Better without McBob next year?

[Baracus]

I can't say this for sure but I believe that coming into this year Duke players looked to McRoberts for leadership. After all he was the guy who had all the talent, NBA scouts loved him, and with JJ and Shelden gone the supposed scoring threat this year. He didn't live up to those expectations. He was not the vocal leader as I have heard that Lance filled this role more than anybody. He is a player that would have been a lot better with a better supporting cast. He was not ready for what was thrown at him this season. I know I am not the only one who has noticed this because other Duke fans I know shared the same thoughts but it seemed he was never able to take responsibility for the mistakes that he made on the court. After a foul or a turnover or anything that he was involved in that didn't go right he would take it out on the other 4 guys on the court. He fussed at them instead of hitting himself in the chest and saying "my bad". Stepping up and taking responsibility for mistakes that you have made is a sign of true leadership. What was taking place at times on the court had to cause dissension among other players on the court. If you are a team that is looking to a player for leadership and what he gives you is whinning and crying it is not going to sit well. Sorry but at times I believe he didn't act the right way during games. Maybe to say this is a little strong but I don't know another way to say it. I also thought it was very interesting that Coach K was 100% behind McRoberts decision to leave. Maybe things will be better without him next year.

[Fish80]

We might have a better team next year with the new recruits and a year of seasoning for the returning guys. But we are far better with McRoberts than without him. McRoberts did quite a bit of everything, offensively and defensively, played a complete all 'round game. He played with great passion. I enjoyed watching him play, and wish him well.

You deserve 40 lashes for bashing McRoberts.

[Baracus]

Sorry but I have had this bottled up in me for awhile.

[evrdukie]

Duke will miss McRoberts next year, but that doesn't alter the fact that he didn't meet expectations. Meantime, Patterson really looks like a long shot. If he doesn't show up, it seems likely to be another season similar to the one we just finished.

[ACCBBallFan]

Kyle Singler can play the point-forward role and be more of a jump shot threat, but Duke was light on bigs this year and will be even lighter next unless Patrick Patterson signs on.

Of course, Duke could have had both Josh and Kyle on Offense which would have been entertaining.

[Fish80]

Even if Patterson goes somewhere else. Zoubek and Thomas will be bigger and stronger. And we'll play small sometimes, with 4 guards.

[Troublemaker]

Duke will miss McRoberts next year, but that doesn't alter the fact that he didn't meet expectations. Meantime, Patterson really looks like a long shot. If he doesn't show up, it seems likely to be another season similar to the one we just finished.

Longshot meaning about 1 in 3 right? I wouldn't count on next season being much like 8-8 / 1st round loss. Singler should open up the offense a lot. It'll be a very different team stylistically, imo.

[Dukefan4Life]

I dont think we are going to be a better team without josh. He did bring alot of skills to the team some of them werent used fully in my opnion. I think we used him to much as a passer and not a goto kind of guy. I do think we will have a very very good young team next year!

[evrdukie]

Mediocre team with McRoberts, probably the best overall player, on board. Without him it's going to be tough unless one of the freshmen turns out to be a dominant player right away. It just doesn't seem very likely to me.

[Dukefan4Life]

I have seen a few videos of singerl and nolan! singler looks like the real deal! he can score from anywhere on the court and has great passing skills! nolan looks to be a good point guard, great speed and can dish the rock too! i hear he is a lock down defender! looking forward to next season!

[Troublemaker]

Even if Singler were just a 6'9" guy who can hit 3s consistently and play PF, he would improve Duke (when you add in all the young players getting an extra year of experience) because he would open up driving lanes and give, say, Zoubek time and space to operate inside. But Singler's supposed to be so much more than that.

[CathyCA]

He is a player that would have been a lot better with a better supporting cast.

No matter how talented a player may or may not be, he must be able to function as a member of the team. I think that McRoberts had talented players surrounding him. I'm not sure whether this team had the chemistry that other Duke teams have possessed.

I don't view McRoberts' early departure to the NBA as a loss for Duke basketball.

[dukeisawesome]

This past year we were better with McRoberts, but I think we are much better off in the long run w/o McRoberts as it will give other guys a chance to step up and it takes a poor attitude off the team.

[Papa John]

My opinion, uninformed by any inside information, but informed by years of observing Coach K's teams... I think next year will be a case of addition by subtraction. This years' group seemed to lack the sense of team chemistry that characterizes K's successful teams. Agreed, they were the youngest group in his coaching tenure, but they are were also quite talented on paper, particularly McRoberts, who was considered the cream of the crop in his recruiting class. McRoberts clearly seemed to shy away from the mantle of leadership, and the result was a group that seemed to grow more confused and unsure of themselves as the season wore on. It seemed to me that Paulus tried admirably to fill what had become a glaring leadership void by the middle of the ACC schedule, but the team chemistry was so out of kilter by then it was simply too late. There's plenty of talent there already, and plenty more on the way next season. Taking McRoberts out of the mix might end up improving team chemistry and allowing the group to gel in the proper fashion to meet with a greater level of success.

Just my $.02...

[DukieGator]

We might have a better team next year with the new recruits and a year of seasoning for the returning guys. But we are far better with McRoberts than without him. McRoberts did quite a bit of everything, offensively and defensively, played a complete all 'round game. He played with great passion. I enjoyed watching him play, and wish him well.

You deserve 40 lashes for bashing McRoberts.

In terms of talent, I'm really not sure how we'll be. If I had to guess, probably not as good. But I think his argument as applied to team chemistry has some merit.

From what I've heard, Josh decided before the start of the season that this one would be his last at Duke. I'm sure word got out to players, coaches, etc. I don't see how you build team cohesion when your star player has made it clear to everyone that there's no chance he's in it for the long haul. Now that we're aware of what Josh's mentality was all year long, I don't think we should at all be surprised about the Feinstein quote from the WaPost article.

[Saratoga2]

My opinion, uninformed by any inside information, but informed by years of observing Coach K's teams... I think next year will be a case of addition by subtraction. This years' group seemed to lack the sense of team chemistry that characterizes K's successful teams. Agreed, they were the youngest group in his coaching tenure, but they are were also quite talented on paper, particularly McRoberts, who was considered the cream of the crop in his recruiting class. McRoberts clearly seemed to shy away from the mantle of leadership, and the result was a group that seemed to grow more confused and unsure of themselves as the season wore on. It seemed to me that Paulus tried admirably to fill what had become a glaring leadership void by the middle of the ACC schedule, but the team chemistry was so out of kilter by then it was simply too late. There's plenty of talent there already, and plenty more on the way next season. Taking McRoberts out of the mix might end up improving team chemistry and allowing the group to gel in the proper fashion to meet with a greater level of success.

Just my $.02...

Personally I think it is a reach to say that team chemistry and leadership were somehow impacted due to McRoberts attitude. I for one saw the best player on the team go out every night and give it his all for nearly 40 minutes. He didn't foul often despite being a defensive presence inside. He handled the ball well and passed well. Perhaps his biggest weaknesses were that he hadn't developed his pullup jumper and his inside offensive moves to the premier level.

Losing McRoberts will create a major hole in the team. Perhaps Singler can help somewhat there, but he is only 215 pounds so will not have the strength to contest inside against power forwards and centers. Neither Zoubek not Thomas have proven that they can be a starter inside. They are going to improve next year, the question is how much. We will need to play wait and see on Patterson. He has the strength to be a force inside but of course he is not committed and will be another freshman with much growing into the role, should he choose Duke

My take is that losing McRoberts is a major blow to the team.

[Papa John]

Let me just put it this way... I personally didn't see a very strong/tight "fist" this season. Yes, McRoberts was clearly the best individual player on the court for us. But I believe he didn't fulfill the role that was sorely needed from him from the outset--that of the clear leader and go-to guy... The "franchise player", so to speak. Josh seemed [again, to me] uncomfortable taking on that role.

[OZ]

[QUOTE=Papa John;10452]Let me just put it this way... I personally didn't see a very strong/tight "fist" this season. Yes, McRoberts was clearly the best individual player on the court for us. But I believe he didn't fulfill the role that was sorely needed from him from the outset--that of the clear leader and go-to guy... The "franchise player", so to speak. Josh seemed [again, to me] uncomfortable taking on that role.



So, just how many "tight-fisted, "clear leader", "franchise players" have you seen at Duke that were sophomores? I can't recall but a very select few and they each had "great" players to go with them that made them look a hell of a lot better. I don't recall a great number that were captains of the team.

[DukieUGA]

I agree that Duke's chemistry will be much improved next year, which will usually translate into better play. I mean these kids are talented, as is Josh, but without clear direciton, leadership on the court, identity or chemistry no amount of talent is going to dominate the way that Duke has dominated the ACC lately. To all of Josh's apologists, yeah, he put up decent numbers, had many all-around skills etc., but when the guy everyone is looking to (rightly or wrongly) to LEAD is whining and pointing fingers on every play that makes HIM look bad, well, that's the opposite of leadership. No wonder Duke's D disintegrated at the end of the year, noone was interested in listening to Josh's on-court lashings-out against them, noone wanted to pick up his slack. Most of the pressure put on Josh to succeed this year were not of his making nor of his design and certainly not his fault, but he did not develop good leadership skills. I think the team would have better served by him just keeping his mouth shut than demonstratively show his anti-leadership, the passion that so many cite as a sign of his desire to win. To the point that many bring up that Duke will have no interior presence next year, we hardly had any this year. Josh was a presence, just not an interior presence on offense. He does rebound well, but does not seal the lane well (which allows for the beloved penetration and finishing at the rim we lamented not having this year). He has great athleticism but does not score around the rim well except on open dunks. Towards the end of the year teams figured out that he can't shoot so they would not bring their interior defender out very far to defend him, further negating penetration by Nelson, Paulus, Henderson, whoever. If Patterson does not show up at Duke, we'll still have LT (6'8), McClure (6'6), Z (7'1), Singler (6'8) to play in the post as well as Scheyer (6'5), Pocius (6'4) and Henderson (6'4) as well as King (?6'5?), so Duke will be tall and several of those guys can defend multiple positions. If Z and LT are able to get substantially stronger over the summer, i see no reason that they shouldn't be considered as serious inside presences. Does anyone remember how K has been masterfull of using small lineups in the past? Was it '97 when Carrawell was used as a center at times and Duke went with essentially a 4-guard set most of the time?
Josh played pretty well this year, and from a numbers-only standpoint Duke could certainly stand to benefit from his presence. Whether they would have been better next year with him hinges almost entirely on his ability to create better team chemistry than he produced this past year. As it stands, Duke will not have him or his numbers or his attitude next year. What it will have is a large group of returning players with more experience, more maturity and hopefully more drive and verve to put this year behind them and create something better. They'll also have at least 3 new guys that will be able to add depth at the PG (Smith may not be a pure PG, but he'll def provide some cushion and/or competition for Paulus), SF/SG (where Duke already has lots of depth), and SF/PF (where Duke will def need Singler to be proficient in much the same way JM was proficient).

[johnnydakota]

You people blaming Josh's "attitude" are out of your minds. That kid wants to win as much or more than anyone else on the floor. This isn't sunday school, it's big time basketball. Duke would've been sub .500 w/o him. The guard play, as much as I like them, was really poor at times. If the record is any better next year, it sure as hell won't have anything to do with McRobert's being gone.