UNC's Michael Malone Faces Development Challenge That NBA Doesn't Have

North Carolina brought in former NBA head coach and champion Michael Malone, who coached the Denver Nuggets. 

The decision to bring in Malone seemed easy, since he's the guy who will attract recruits.

Ultimately, North Carolina has to keep winning recruiting battles, and with the money the program has allocated to its roster and other avenues, it should feel like it's in a strong position to land some of these players. 

The only concern with a guy like Malone is whether he can coach in college compared to the NBA. The situations are very different, something many North Carolina fans know, given Bill Belichick's struggles with the football program.

Malone is different from Belichick, as he's a no-drama guy who just wants to win. That should be a good thing for North Carolina, but again, nothing is guaranteed in this basketball world nowadays.

Speaking recently about why he decided to coach in college, Malone said it's been the biggest question he's been asked over the past couple of months. 

He also had more to say about it, and it all seemed like great comments from the new North Carolina head coach.

"I’ve been asked that question many times in the last four or five months, and the easiest way I could answer that would be in the NBA all you do is coach. It’s all basketball. In college, the last thing you get to do is coach. You’re doing so many other things to kind of build your program.

“I understood that. You know, I’d coached in college many years ago before going to the NBA, but that’s one thing I’ve realized the last five months from recruiting to fundraising, to relationships, and then when you get the hours on the court with guys like Jarin and Neo to pour into them and help them develop and get to practice and now we have a game on Friday night, our first exhibition game, that is my happy place, when you finally get a chance to do what you love and teach and develop and help pour into these guys,” Malone said, per FanSided.

It's interesting that Malone brings up the developmental side of things here. 

While North Carolina needs to develop guys at a high level, there's hope and an expectation that many of the guys he brings in will be ready to play from day one. At the same time, that doesn't mean development stops.

In the NBA, that's not always the case, as guys have skill coaches, offseason workouts, and position coaches. 

Malone has to get used to that, but he sounds like he's more than up for the challenge.