High school all-star game grain of salt warning applies but a somewhat useful glimpse at incoming Tar Heel Joel James at the All-American Championships during the Final Four in New Orleans.
A few observations. One, James is left handed like classmate Marcus Paige. I don't know what the frequency of left handed players in the UNC program is but Roy Williams has had his share from Brandan Wright, Ed Davis, Kendall Marshall and now James and Paige. 2013 recruit Nate Britt is also left handed.
Also of note is James' size. His mobility could still use some work and I would not expect James to run the floor particularly well right now. Obviously he will need to develop more once he is placed under the supervision of Jonas Sahratian. To his credit, James has already dropped fifty pounds and is in much better shape than he was earlier in his high school career. The jumper he showed is apparently a new aspect of his game. In essence, he likely has not hit his ceiling in terms of development and is trending in the right direction heading to UNC. As the season progresses he may serve as a nice compliment to James Michael McAdoo in the post providing the Heels do not land Alex Oriakhi.