The list is flawed. Maliq has played almost all of his minutes at the 5 spot. Maybe, he should be a PF, but he hasnt been used that way at all. Cant include him.
Not sure what Cope's mix is between forward and guard, but he is a dual position player.
That leaves Benny, Justin, and Bell as our three pure forwards.
They may well represent the worst forward combination in the ACC and beyond. May well also be the worst forward combination we have ever had in the Jimmy and post-Jimmy era.
Justin is an average rebounder who can no longer score. He is nothing special on D.
Bell is as one dimensional a player as we have ever had at forward.
Benny may be erratic, but at least he can sometimes score and he can sometimes rebound. He is easily the best of the three and should be starting. Time to forgive his early season transgressions unless there are still behind the scenes problems that I am unaware of.
All in all, you look at what was left on the cupboard for Red, and he has done a great job.
Looking forward (no pun intended), there is every reason to believe that Freeman will be an answer at one forward spot. My guess is that 2 of the 3 between Benny, Justin, and Bell do not return. We pretty clearly have to work the portal for another starting caliber forward and another guy who can compete for minutes. If we bring in a starting caliber center than that will free Maliq to play PF.
Hopefully, next year we will have enough roster talent to compete beyond middle of the pack.
