensive prowess, they're a good indicator of being around the ball. Felton's 192 career steals--in just three years--ranks ahead of better-known Carolina defenders like Dudley Bradley and Ademola Okulaja. Lawson collected 58 in 38 games as a freshman (Felton had 63 in 30 games in his first year in Williams's system).

It's a simple fact of Chapel Hill life that Lawson will continue to be compared to Felton, who stands as this generation's point guard gold standard. The Latta native has a national championship, he has individual honors, and he's the first pure point guard in--this might surprise you--20 years to have his jersey reach the Smith Center rafters.

Lawson has the ability to replicate all those achievements. Most importantly for the 2007-08 fortunes, he's already noticed some important similarities to Felton.

"I'm quick on my feet," he says. "I can change directions quickly. I'm an energy guy. And Coach told me those are all qualities that Ray had. I can play defense like him, but I've got a lot of room for improvement."

Adam Lucas most recently collaborated on a behind-the-scenes look at Carolina Basketball with Wes Miller. The Road To Blue Heaven will be released on October 1. Lucas's other books on Carolina basketball include The Best Game Ever, which chronicles the 1957 national championship season, Going Home Again, which focuses on Roy Williams's return to Carolina, and Led By Their Dreams, a collaboration with Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers on the 2005 championship team.