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  1. #161
    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    I'd like to see Duke reduce its reliance on the 3 by scoring more in transition and using its D to generate offense. I think an upgrade at PG will help in that area as much as it will help in the half-court offense.
    Are you talking about upgrading to Quinn or Rasheed? Or about Seth or Tyler improving over the summer?

  2. #162
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Kedsy View Post
    Are you talking about upgrading to Quinn or Rasheed? Or about Seth or Tyler improving over the summer?
    Just playing better. I'd love for TT to be the guy. But I think the more likely scenario is for Cook to stay healthy and go the woodshed over the summer. He's the guy who can push in transition and get some easy baskets for his teammates. He's the guy who can break his defender down and get the ball to the open man. He's the guy who can find the teammate curling off a screen and get him the ball. at the right time, in the right place.

    That was just missing from last year's team. If the 3 wasn't falling, Duke just had to work too hard to score. Duke needs a true playmaker at the point in order to generate more easy baskets.

    Improved D would also help, the kind of D that traps a ball-handler and forces him to make a contested pass, one that's picked off and leads to a fast break the other way. Think about it. How often did we see that last season compared to other seasons? Duke has long used a suffocating and confrontational defense to not only stop the other team but also to generate easy points. And Cook has to be able to do that, also. Dawkins could be a very good defender if he wanted to be. Murphy? Sulaimon?

    Duke needs Cook to earn--not be given--the starting PG spot and use that to play solid D and average 4.5-5.0 assists per game. He has to be able to shoot well enough to keep the defense honest but I don't think he needs to be a primary scorer. Think Tommy Amaker, c. 1984-1986. Even Quinn Snyder, 1988-89. He QB'd Duke to two FFs.

    That's the kind of upgrade I'm talking about. A point guard who makes his teammates better. Duke almost always has that but didn't last season. Need to find that on the 2012-13 roster. It's not like K can troll the waiver wire or make a trade. Cook is the best bet, IMO. An absolute key for next season.

  3. #163
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NC
    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    Just playing better. I'd love for TT to be the guy. But I think the more likely scenario is for Cook to stay healthy and go the woodshed over the summer. He's the guy who can push in transition and get some easy baskets for his teammates. He's the guy who can break his defender down and get the ball to the open man. He's the guy who can find the teammate curling off a screen and get him the ball. at the right time, in the right place.

    That was just missing from last year's team. If the 3 wasn't falling, Duke just had to work too hard to score. Duke needs a true playmaker at the point in order to generate more easy baskets.

    Improved D would also help, the kind of D that traps a ball-handler and forces him to make a contested pass, one that's picked off and leads to a fast break the other way. Think about it. How often did we see that last season compared to other seasons? Duke has long used a suffocating and confrontational defense to not only stop the other team but also to generate easy points. And Cook has to be able to do that, also. Dawkins could be a very good defender if he wanted to be. Murphy? Sulaimon?

    Duke needs Cook to earn--not be given--the starting PG spot and use that to play solid D and average 4.5-5.0 assists per game. He has to be able to shoot well enough to keep the defense honest but I don't think he needs to be a primary scorer. Think Tommy Amaker, c. 1984-1986. Even Quinn Snyder, 1988-89. He QB'd Duke to two FFs.

    That's the kind of upgrade I'm talking about. A point guard who makes his teammates better. Duke almost always has that but didn't last season. Need to find that on the 2012-13 roster. It's not like K can troll the waiver wire or make a trade. Cook is the best bet, IMO. An absolute key for next season.
    I agree with this. I think Cook is the guy with the tools to be an elite PG, moreso than Curry or Thornton. But he has to prove he can play enough defense to warrant the job. I think that Thornton was a "last resort" last year, and I think it's unlikely that he will be able to expand his game to become the kind of playmaker that will generate easy offense. Whether or not Cook makes the jump remains to be seen. Hopefully he can do it. But I completely agree that he shouldn't be simply given the job.

    The other thing that needs to happen is a more fluid movement of the ball in general. When our offense was at its best historically, the ball moved quickly around the perimeter (or in and out) until it found an open man. This past year rarely had that kind of fluidity, in large part because some guys had a bit of tunnel vision offensively. Quicker ball movement is one way to create open shots even if you don't have a ton of great ballhandlers (which we aren't likely to have next year).

  4. #164
    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    Just playing better. I'd love for TT to be the guy. But I think the more likely scenario is for Cook to stay healthy and go the woodshed over the summer. He's the guy who can push in transition and get some easy baskets for his teammates. He's the guy who can break his defender down and get the ball to the open man. He's the guy who can find the teammate curling off a screen and get him the ball. at the right time, in the right place.

    That was just missing from last year's team. If the 3 wasn't falling, Duke just had to work too hard to score. Duke needs a true playmaker at the point in order to generate more easy baskets.

    Improved D would also help, the kind of D that traps a ball-handler and forces him to make a contested pass, one that's picked off and leads to a fast break the other way. Think about it. How often did we see that last season compared to other seasons? Duke has long used a suffocating and confrontational defense to not only stop the other team but also to generate easy points. And Cook has to be able to do that, also. Dawkins could be a very good defender if he wanted to be. Murphy? Sulaimon?

    Duke needs Cook to earn--not be given--the starting PG spot and use that to play solid D and average 4.5-5.0 assists per game. He has to be able to shoot well enough to keep the defense honest but I don't think he needs to be a primary scorer. Think Tommy Amaker, c. 1984-1986. Even Quinn Snyder, 1988-89. He QB'd Duke to two FFs.

    That's the kind of upgrade I'm talking about. A point guard who makes his teammates better. Duke almost always has that but didn't last season. Need to find that on the 2012-13 roster. It's not like K can troll the waiver wire or make a trade. Cook is the best bet, IMO. An absolute key for next season.
    I couldn't agree more, and better articulated than I ever could. If Quinn doesn't earn that sport and Tyler is getting more minutes at the point than Quinn next year there will be several negative consequences for others.

    1.) We will rely, once again on the three as defenses pack the lane as our two most potent players next year will be Ryan and Mason. While Ryan can shoot from range, pulling him out makes Mason less effective when Ryan's shot is not falling as folks will collapse the lane even more, and there is no secondary big to collect misses in this scenario. Double whammy as our two best offensive players will rise and fall in efficiency together with a high degree of correlation.

    2.) Mason will not get the best looks inside in general, as he is very quick and athletic but needs passes delivered to him in the right place as his footwork is only average. This is critical for our team next year in terms of offensive balance and variety. It's important for Mason, validating his choice of staying an extra year. It is critical in showing recruits that we really will use a big man effectively, as long as we have the guys on the roster who are great passers, as we typically do.

    3.) With the threat of penetration, more interior offense, more movement, and better passing which all happen when Quinn is playing effectively, Andre will get more open looks and we have the chance to one of the most under-appreciated weapons in D-1. With looks and his shot falling, his defensive tenacity will surely be positively impacted.

    All this of course depends on the health and maturation of QC. Mason will be our best player, but I don't think there is a more important player for our team than Quinn next year.

  5. #165
    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    Just playing better. I'd love for TT to be the guy. But I think the more likely scenario is for Cook to stay healthy and go the woodshed over the summer. He's the guy who can push in transition and get some easy baskets for his teammates. He's the guy who can break his defender down and get the ball to the open man. He's the guy who can find the teammate curling off a screen and get him the ball. at the right time, in the right place.

    That was just missing from last year's team. If the 3 wasn't falling, Duke just had to work too hard to score. Duke needs a true playmaker at the point in order to generate more easy baskets.

    Improved D would also help, the kind of D that traps a ball-handler and forces him to make a contested pass, one that's picked off and leads to a fast break the other way. Think about it. How often did we see that last season compared to other seasons? Duke has long used a suffocating and confrontational defense to not only stop the other team but also to generate easy points. And Cook has to be able to do that, also. Dawkins could be a very good defender if he wanted to be. Murphy? Sulaimon?

    Duke needs Cook to earn--not be given--the starting PG spot and use that to play solid D and average 4.5-5.0 assists per game. He has to be able to shoot well enough to keep the defense honest but I don't think he needs to be a primary scorer. Think Tommy Amaker, c. 1984-1986. Even Quinn Snyder, 1988-89. He QB'd Duke to two FFs.

    That's the kind of upgrade I'm talking about. A point guard who makes his teammates better. Duke almost always has that but didn't last season. Need to find that on the 2012-13 roster. It's not like K can troll the waiver wire or make a trade. Cook is the best bet, IMO. An absolute key for next season.
    I agree with almost everything you wrote except for the second sentence of bolded section. Neither TT nor Seth bring that to the table. I thought toward the end of the year Quinn's defense had improved enough to give me hope that further healing and work could lead to better defense as a sophomore.

  6. #166
    Is Jefferson a power forward or a small forward?? He would probably get alot of minutes of Duke.

  7. #167
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NC
    Quote Originally Posted by sterling View Post
    Is Jefferson a power forward or a small forward?? He would probably get alot of minutes of Duke.
    He's a PF, but a skinny one. He's not likely to get a lot of minutes next year, but certainly would be in the running for major minutes as a sophomore.

  8. #168
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    As much as I miss Elton Brand playing for Duke, anyone have AJ updates?

  9. #169
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Durham
    Quote Originally Posted by elvis14 View Post
    As much as I miss Elton Brand playing for Duke, anyone have AJ updates?
    Nothing that is available to non-paying curious minds like my own. The last thing I've seen from a media type was a tweet from Clint Jackson late last week indicating AJ's camp had not returned his recent phone calls. Either they're ignoring him specifically or they've perhaps "gone dark". The quiet before the storm perhaps. That tweet was around the time when Evan Daniels indicated AJ could announce at any time, positing that it would most likely come after the weekend (i.e. right now). In other words, who knows...

  10. #170
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Nashville
    Since there's no news, here's a thought. I know Amile seems absurdly skinny right now and like he'd get broken in the post... but so did a lot of other monster PFs when they were his age. Check it out:

    Amile Jefferson
    Derrick Williams
    Josh Smith
    Marcus Morris

  11. #171
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Durham
    Quote Originally Posted by Greg_Newton View Post
    Since there's no news, here's a thought. I know Amile seems absurdly skinny right now and like he'd get broken in the post... but so did a lot of other monster PFs when they were his age. Check it out:

    Amile Jefferson
    Derrick Williams
    Josh Smith
    Marcus Morris

    If Amile can make a physical transition anywhere near what these guys did, he will be a force as an upperclassman. He already has very nice skills, a good motor, and perhaps most importantly, great smarts, a great personality, and a great attitude. He is a guy I really think K could do wonders with.

  12. #172
    CJ Leslie just announced he is returning to State... hopefully that pushes Amile closer to us...

  13. #173
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Durham
    Quote Originally Posted by mpholt View Post
    CJ Leslie just announced he is returning to State... hopefully that pushes Amile closer to us...
    Hopefully. With both Mason and CJ back, and Amile's prior leanings, on net I would think that would push him further west on I-40.

    That said, KY is in on this, and they may be stronger than most think, particularly given their recent exodus. However, Amile is as academically-focused as recruits get, so that would seem to disqualify Cal's factory, but who knows.

  14. #174
    Quote Originally Posted by mpholt View Post
    CJ Leslie just announced he is returning to State... hopefully that pushes Amile closer to us...
    I don't see how it could possibly hurt our chances. We would/could offer meaningful minutes next year now that Silent G is gone. I could certainly envision Amile playing at the 4(maybe even 3 in special cases) as Kelly's primary backup, with Murphy being the starter at the 3.

    I wonder if Amile commits to Duke, how would that affect the decision of Tony Parker, if at all?

  15. #175
    Quote Originally Posted by dukedoc View Post
    Hopefully. With both Mason and CJ back, and Amile's prior leanings, on net I would think that would push him further west on I-40.

    That said, KY is in on this, and they may be stronger than most think, particularly given their recent exodus. However, Amile is as academically-focused as recruits get, so that would seem to disqualify Cal's factory, but who knows.
    I'm wondering if this developement pushes Amile towards one of his hometown teams (Temple or Villanova). I believe both those schools would offer him significant playing time for a school that plays in a major conference like the BE.

  16. #176
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Steamboat Springs, CO

    Duke's Counter?

    Quote Originally Posted by Class of '94 View Post
    I'm wondering if this developement pushes Amile towards one of his hometown teams (Temple or Villanova). I believe both those schools would offer him significant playing time for a school that plays in a major conference like the BE.
    Thanks for putting us back on track. I have fond memories of Elton, but this is an Amile thread.

    You may be right. I think Duke would counter that (a) he will get some playing time in 2013, (b) he needs to be stronger for major college competition and practicing against Mason et al. will help him develop, and (c) we have loads of PT for bigs in 2013-2014 after Ryan and Mason graduate.

    sagegrouse

  17. #177
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Cary, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Greg_Newton View Post
    Since there's no news, here's a thought. I know Amile seems absurdly skinny right now and like he'd get broken in the post... but so did a lot of other monster PFs when they were his age. Check it out:
    How could you leave out the Sultan of Skinny himself?

    Henson.jpg

  18. #178
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Virginia
    Quote Originally Posted by sagegrouse View Post
    Thanks for putting us back on track. I have fond memories of Elton, but this is an Amile thread.

    You may be right. I think Duke would counter that (a) he will get some playing time in 2013, (b) he needs to be stronger for major college competition and practicing against Mason et al. will help him develop, and (c) we have loads of PT for bigs in 2013-2014 after Ryan and Mason graduate.

    sagegrouse
    Given that it has been reported that he has never seriously lifted weights, would redshirting be an option? I normally wouldn't ask because it seems to happen so rarely in basketball (especially for a top 25 recruit) but since Duke had two last year it seems to be somewhat logical for Jefferson. I don't get the impression that he is a likely early entry candidate and that right now his game is geared more to the low post but will need added strength at the college level. Sitting out a year would allow him to gain weight/strength as well as work on his perimeter skills since he would likely be a 3 when/if he makes it to the nba. With the departure of {g} we may need Jefferson next season so the question my be moot, I'm just curious.

  19. #179
    Quote Originally Posted by yancem View Post
    Given that it has been reported that he has never seriously lifted weights, would redshirting be an option? I normally wouldn't ask because it seems to happen so rarely in basketball (especially for a top 25 recruit) but since Duke had two last year it seems to be somewhat logical for Jefferson. I don't get the impression that he is a likely early entry candidate and that right now his game is geared more to the low post but will need added strength at the college level. Sitting out a year would allow him to gain weight/strength as well as work on his perimeter skills since he would likely be a 3 when/if he makes it to the nba. With the departure of {g} we may need Jefferson next season so the question my be moot, I'm just curious.
    If Kentucky says, hey, come and play big minutes on a top 10 team and Duke says, hey, come redshirt, I'm not sure it would be the best sell on our part.

  20. #180
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Rent free in tarheels’ heads
    I think we all know K and company will tell AJ exactly what they believe he can accomplish at Duke but will be very clear with him that time is earned. No guarantees to anyone, ever. Hopefully he sees a great opportunity in having a successful multi-year college career playing for one of the best coaches ever, getting a fantastic education... and without necessarily having to constantly look over his shoulder for the next group of one-and-doners that might eat into his playing time and progress b/c they've been guaranteed major minutes (or whatever it is that Cal tells them).

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