Originally Posted by
SilkyJ
That's a very glass half full analysis of each player without a single comment to their deficiencies, some of which are quite glaring given the amount of PT we've seen them get. Kelly is good and may become great on offense, but is an average rebounder for his size/position, often gets pushed around down low, and is limited athletically. (As a comparison on the rebounding front if you take Ryan's last 2 years when he played 20+mpg, and Kyle's (who is 3+ inches shorter) last 2 years when he played the 3 and was therefore on the perimeter more, their rebounding rate on a per minute basis was about the same.)
Josh "understanding his role" is a pretty meaningless statement in my mind and essentially says he doesn't bring much to the table, which, to this point, is largely true. I like his hustle and grit but he's undersized for the 4 and not athletic or skilled enough to make up for it. He does seem to be active and have a nose for the ball, but doesn;t seem to come down with it that often...his per 40mins rebounding rate is 6.66 this year, so not terrible, but not great for a PF.)
Marshall hasn't played a game and by all accounts is quite raw. Plenty of raw 7 footer Mickie D's don't pan out. See Boateng, Eric. Complete question mark here.
Murphy hasn't played a game, but I'm bullish on him.
I hope seth takes another step forward, he made progess last year improving his driving but he still lacks some physical gifts you simply can't teach and is an average on-ball defender. (more on this later)
Dre is one of the most discussed people on this board so I'll leave that largely alone. Until he plays consistently and improves his defense I'll consider him a situational weapon.
Tyler and Quinn are both improving and showing promise and I'm of course hopeful that Rasheed will be a factor next year, despite our seemingly deep backcourt rotation.
You didn't mention G, but I expect him to be a major factor and to hopefully play a LOT, b/c we'll need his defense...which brings me to:
Overall this team doesn't add or change anything on the defensive front, except for perhaps with Gbinije and maybe Murphy (still TBD). Defense was our issue this year ALL. YEAR. LONG. And until you show me Dre playing consistent defense and crashing the boards, Tyler/Quinn/Seth staying in front of their man, Ryan Kelly hitting the boards/blocking shots, or maybe Marshall becoming a presence, count me in the camp that next year's team will struggle defensively and thus struggle overall. Not saying those things can't or won't happen, and I'm sure the guys will improve, but we need a lot on the D front.
Of course struggle is a relative term. Yes we'll get 20+ wins, I'm sure we'll make the tournament and the world will not come crashing down (hopefully it somehow will in Chapel Hell), but by Duke's (or should I say Duke Fans') admittedly very, very high standards, it may be a season of struggle if we can't improve our D substantially.