CHAPEL HILL – For a basketball team to improve, the players must first do so individually.

That is Hubert Davis’ belief, and it makes complete sense. That is why skills development for each player this summer was the primary point of emphasis for Davis and his staff during their first offseason running the fabled North Carolina program.

Davis knows. He has already lived this life: From unheralded college freshman to a 12-year NBA career, and that didn’t happen by osmosis. It was the sweat and grind he put in when nobody was watching.

In the case of the current Tar Heels, this also occurs with the aid of UNC's new coach and his assistants.

“I’m just huge on that,” Davis said Tuesday about skills development. “I just believe all of us (have) a huge responsibility for us to be on the floor with our guys relentlessly helping them get better.”

Perhaps at no time than now has basketball been more about individual skills feeding more into the sum of the whole. The game is more spread out, players rely on their ability to go left or right with the dribble, and also right at and by defenders; to use the highly coveted skill of hitting outside shots to open up other parts of their skill set. Players use more of the floor now than ever before.

The college and NBA games are more and more alike, and as UNC departs some from its more traditional two-bigs approach, it will embrace a four-out look, at least a good bit of the time. Kids want to play in the NBA, so part of Davis’ approach moving forward will be with that in mind.

Better skills equal a better team, and it also means a more appealing place for prospects to spend their college years.

“All our guys, they all want to play in the NBA,” Davis said. “And I told (6-foot-10 junior forward) Armando (Bacot), in order for him to have a chance, obviously he’s got to continue to make the jump that he made last year, but he’s got to be able to shoot the ball from the outside.

“This summer he has worked so hard on his outside shot, even all the way out to the three-point range. And that’s something that we’re going to encourage.”

Versatility is a word Davis will often utter, and it is more a part of the Carolina makeup now. Not that Roy Williams didn’t push for it, he most certainly did, but Davis must be his own man and gho about this his own way. He can’t try to be Williams because that rarely works. So, Hubert is doing Hubert.

That means pushing his guys to embrace every inch of the basketball court.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s (guard) R.J. (Davis) and Armando; the only difference between those two guys is size, I want them to be basketball players,” Davis said. “I want to be able to put these guys in different positions where (forwards) Brady (Manek) and Dawson (Garcia) coming off ball screens, you’ve got Kerwin posting up.

“I want them to be basketball players. I don’t want them to be one dimensional so we can put them in different spots where they can be successful.”

And to be successful means the Heels must make more shots and take care of the ball with greater efficiency than last season’s club that finished 18-11 overall and became the first Williams-coached team to lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Tar Heels concluded last season ranked No. 179 nationally converting 43.9 percent of their field goal attempts. They were No. 307 nationally in three-pointers made per game with 5.6, and ranked No. 263 in three-point percentage at 31.8.

“We need other guys that can shoot the ball other than Kerwin Walton,” Davis said about the rising sophomore, who led the team with 58 made threes adn a 42-percent accuracy rate from beyond the arc.

Carolina was No. 232 nationally in turnover margin (minus-27 total on the season) and the Heels were No. 270 in turnovers per game with 14.6, with their opponents averaging scoring 17 points off of turnovers per contest.

“We gave up more turnovers than anybody in the ACC,” the new Carolina coach lamented.

So, Davis and his staff zeroed in on getting their guys to improve their shooting and other ball skills. Handling it, passing, catching, and shooting better means more wins. It also means greater personal stock. And it will be even more rewarding for the rookie head coach.

“Out of all the things I find joy in my job, being on the floor with the guys is (at) the top of the list,” Davis said. “I just absolutely love that.”

He will love winning this season, too, and the more efficient the Tar Heels are with their ball skills, the more they will win.