Offseason Issues To Address

[imagepro]

And you may just be right! Funny post though. thanks---

[dockfan]

Maybe we need to analyze our team in order to see what factor may be missing. After hours of careful analysis, I have found that factor: Tattoos. We are definitely short in the tattoo area, a problem easily solved during the offseason. A secondary shortcoming is long hair (bouncy and fluffy for white players, cornrowed and braided for black players). I think with these two additions, we will be all set. We probably won't even need the players who are coming in next year.

That leads right into a crucial question for me heading into next season:

Will Kyle Singler have to cut his hair?

KEEP THE MOP, I SAY!

Is there a correlation between Lance getting rid of his cornrows and his point production? What about Marty's ever-decreasing floppy hair? He did seem to play more late in the year with a closer haircut. THESE are the issues to discuss.

[Saratoga2]

As much as I admire Nelson, I don't think it is likely that going from the junior to senior year will greatly improve either his handle or his shooting. He will still be a valued team member but may share some time with Nolan Smith. I was surprised in reading today's feature article that he was listed at 6'3" and 195#. Scout has him listed at 175# so that is a big discrepancy. His coach says he is a combo guard who takes good shots and hits a high percentage of those. He says he is also very solid from the free throw line. His has a reasonable handle and sounds like he values the ball like Scheyer. Sort of a calm player who is hard to rattle. His coach also says he is a good defender and stays in front of his man. Only time will tell, but he sounds like he is equal in size to Nelson and has a lot of areas where he is superior. His defense and rebounding will probably not be as good as Nelson. The 2 looks like his natural position and he may be able to sub for the 1, as Scheyer also did this year. Having an solid option at the 2 will give us a choice when trying to win close games. Nolan may well be the guard we need to push us to the top of the ACC.

As people have mentioned, as a run-jump-strenth athlete, Demarcus is on JWill's level. So is Henderson... they just don't have the handle or shooting ability of JWill. They have his athleticism... they don't have his SKILL. What we don't have right now is guards with the combo of top-level quickness, strength, and skill that we have had in the past. But don't fall into the trap of thinking it is all a lack of athleticism.[/QUOTE]

[Saratoga2]

You know who has great athletes? The Raiders. They are going all the way this year.

There used to be a coach in the NFL who said... You can find all of the athletes you want at the Olympics, only half of them are women and the other half don't play football.

Duke isn't missing athletes. They are missing having one of the top PGs in the nation. That's it. Maybe Greg will get there, maybe not, but Duke isn't missing athletes. That is just a misconception perpetuated by the kind of offense we played this year. If this past year's team didn't turn the ball over so much, they would have run more and people would be talking about all of Dukes athletes... whom people have already mentioned. FWIW, how good of a defender is Lawson? Is he locking guys down? He is quick, but not that good of a defender.

As people have mentioned, as a run-jump-strenth athlete, Demarcus is on JWill's level. So is Henderson... they just don't have the handle or shooting ability of JWill. They have his athleticism... they don't have his SKILL. What we don't have right now is guards with the combo of top-level quickness, strength, and skill that we have had in the past. But don't fall into the trap of thinking it is all a lack of athleticism.

Nelson is valued member of the team but is unlikely to greatly improve either his handle or his shooting going from his junior to senior seasons. His defense and rebounding are still top attributes, but his weaknesses really show at the end of many games.

The feature article on Nolan Smith lists him at 6'3" and 195#, which makes him the same size as Nelson. His coach says of him that he has an excellent pull up game and hits a high percentage of his shots, but rarely forces them. He also is very solid from the foul line and has a good handle and values the ball, in a similar way to Scheyer. His coach also says he is a good defender and keeps his man in front of him. While he may not be the defender or rebounder that Nelson is he may just have the attributes which we so desperately needed this year to finish during close games. Handle, foul shooting, valuing the ball, pull up jumper. He may well be that player we need to substantially improve next year.