Taylor King Theory

[Cameron]

I think King either needs to sit the entire game or get at least twice the amount of time he's getting now. He gets so few opportunities to play that he's ice-cold when he comes off the bench; he misses shots, and then he goes right back to the bench. Give him some time to warm up and get into the flow of the game and he'll be good for 7-10 points and a few boards per contest.

I certainly agree with this sentiment. While Taylor didn't exactly step in and hit his open three looks the last few weeks of the season (and yesterday his shot looked beyond off, it was packed up and in the summer gym), as others have pointed out, he also didn't exactly get the best of opportunities some nights to turn on that switch. (Yesterday was the exception. K gave Taylor a decent amount of time to get things rolling, but he just couldn't.)

I can recall numerous games where Taylor wouldn't enter the game until the 7, 8 minute mark, expected to come right in and produce. Well, that's a very hard thing to do when you've been sitting stiffly on the bench for nearly 45 minutes. I'm sorry, but even the best of shooters, especially freshman who are already unproven and a little tentative to begin with, would find this a difficult task. Not everyone can be Steve Kerr and come in off the bench after sitting for ten years and lead the Spurs on to the NBA Finals.

If you would go back and look to earlier in the year, when Taylor was receiving BIG minutes, which was translating into BIG Taylor confidence, against great clubs like Wisconsin and decent ACC ones like Virginia Tech, he was producing quite nicely and quite assuredly. He believed in himself, because Coach was believing in him. Once Taylor's minutes went to Hell, I think he became very shaky and lost a lot of that confidence, finding game time situations more like a pressure cooker than anything resembling fun. In a sense, I believe Taylor was "playing not to lose," or, rather, "playing not to sit." Nobody is going to play well sporting that type of ideology. Just not going to happen.

Now I certainly don't know the entire situation that resulted in Taylor's playing time decrease. From the outside looking in, a good guess as any would simply be the fact that Taylor's defense was not quite up to par (but, in the end, whose was, really?) Or perhaps Taylor's work ethic in practice wasn't befitting of K's standards. I don't really know. I would guess it had nothing to do with the kid's attitude, however, as he seems to love Duke University and his opportunity of playing there just as much, if not more, than anyone on the team. He's a Blue Devil through and through. You can just see it. He never takes a play off cheering for his teammates. He's a great kid.

Was Taylor's playing decrease the reason we are not going to be winning a national title this season? Of course not. But, I do think there is some sort of connection to our early season success as a team and Taylor's early season success as an individual. I mean, when he scored 15 points against Wisconsin, hitting five long range bombs, we destroyed a club that has become just as much a favorite as anyone to reach San Antonio in the next couple of weeks. Wisconsin is a solid, solid club, especially defensively, and Taylor lit them up. He can play folks, against good competition. So get that "But he played against soft comp early in the year" crap out of here.

I'd just like to end by saying, What happened since Wisconsin?

[topps coach]

I hope that TK does a JJ over the summer and decides to totally commit himself to workout program that redefines his body and helps his overall quickness so he becomes more than a 3-point shooter.

[JBDuke]

I hope that TK does a JJ over the summer and decides to totally commit himself to workout program that redefines his body and helps his overall quickness so he becomes more than a 3-point shooter.

Supposedly, one of the reasons Taylor chose to come to Duke was that he saw how JJ transformed himself from a one-dimensional player into a multi-dimensional scorer, and he hoped to do the same. It will require a lot of hard work, but if he's truly dedicated to making this change, it can happen. He won't be a JJ clone, obviously, but he's got size and skills that JJ didn't have that can be fostered to really impact the game in different ways. Here's hoping he makes it happen.

[tech9127]

One question and one thought...
First in relation to this back and forth about Taylor King...
We're getting our tails handed to us on the boards during the entire second half and sitting on the bench is the one guy in the entire game who made an impact while he was in both defensively and on the boards. Why was David McClure glued to the bench in the second half?
Second, you know the really ironic part of this Taylor King discussion is that we were beat today primarily by the performance of one Joe Mazzulla, a non starter who probably wouldn't be given the opportunity had he been wearing Duke blue or black or whatever it is. i.e. Nolan Smith

[JasonEvans]

We're getting our tails handed to us on the boards during the entire second half and sitting on the bench is the one guy in the entire game who made an impact while he was in both defensively and on the boards. Why was David McClure glued to the bench in the second half?

Not sure it belongs in this thread, but in answer to the above-- I do recall McClure playing in the second half some and his D was still very solid. But, if he did not play as much as you would like-- I would answer that our biggest struggle in the 2nd half was putting the darn ball in the hoop. I love McClure, but he is not the guy you turn to when your team is struggling to score the ball.

--Jason "If King had hit 1 or 2 of those wide open 3s in the first half, I think the entire game goes differently" Evans

[topps coach]

David can not see much playing time until he gains enough confidence in his offensive game that we are not playing 4 on 5 when he is in the game

[johnb]

If the regulars were sick/exhausted and if King were not, 10 minutes in the second half might have helped, but, for some reason none of the players or coaches called to tell me how they were feeling.

[Bluedog]

Supposedly, one of the reasons Taylor chose to come to Duke was that he saw how JJ transformed himself from a one-dimensional player into a multi-dimensional scorer, and he hoped to do the same. It will require a lot of hard work, but if he's truly dedicated to making this change, it can happen. He won't be a JJ clone, obviously, but he's got size and skills that JJ didn't have that can be fostered to really impact the game in different ways. Here's hoping he makes it happen.

Once during the WVU game and once during Clemson, Taylor made a great head fake from 3-point land, dribbled past his defender and pulled up for a 17-footer. They were beautiful moves. I didn't see him making shots off the dribble ever early in the year, so perhaps he's already progressed a bit. He definitely could improve a lot more on this, but I think he most definitely has the potential to be much more than a catch-and-shoot player and agree with your sentiment.

[johnb]

Once during the WVU game and once during Clemson, Taylor made a great head fake from 3-point land, dribbled past his defender and pulled up for a 17-footer. They were beautiful moves. I didn't see him making shots off the dribble ever early in the year, so perhaps he's already progressed a bit. He definitely could improve a lot more on this, but I think he most definitely has the potential to be much more than a catch-and-shoot player and agree with your sentiment.

Agree with that. He's clearly working very hard to be a better all-around player, and I think there is a good chance that he will turn out to be super.

[Huh?]

A weapon like TK should not be on the bench.

[DevilCastDownfromDurham]

If the regulars were sick/exhausted and if King were not, 10 minutes in the second half might have helped, but, for some reason none of the players or coaches called to tell me how they were feeling.

IIRC, Taylor was one of the players that was down with the flu. I'd have loved to see him get a few more chances, but if he was as sick as everyone else I can (sort of) understand not rolling the dice. I also suspect (although I have no inside information) that Dave spent a lot of this season injured but decided not to go the Matt Christiensen route and didn't opt for another redshirt season. Dave's disappearance is just too mysterious for me to imagine any other explanation.

[Cameron]

-Jason "If King had hit 1 or 2 of those wide open 3s in the first half, I think the entire game goes differently" Evans

Same could be said about that Paulus 30 foot pull up that drilled the inside of the cylinder and flew out, heading in the direction of a West Virginia lay up. If that shot falls, giving Greg his third straight triple and Duke a sizable lead, I think we open the game wide open. We would have been on top of the world as a team. I believe the miss caused a five point swing, just like that.

We just seemed to hang onto that eight point lead the first half for far too long. In the end, our inability to open the game up after we built that initial cushion cost us the chance at playing this coming weekend. A problem we've been having for awhile now.

[gannon4429]

FWIW, King scored in double digits 6 times this season, all in games prior to beginning the ACC schedule.

He also missed 3 wide open shots in the first half of the loss to WV.

Let's not start counting and throwing stones at people who missed wide open shots v. WV; that's a bit disengenuous.

[whereinthehellami]

When Taylor is in the game he is often targeted by the other teams with their offense. His slower foot speed and freshman anticipation made it easy for other teams to go after him. Marty gets the same treatment from other teams.

I think King shoots out of the flow of the offense too much. Part of the problem comes from him being more of a catch and shoot player. He did have some nice mid-range moves towards the end of the year.

I'd like to see Taylor reshape his body in the off-season. Really work on his quickness and dribbling.

[Duvall]

We're going to need a new board just for backup quarterback threads once Pocius comes back, aren't we?

[TampaDuke]

Let's not start counting and throwing stones at people who missed wide open shots v. WV; that's a bit disengenuous.

Agreed. My post wasn't laying any blame on TK or anyone else, just responding to earlier posts by pointing out that his few minutes in the first half were not so productive as to obviously warrant extensive minutes later in the game. Unfortunately, no one seemed able to make a shot. As I mentioned earlier (perhaps in the other thread), between about 2 minutes into the game and 1:45 left in the game, we were 0-15 on 3 point shots, most of them open.

[trinity92]

We've got three seasons to see what Taylor can become, and I'm with you that I can't predict one way or the other what that will be.

I sure hope you're right-- with all his potential and so much time spent on the bench this year, I'm worried TK could go the way of Mike Boateng and Jamal Boykin. Would have been nice to have them out there on Saturday-- eh?

[JasonEvans]

I sure hope you're right-- with all his potential and so much time spent on the bench this year, I'm worried TK could go the way of Mike Boateng and Jamal Boykin. Would have been nice to have them out there on Saturday-- eh?

Who is Mike Boateng?



I think it worth pointing out that the number of kids who have transferred from Duke and turned into significantly better players at their new school is extremely small. Some of them start a few games, some of them become role players, but I think Billy McCaffrey is the only one to really become a star at his new school (and it was clear that McC was on his way to being a star at Duke, though not as a PG and McC's transfer to Vandy did nothing to help his NBA stock anyway).

That said, I wish Eric "Mike" Boateng and Jamaal Boykin the best and hope they break the mold. They both seem like really good kids who just wanted something Duke could not give them. Boykin, especially, looks like a kid who could carve out a decent career for himself at Cal.

Still, I would be quite surprised if Taylor "gave up on Duke" so quickly.

--Jason "Taylor had far more success this year than anyone else who has transferred in the past decade or so" Evans

[Highlander]

I sure hope you're right-- with all his potential and so much time spent on the bench this year, I'm worried TK could go the way of Mike Boateng and Jamal Boykin. Would have been nice to have them out there on Saturday-- eh?

Well, it's Eric Boateng first of all, not Mike. Secondly, neither of those guys have set the world on fire this year playing for much less competitive teams, so I doubt they would have added much on Saturday had they been here. IIRC, Boateng plays off the bench for Arizona State. Boykin's at Cal, and he's 6'7" 230. That makes him an inch shorter than Kyle/Lance, and an inch taller than Dave/Taylor. I'd submit there wasn't anything Jamal would have been able to do that those four couldn't have also done. Season statistics for those guys are below.

2007-08 Statistics:
ASU - Boateng, Eric PPG 3.9 APG 0.2 RPG 2.7 BPG 0.3 SPG 0.1
Cal - Boykin, Jamal PPG 7.8 APG 1.3 RPG 4.0 BPG 0.3 SPG 0.3

Thomas, Lance PPG 4.3 APG 0.3 RPG 3.3 BPG 0.4 SPG 0.6
Zoubeck, Brian PPG 3.8 APG 0.5 RPG 3.4 BPG 0.7 SPG 0.4

I would also hate to see King transfer as he has a lot of promise. We will be loaded again next year at SG/SF with Scheyer, Henderson, King, Pocius, and Williams capable of playing what essentially amounts to 2 spots on the court. King is going to have to beat out Williams and Pocius to be a backup guard, or Czyz/Thomas (whichever one doesn't start) to be a backup 4. Right now he's Kyle's primary backup, so it's his job to lose. I don't think he cracks the starting lineup next year unless we are injured or he gets quicker on his feet this summer, but he can definitely be part of the rotation. The bottom line is that minutes are earned, and King can earn his just like everyone else.

On a side note, wouldn't it be ironic if, with the lack of elite post players we have, we end up losing guard/small forwards to transfer?

I look at UNC's roster for next year, especially if Hansbrough stays, and can't figure out how in the world all those post guys will get minutes.

[whereinthehellami]

I look at UNC's roster for next year, especially if Hansbrough stays, and can't figure out how in the world all those post guys will get minutes.

Could be an interesting off-season for the folks down the road. If everyone comes back....don't want to try and wrap my mind around that one. It scares me.