Tony Parker to UCLA

[Indoor66]

I think the comment about bigs setting screens and rebounding was made by McGary. Unless Parker also made a similar comment. At any rate, I'm not really as put off by these comments as others. As Duke fans we know that our program has put more than 4 big guys in the NBA, but if you asked the average basketball fan to name more than four, they probably couldn't. And losing to Lehigh is NOT a good look. If he still wants to come to Duke then I'd love to have him, but with that said I'm not exactly holding my breath either.

Re highlighted portion: I don't hold my breath for any recruit. The Duke program has always been much bigger than any one recruit.

[duke4life32182]

The Lehigh loss might b hard to swallow, but look back in time. There was a team right down the road who lost to Weber State. It didn't kill their program. We will be fine, the things I read about Parker's game aren't good. I hope he signs elsewhere-just my .02 cents worth

[TexHawk]

Obviously, we all know Duke has produced more than 4 NBA bigs under Coach K; and I would like to think that Tony knows that as well. Moreover, how many NBA bigs has Coaches like Self, Motta, Howland, and the other coaches at the respective schools that are on his final list? I could be wrong, but I don't think any of these coaches have produced NBA bigs, let alone 4 NBA bigs with the kind of impact Dukes "4" bigs have made in college and the NBA up to this point. If tony is buying into some of this crap that other coaches might be giving him, I think it's great that K is visiting him to give him the "facts" and hopefully set him straight in regards to many of these misconceptions.

It was discussed way back in this thread, but to answer this again, as of today, every big man that Bill Self has recruited to Kansas has been drafted into the NBA. Julian Wright, Darrell Arthur, Cole Aldrich, Sasha Kaun, Darnell Jackson, Marcus Morris, and Markieff Morris. Thomas Robinson and Jeff Withey are shoe-ins when they declare. That's at least 4 lottery picks, Robinson should make it 5. (This stat will change when Kevin Young and Justin Wesley graduate, because those guys won't sniff the league, but they were also transfers from mid-majors.) That also ignores Wayne Simien, who played two years under Self, but was a Roy recruit.

True, there are no all-stars on that list, but Arthur and the Morris bros have promise.

[duke1983]

I'm not one to read into tweets, but this would be a pretty cool cryptic message...

tonyparker32 - God gave us talent the devil made us famous

[cbnaylor]

So I wonder if this was before or after Coach K Visited Tony today?

[cbnaylor]

IMO, Parker looks extremely slow in comparison to college basketball. Do you honestly think he will be able to get up and down the court and play Duke defense?

[superdave]

IMO, Parker looks extremely slow in comparison to college basketball. Do you honestly think he will be able to get up and down the court and play Duke defense?

Why would Coach K spend so much time recruiting someone who was too slow to play college basketball at the highest level?

[luvdahops]

Why would Coach K spend so much time recruiting someone who was too slow to play college basketball at the highest level?

Wonder if part of the sell is that K is the ideal guy to whip him into shape and, by extension, help him reach his ceiling as a player (i.e. turn him into a Brand / Boozer / Shelden type low post butt-kicker). Who knows whether it resonates, but does seem plausible.

[MCFinARL]

I'm not one to read into tweets, but this would be a pretty cool cryptic message...

tonyparker32 - God gave us talent the devil made us famous

It's actually a pretty cool straightforward tweet as well--I only hope some of these recruits actually understand it when all those folks are whispering in their ears about how great they are.

[UrinalCake]

I'm not one to read into tweets, but this would be a pretty cool cryptic message...

tonyparker32 - God gave us talent the devil made us famous

Does that mean he's going to St. John's to play with that guy named "God's Gift"?

[moonpie23]

maybe the staff feels like the extra effort will KIND of fill the need better than any other option available....my fear would be to GET tony, find out he's not that good and then he leaves in ugly departure... blaming duke...


i dunno, this just doesn't sound good, but the staff has to think this is worth it..

[Billy Dat]

I didn't see anyone link to the infamous Parker diary, here it is:

http://espn.go.com/high-school/boys-...s-inner-circle

He says a lot of great things about Duke, and critical things. It's a great read.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I didn't see anyone link to the infamous Parker diary, here it is:

http://espn.go.com/high-school/boys-...s-inner-circle

He says a lot of great things about Duke, and critical things. It's a great read.

"Exactly," Parker said. "I really like Duke; I just can't honestly say that I'm 100 percent comfortable with a guard teaching me about the post. Coach (Steve) Wojciechowski is like 5-foot-6."
"Well, I'm only 5-foot-11, Tony and," Virgil said.
"And you're the worst big man coach in America," Parker joked.

He's got a sense of humor, that stands out. And he respects K tons, that stands out. And no matter how much we say otherwise on this board, Wojo coaching big men also stands out. That shouldn't suprise me as much as it does I guess.

[dukedoc]

I didn't see anyone link to the infamous Parker diary, here it is:

http://espn.go.com/high-school/boys-...s-inner-circle

He says a lot of great things about Duke, and critical things. It's a great read.

Pretty decent read. Nothing surprising. The kid sincerely seems torn. As we all knew, K isn't crazy. It seems there's still a chance for TP to come to Duke, and that's why K is still in hot pursuit. Tony definitely has his reservations, but I think we've all collectively already acknowledged the things that give him pause about us. I'm definitely more interested to see how this story ends than I was before reading the piece.

Seems like his parents both are into Duke - which hasn't exactly worked in favor recently, but who knows. I liked this part from his Dad:

"If you don't remember anything else, remember this," he said. "Go where you're needed. Forget about how whatever school used other guys. You're Tony Parker. You're going to get the ball. You're going to produce. That said, I support you 100 percent. We all do."

[Newton_14]

Pretty decent read. Nothing surprising. The kid sincerely seems torn. As we all knew, K isn't crazy. It seems there's still a chance for TP to come to Duke, and that's why K is still in hot pursuit. Tony definitely has his reservations, but I think we've all collectively already acknowledged the things that give him pause about us. I'm definitely more interested to see how this story ends than I was before reading the piece.

As am I. Reading that I would say it's down to Kansas, OSU, and Duke. "Go where you are needed" was the advice from Virgil, who along with his mom, seem to want him to be a Blue Devil. Looks like this one is not over at all for Duke. My only concern is all of his advisors are convinced Parker will be an impact player from Day 1. My question is, can they handle it, if he is not? What if he needs a year or two to develop? I don't ask that as a Duke guy either. No matter his choice, can they handle it if it takes to halfway thru his sophomore year before he starts making an impact? That's a lot of pressure put on a top 20ish recruit. Especially a top 20ish big man recruit...

[tbyers11]

I didn't see anyone link to the infamous Parker diary, here it is:

http://espn.go.com/high-school/boys-...s-inner-circle

He says a lot of great things about Duke, and critical things. It's a great read.

Pretty good read. Though you wonder who is feeding him info on Duke (or who is editing the article) when he discusses Shav and Burgess not living up to their HS billing when Elton and Shelden were lottery pick big men from the same respective recruiting classes.

[El_Diablo]

It really shows how much systematic negative recruiting he has been getting if he can "reel off" a list of Duke forwards and centers who did not live up to their high school rankings. I mean, references to Shavlik Randolph and Chris Burgess? Really? Why would he be concerned about them when there were post players in the EXACT same classes (Shelden Williams and Elton Brand) who had phenomenal careers at Duke, became top-five draft picks, and whose physiques and styles of play were much closer to Parker's? And Lance Thomas was a "can't miss" big man prospect??? Please. I wouldn't mind it if he also reeled off some major under-performers at his other schools (like BJ Mullens at Ohio State or Josh Smith at UCLA), but the fact that he only singled Duke out on this point is pretty telling.

It looks like we have some other factors going for us, but it still doesn't look very promising to me if he's (a) listening to the negative recruiting whispers, and (b) actually giving those examples more consideration than the counter-examples of successful Duke big men. I like Virgil's advice ("Forget about how whatever school used other guys. You're Tony Parker.") and ultimately would prefer to bring in players who are less focused on how much weight they'd be forced to lose or how much others will improve them and were instead more focused on being driven to constantly improve themselves. Parker's setting himself up to be disappointed (wherever he ends up) if he doesn't have that focus and drive.

EDIT: Just saw tbyers11 made the same point regarding Brand and Williams while I was typing!

[dukedoc]

It looks like we have some other factors going for us, but it still doesn't look very promising to me if he's (a) listening to the negative recruiting whispers, and (b) actually giving those examples more consideration than the counter-examples of successful Duke big men. I like Virgil's advice ("Forget about how whatever school used other guys. You're Tony Parker.") and ultimately would prefer to bring in players who are less focused on how much weight they'd be forced to lose or how much others will improve them and were instead more focused on being driven to constantly improve themselves. Parker's setting himself up to be disappointed (wherever he ends up) if he doesn't have that focus and drive.

EDIT: Just saw tbyers11 made the same point regarding Brand and Williams while I was typing!

I guess the silver lining is that we all know what this negative recruiting point is. I would assume K and company are repeatedly countering this negative recruiting ploy with, well, you know, the truth. It would be worse if we couldn't figure out what the rub was, I guess.

The point that bothers me (completely psychological mumbo jumbo conjecture following) is that human beings, when told conflicting things, tend to believe what they intrinsically want to believe. My guess is Tony deep in his heart wants to go elsewhere but is torn because of the sentiments of his family. Because deep down he'd rather go elsewhere, he's glommed onto this negative recruiting point to the point of reciting it effortlessly. My guess is other recruits who are more inclined to like Duke would hear the exact same things and yet not glom on so tightly.

Whatever the actual circumstance in his mind and heart, I feel confident that K can offer counterpoints well beyond what we can muster on this board despite our collective intelligence and eloquence.

[SupaDave]

It really shows how much systematic negative recruiting he has been getting if he can "reel off" a list of Duke forwards and centers who did not live up to their high school rankings. I mean, references to Shavlik Randolph and Chris Burgess? Really? Why would he be concerned about them when there were post players in the EXACT same classes (Shelden Williams and Elton Brand) who had phenomenal careers at Duke, became top-five draft picks, and whose physiques and styles of play were much closer to Parker's? And Lance Thomas was a "can't miss" big man prospect??? Please. I wouldn't mind it if he also reeled off some major under-performers at his other schools (like BJ Mullens at Ohio State or Josh Smith at UCLA), but the fact that he only singled Duke out on this point is pretty telling.

It looks like we have some other factors going for us, but it still doesn't look very promising to me if he's (a) listening to the negative recruiting whispers, and (b) actually giving those examples more consideration than the counter-examples of successful Duke big men. I like Virgil's advice ("Forget about how whatever school used other guys. You're Tony Parker.") and ultimately would prefer to bring in players who are less focused on how much weight they'd be forced to lose or how much others will improve them and were instead more focused on being driven to constantly improve themselves. Parker's setting himself up to be disappointed (wherever he ends up) if he doesn't have that focus and drive.

EDIT: Just saw tbyers11 made the same point regarding Brand and Williams while I was typing!

All the good stuff in that article and you still found a way to be negative? Sigh. Maybe you guys aren't paying attention.

Remember how I've been telling folks to relax. Do any of you honestly believe he hasn't talked to Coach K about his concerns as vocal as he is?

Distance: Duke is perfect. A short flight or an easy drive from GA. I've done it probably a million times.

Atmosphere: We have what they like in a "crazy" atmosphere.

Education: They respect it.

Coach: They respect him.

Fandom: Mom is a fan (and this actually goes back to the bizarro recruiting comment I highlighted earlier)

Need: There's an exclamation beside Duke's name.

[FireOgilvie]

He's got a sense of humor, that stands out. And he respects K tons, that stands out. And no matter how much we say otherwise on this board, Wojo coaching big men also stands out. That shouldn't suprise me as much as it does I guess.

Coach K is the "best coach in the country" and Duke needs Parker and would use him more than any other team recruiting him, yet he's still hesitant because of big man development and Wojo's height. Seriously? Ugh. I guess perception is reality.