Best comment on the article:
"I think Sean May actually spent last year eating turkey (and twinkies and ho-hos and nutella by the spoonfull) not playing in turkey."
JJ Redick tweeted a link to this article today. I think the world needs to know that Rashad McCants doesn't have a job in the NBA because the GM's are "blackballing" him
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...s-allamericans
Best comment on the article:
"I think Sean May actually spent last year eating turkey (and twinkies and ho-hos and nutella by the spoonfull) not playing in turkey."
But, then again, this might have something to do with it also:
Rashad-McCants.jpg
As I have said before about unc, along with a few other posters here, "ya just can't make up this stuff."
Last edited by Newton_14; 08-10-2011 at 10:31 PM.
The section of the article that should be required reading for every recruit starts with the Michael Thompson quote
"Get your degree," Thompson said. .......
and ends with a quote about JJ.
"J.J. knew exactly what he wanted," Burns said. "He was humble and worked. We were all talking about the NBA and how quickly we were going to get there and he was talking about playing at Duke for four years and getting an education. That's what he told me and look at him now."
It is very interesting that Michael and JJ both went to Duke to start their college career.
They are both very wise.
I remember reading an article a few years ago where Coach K was discussing JJ. Prior to the start of his freshman season, K met with JJ one on one in his office (as he does with all the freshman), and he asked JJ what his goals were. JJ responded that he wanted to win a National Championship, and when he finished his career, he wanted his jersey hanging in the rafters in Cameron.
Check out the related article:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...e-are-they-now
It says where everybody is now. Yes, Dockery graduated from Duke. He was working for a company that produces parties in Chicago, but apparently recently accepted a position at Duke that "deal[s] with both community relations and basketball" so will be returning soon. Also, he has a 2 year old son.
Was this Shavlik's year as well, I noticed he had a quote in the article. As much as our dark colored glasses like to cherry pick JJ, we have our share of misses as well. Not so much due to attitude or being a paria like Rashad/Rasheed, but let's be honest and admit that Shavlik Randolph may be one of the greatest disapointments of all time. He was overhyped and was absolutely terrible during his time at Duke. I am sure this will be deleted by the mods, but please tell the whole story and not just the one we want to hear. Anyone else see a list of all time top recruits never living up to their expectations that does not have Shav on it? He was just not very good, and please don't blame it on injuries...
Michael Thompson also appears to have been on that team. And MT was never a factor at Duke and only a role player at Northwestern. Apparently he got a great education and has a good job in finance in Chicago.
I think you are being too harsh on Shav. He played his freshman year with an injury. He showed promise his next two seasons, but jumped early to the NBA. Made the Sixers roster but suffered a devastating injury. There were significant family financial issues during his time at Duke, perhaps leading to his early departure.
sagegrouse
IIRC, K also had a "chat" with JJ after his 1st year and told him to get himself "in shape" and JJ spent that spring/summer with an intense conditioning program and lost 10-15 pounds and spent the next 3 years running almost endlessly around/through screens and battling jersey-stretching and arm grabbing/scratching defenders so he could get the open shots and FT for the remainder of his 2769 career points at Duke
Shav earned a million dollar contract in the NBA. He may not have stuck (I have Miami tix and saw him play a decent amount on a very depleted roster a couple years back -- he contributed and was not clearly outclassed), but there is no question that he would have been considerably better at Duke but for a series of significant injuries. Did he really play at Duke with part of a tennis ball in his shoe (sounds like an indictment of our stellar training staff)? I was very disappointed (and admittedly puzzled) to see him leave early, but he did make the league until a terrible ankle break. Hard to knock the guy unless you ignore injuries, which undeniably are part of the equation.
He wasn't "terrible"!!! He wasn't great, but he wasn't terrible. He had some great games, most notably the Final Four Semifinal against UConn. Didn't he score 16 pts in that one?
The only player that approaches terrible, IMHO, is Greg Newton...and he had some bad circumstances to deal with.
I looked a bit and I cannot find a single list of recruiting busts that includes Shav. Can you point me to some?
I have a hard time seeing how Shav could be one of the all-time bust recruits when he was just the #14 ranked player in the class coming out of high school (according to RSCI). I mean, several of the guys ranked ahead of him on the consensus list did not even make the NBA.
Shav may have not lived up to the very high expectations for him (especially when he was widely considered one of the top 2-3 players in the class as a junior), but he was a solid player who was a significant contributor at times on one of the better teams in all of college basketball during his career... despite some nasty injuries that severely hampered his play.
-Jason "thanks for being so negative though... that was a real pleasure" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Yeah, he did, but he did that on his own and didn't tell anyone about his pain nor his "solution". He hid it from the staff. Once it became known, I believe they medically corrected the condition with surgery (it's been a while and I don't remember the details) and he didn't need the tennis ball anymore. You can't blame the training staff for the tennis ball.
Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!
Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
9F 9F 9F
https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com
He had a (partially?) torn labrum, IIRC, in one of his hips (IDK whether it was right or left) and Ozzie's story is pretty much correct. He also had a significant ankle sprain one year and missed 2-3 weeks. Mono also affected him and I'll guess he missed about a month for that, too. I'll give him a pass for more than his share of afflictions but still wish he would have returned for his senior year. I think he would have been very, very good and helped us tremendously had he stayed. And yes, he did have a fine game vs uCON in the 2004 NC semi-final and, for the life of me, agreeing with what has been posted here many times before, I still can't figure out how he fouled out in less than 20 minutes.
Going into their senior year, Shav was the #1 player in that class. Another twist to his recruitment was that he signed with Duke, despite both of his parents being alumni of that "school" down the road. Shav was a great player. However, I think K should take the fault for his lack of development because Shav was a faceup player in HS and AAU. He came to Duke expecting to be a 3. K decided to make him a back-to-the-basket player - a position he's played and struggled getting comfortable with. had he remained a 3, he would have been awesome. Shav was one of the most polite and humble players I've met. He's one of my favs, and I wished he would have had a more successful career!
I'd be OK with a defining JJ as...Oh, say... a warrior, leader, intense, hardworking, gritty, tough, successful and a winner.
Humble is reaching quite a bit, don't ya think? Although i seem to recall something about him handling his Rap career with some humility
Yeah. "Humble" is a huge stretch for JJ.
However, in the article, the quote came from one of the other McDonald's All-Americans, and referred to how he perceived JJ when they met in conjunction with the game in NYC. It's not like we (the DBR denizens) have been saying JJ is humble.
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust
I enjoyed this article, you seldomly read stories about guys who did NOT become superstars. Kudos to JJ for his hard work despite not being as athletic as most of the other guys. Wheat, I agree that JJ was pretty arrogant on the court especially during his first two years at Duke (he chilled out considerably after that). The player quoted in the article is referring to his attitude towards making the NBA while he was in high school. He was realistic about it and didn't just assume that making NBA was automatic, unlike some of the other guys.
I actually attended the 2002 game and I'm very surprised that so few of the players are still in the league only 9 years removed from high school. Contrast that class with the next two: 13 players from the 2003 game and 16 players from the 2004 game are currently on NBA rosters.
However, by my count, only 6 guys from the 2000 game and 7 from the 2001 game are still in the NBA, so maybe 2002 isn't such an anomaly.