Welcome to Duke, Marvin Bagley!

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Don't you guys go to the track ??

Larry
DevilHorse

Only once. I saw Secretariat win the Belmont!

[CarmenWallaceWade]

Thanks. What is the procedure? Is it because he reclassified or is it something else? What is the possibility that the NCAA would not clear him eligible?

http://cbsprt.co/2uJoVvW

CBS article on possible "NCAA decision" outcomes from here.

[devilsince1977]

The NCAA is going to everything they can to get Marvin on the court. They want the #1 player on their broadcasts. Throw in Duke, Coach K, Grayson, and "Duke Hate"; they can't resist the $ that will bring.

[dukelifer]

Shooting always seems to work out for us. I'm comfortable that we're going to end up coaxing some good shooting seasons out of reputedly bad or shaky shooters. Maybe I'm wrong and it turns out to be a problem, but the mythical poor-shooting-Duke-team has earned "need to see it to believe it" status for me.

Overall, I don't have any big question marks about this team heading into fall semester. That's different from last season's team that, heading into fall semester, had two major question marks: (1) How quickly could projected starting center Giles recover from his ACL surgery mentally and physically to get back to his old self?, (2) Can the team really contend at the highest level without a true point guard? With some hindsight, the 2016-17 team was overrated heading into fall semester. You can't be unsettled at the two crucial positions of point guard and center and still be predicting that it's going to be a '99-type season. With this upcoming season's team, I don't really see any major questions marks yet... 'yet' being the key word since they could still appear.

There are some minor concerns, i.e. things that I'm pretty sure will work out well, but they are questions until shown not to be:
(1) Bagley getting cleared by the NCAA to re-classify, although I'd be surprised if Duke and the Bagleys blundered here. I think he'll be eligible.
(2) Perimeter depth.
(3) With so many star players, can everyone share and stay happy with their role?
(4) Defense. But with much better defensive talent on hand, I think we'll have a very good defensive team this season.

This team has a lot of pieces- with or without Bagley. If eligible, Bagley is a unique talent and will be a tough cover for any team. But shooting is my main concern. None of the recruits are as good as shooters Kennard, Tatum and Jackson, particularly from the line. I expect the D to be better- but it may take half a season. I am excited to see this team grow- but other than Allen- the 3's will be hard to come by.

[dukelifer]

The NCAA is going to everything they can to get Marvin on the court. They want the #1 player on their broadcasts. Throw in Duke, Coach K, Grayson, and "Duke Hate"; they can't resist the $ that will bring.

Not sure it works that way. The NCAA already has their contract for the tourney. That is the same regardless of who plays as far as I understand. The talent brings eyeballs and the pros and the networks both have motivation for Bagley to play- but not sure about the NCAA.

[Edouble]

i understand your perspective. however, one thing you hear from every duke player/recruit...duke is a family. families share. and as far as chasing the heels...given what's come to light, i don't want to be ANYTHING like the cheat heels.

I did not say "chasing", I said "chastising". Definitely a key difference.

[Troublemaker]

We do need to slow our roll on the talk of MB3 being the best prospect since Lebron / Anthony Davis.

You'll notice that DraftExpress has a virtually empty profile for MB3: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...-Bagley-85466/

There's a reason for that. Marvin has never chosen to compete in actual games for USA Basketball, although he attended a development camp once. Because of his reclassification, he'll never get a chance to compete in the Hoop Summit's practices and game and the McDonald's practices and game. In general, his family has been very careful about what competition to expose him to, most notably last summer when he was 17 and playing the 16u Nike circuit (he was 16 on Jan 1) instead of playing up at the 17u level. Now, he did play 17u this summer and dominated, but most kids play 17u two or even three summers in a row. All of this is to say that there's less data on Marvin Bagley than is typical with top-5 kids and especially #1-ranked kids.

Let's see how Marvin adjusts to the college level. I mean, don't get me wrong, I think he's going to be very good and an upgrade for this Duke team. But the talk of "best prospect since Lebron" is dubious to me at this point in time.

[TKG]

. But shooting is my main concern.

I might add defense to concerns.

[devilsince1977]

Not sure it works that way. The NCAA already has their contract for the tourney. That is the same regardless of who plays as far as I understand. The talent brings eyeballs and the pros and the networks both have motivation for Bagley to play- but not sure about the NCAA.

Point taken, but indirectly it does matter to the NCAA. Poor ratings will affect the next contract. If you want the big contract, you must have a product the moves the needle. That would be like saying that the NBA doesn't care if Lebron, KD, Steph, and The Beard rest every other game since they have television contracts already.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

We do need to slow our roll on the talk of MB3 being the best prospect since Lebron / Anthony Davis.

You'll notice that DraftExpress has a virtually empty profile for MB3: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...-Bagley-85466/

There's a reason for that. Marvin has never chosen to compete in actual games for USA Basketball, although he attended a development camp once. Because of his reclassification, he'll never get a chance to compete in the Hoop Summit's practices and game and the McDonald's practices and game. In general, his family has been very careful about what competition to expose him to, most notably last summer when he was 17 and playing the 16u Nike circuit (he was 16 on Jan 1) instead of playing up at the 17u level. Now, he did play 17u this summer and dominated, but most kids play 17u two or even three summers in a row. All of this is to say that there's less data on Marvin Bagley than is typical with top-5 kids and especially #1-ranked kids.

Let's see how Marvin adjusts to the college level. I mean, don't get me wrong, I think he's going to be very good and an upgrade for this Duke team. But the talk of "best prospect since Lebron" is dubious to me at this point in time.

I thought that distinction went to Harry Giles?

Seriously peeps, I prefer optimism to pessimism, but does anyone remember what our mindset was a year ago?

[CDu]

My concerns aren't with the shooting. I think we'll be fine in that regard. But more specifically, I think our offense will look very different than last year's or other previous years. This team will have size for days. And we'll have a bunch of guys that can attack off the dribble, two of whom can also work well with a big in a pick and roll game. I also think we'll see much less of the iso play that we saw the last two years, as we will have a true PG on the team. And with multiple bigs who can score in a variety of ways, I think we'll see more utilization of those guys as well.

If we tried to play offense the same way we played last year? Yeah, I think we might struggle. But we aren't going to play offense the same way we did last year.

My concerns are going to largely revolve around experience. We're going to likely be relying on 5 freshmen as key rotation players (possibly 4 starting), and only one player in the rotation will have any significant college experience. Granted, we'll have a TON of talent. But that's a lot of pressure. I have concerns about our defense, in large part because we'll be so young.

I am hopeful that the size and athleticism in our frontcourt means we won't have rebounding issues this year, although that remains to be seen. Bolden wasn't a good rebounder last year. Carter appears to have strong rebounding instincts. No clue on Bagley. We shouldn't have frontcourt foul trouble issues this year, as we'll probably be as deep in the frontcourt as we have ever been. We do still have questions as to how we'll handle smaller/quicker PFs, or how our 2-big lineup will do in switches onto smaller players. But, hopefully that is more than offset by gains on offense. We'll see.

Experience and defense are my only real concerns/questions with this team. Talent and offense shouldn't be a problem. It may be that defense won't be either, but I want to see it first.

[CDu]

I thought that distinction went to Harry Giles?

Seriously peeps, I prefer optimism to pessimism, but does anyone remember what our mindset was a year ago?

The only caveat here is of course that last year was an injury-riddled season. Giles WAS a super prospect... prior to the second ACL tear. And he may become that again once he's fully healthy and physically confident. But he was a shell of his former self as he recovered (both mentally and physically) from his second major knee surgery and a third minor procedure that kept him out until December.

[Troublemaker]

You'll notice that DraftExpress has a virtually empty profile for MB3: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...-Bagley-85466/

There's a reason for that.

With Marvin moving to the class of 2017, DraftExpress is trying to play catch up by looking at his high school games. They put out a couple of videos this morning of his game against Oak Hill:

Strengths

Needs to Improve

(Note: he was banging a lot with 2018 Duke recruit David McCormack in those clips).

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

We do need to slow our roll on the talk of MB3 being the best prospect since Lebron / Anthony Davis.

You'll notice that DraftExpress has a virtually empty profile for MB3: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...-Bagley-85466/

There's a reason for that. Marvin has never chosen to compete in actual games for USA Basketball, although he attended a development camp once. Because of his reclassification, he'll never get a chance to compete in the Hoop Summit's practices and game and the McDonald's practices and game. In general, his family has been very careful about what competition to expose him to, most notably last summer when he was 17 and playing the 16u Nike circuit (he was 16 on Jan 1) instead of playing up at the 17u level. Now, he did play 17u this summer and dominated, but most kids play 17u two or even three summers in a row. All of this is to say that there's less data on Marvin Bagley than is typical with top-5 kids and especially #1-ranked kids.

Let's see how Marvin adjusts to the college level. I mean, don't get me wrong, I think he's going to be very good and an upgrade for this Duke team. But the talk of "best prospect since Lebron" is dubious to me at this point in time.

Agreed although there were a few articles about his strong play in the Drew Leauge this summer against pro talent. So there's that.

[DangerDevil]

We do need to slow our roll on the talk of MB3 being the best prospect since Lebron / Anthony Davis.

You'll notice that DraftExpress has a virtually empty profile for MB3: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...-Bagley-85466/

There's a reason for that. Marvin has never chosen to compete in actual games for USA Basketball, although he attended a development camp once. Because of his reclassification, he'll never get a chance to compete in the Hoop Summit's practices and game and the McDonald's practices and game. In general, his family has been very careful about what competition to expose him to, most notably last summer when he was 17 and playing the 16u Nike circuit (he was 16 on Jan 1) instead of playing up at the 17u level. Now, he did play 17u this summer and dominated, but most kids play 17u two or even three summers in a row. All of this is to say that there's less data on Marvin Bagley than is typical with top-5 kids and especially #1-ranked kids.

Let's see how Marvin adjusts to the college level. I mean, don't get me wrong, I think he's going to be very good and an upgrade for this Duke team. But the talk of "best prospect since Lebron" is dubious to me at this point in time.

His lack of participation with USA Basketball is a bit strange but Bagley has played well against plenty of high level competition.

http://www.drewleague.com/blog/2017/08/12/meet-marvin-bagley-iii-basketball-worlds-next-favorite-superstar/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zSP1p96_tmU

[weezie]

I'm sure it's been complimented upstream but I am very pleased that Danny Ferry gave the go ahead with #35. Major class move.

[bigperm13]

Good thing he doesn't wear #32. Laettner would have flipped him the bird.

[devilsince1977]

Good thing he doesn't wear #32. Laettner would have flipped him the bird.

Na, Laettner would have challenged him to a 3 point shooting contest to test his metal.

[dukelion]

We do need to slow our roll on the talk of MB3 being the best prospect since Lebron / Anthony Davis.

You'll notice that DraftExpress has a virtually empty profile for MB3: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...-Bagley-85466/

There's a reason for that. Marvin has never chosen to compete in actual games for USA Basketball, although he attended a development camp once. Because of his reclassification, he'll never get a chance to compete in the Hoop Summit's practices and game and the McDonald's practices and game. In general, his family has been very careful about what competition to expose him to, most notably last summer when he was 17 and playing the 16u Nike circuit (he was 16 on Jan 1) instead of playing up at the 17u level. Now, he did play 17u this summer and dominated, but most kids play 17u two or even three summers in a row. All of this is to say that there's less data on Marvin Bagley than is typical with top-5 kids and especially #1-ranked kids.

Let's see how Marvin adjusts to the college level. I mean, don't get me wrong, I think he's going to be very good and an upgrade for this Duke team. But the talk of "best prospect since Lebron" is dubious to me at this point in time.

The real reason for that is unfortunately Draft Express is no longer as ESPN has swallowed them and their content. I'm happy for Givony because his passion got him paid but now his work also resides behind a paywall.

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/...f-an-era-6070/

[Troublemaker]

His lack of participation with USA Basketball is a bit strange but Bagley has played well against plenty of high level competition.

http://www.drewleague.com/blog/2017/...ite-superstar/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zSP1p96_tmU

Yeah, I had previously hypothesized that his Drew League experience helped tip his decision towards moving into the class of 2017.

That said, the composition of most teams in those summer pick-up leagues is like one marginal pro and then a bunch of guys off the street. The superstars are not going to play every game. I think Bagley's "teammates" Chris Paul and James Harden played one night with him. It IS nice that the pros who were exposed to him had complimentary things to say, though.