Thanks for the corrections. Any others?Code:Grant Suns 1994 Elton Sixers 1999 Magg'te Bobcats 1999 Battier Heat 2001 Boozer Bulls 2002 Dunl'vy Bucks 2002 Dahntay Pacers 2003 Duhon Magic 2004 Deng Bulls 2004 Shelden Nets 2006 JJ Magic 2006 McBob Lakers 2007 Gerald Bobcats 2009 Lance Hornets 2010 Smith Blazers 2011 Kyrie Cavs 2011 And 1 EWill Blazers 2009 Merry Christmas -
sage
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore...gid=2011122513
McBob is starting
I watched most of the game (it was a great one, btw) and he played well. Also seemed to be ahead of Troy Murphy in the rotation, so I'd expect him to see good minutes even once Bynum comes back.
Luol had a great steal with about 10 seconds left that led to a Rose floater, which put the bulls up 1 and sealed the game. Great game to watch as someone who didn't really have much skin in the game.
Looking forward to watching JJ next.
I know he was limited today during injury, but how will Shane fit into the Heat's lineup competing for minutes at forward with Lebron?
Shane is versatile enough to play the 2-4, so I'm sure they'll find a way to get him some minutes, but I don't think he's going to play a ton if all the players ahead of him stay healthy. Call it ~15-18mpg (I wouldn't be surprised if it was less, actually), and less in close games (i.e. playoffs) where the starters play more. Wade will play 35+ at the 2, Lebron 38+ at the 3, and Haslem will play a lot at the 4 as well. Add in James Jones to the mix, who is a solid player and great shooter and its going to be tough to see a ton of minutes. But I do think he'll spell all 3 of those guys at times (Wade, Bron, Haslem) and if/when folks get injured and/or in foul trouble, Battier should be an early option for minutes.
Indeed he did. Didn't realize he got the block at first as I thought he got beat and then Noah got the block when he came over to help. This clip shows that Luol actually blocked it.
3 clutch plays by Luol in the final 10 seconds!
Not saying much these days...Also seemed to be ahead of Troy Murphy in the rotation
We really need to be careful about that message. Kentucky is likely to blow past us the next couple years in terms of total NBA players. They are specifically catering to the kid who wants to spend as little time in school as possible on their way to the NBA. Duke has never been about that path.
The better message is that guys like Lance, who did not seem to posess the skill set or athletic gifts to make himself much of an NBA prospect, learned to play the game in such a way at Duke that he was able to make himself into an NBA player. Whether you have "ready for the NBA" skills right now or whether you need to develop them, Duke will teach you and make your game better and give you a better shot at NBA success.
And, if you happen to miss making the NBA, we do a darn nice job of placing guys in prominent overseas programs as well as among the coaching fraternity.
-Jason "I would not want to be an NBA factory-- I like having kids who 'unpack their bags' at Duke" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Looks good; plus, it looks likely that Kyle and Shav will join the ranks next year, with Rivers and Mason also more likely than not. If none of the old men retire, we could be looking at 20 NBA Players
(Not a bad young starting 5 either with Kyrie-Austin-Gerald-McBob-Mason...)
Well, I dunno about Shav. He has had trouble sticking with an NBA team the past couple years. He is doing quite nicely with his Puerto Rican team so far, 18.5 ppg, 12.5 rpg. He may find that getting significant playing time with an international club suits him better than trying to find a NBA team that has a bench spot he can occupy. Of course, by getting more playing time, his game may improve and he might be able to get more than a deep bench role in the NBA... you never know.
-Jason "I hope Mason and Rivers are not in the NBA next year... Miles has a decent shot though" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Here are some of the results for the early NBA games tonight:
Henderson had 18points, 9rebs and Maggette had 12points, 7rebs in a 1 point Charlotte win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Dunleavy had 13 points in the losing effort.
Redick had a great game: 20points on 8-12 shooting including 3-4 from downtown. Duhon had 5 points on 2-4 shooting in 17minutes.
Kyrie had a less than stellar game: 2-12 with 6 points in 26 minutes but did manage 7 assists. He took a loss to the Raptors.
Dahntay Jones had 7 points in 12minutes with 3-6 shooting as Indiana took down Detroit.
Shelden Williams scored 0 points in 8 minutes with the Nets in a win over the Wizards.
I am not saying that this is the case after one real game and a couple of exhibitions, but does anyone think that there is a possibility that Kyrie's best piece of luck was playing so few games in college? He was great as a college player, but we didn't see him enough to see how great he was. He played extremely well early, but when he came back, he was lucky enough to avoid criticism due to his layoff. Could it be possible that we could have just assumed that he was ready since he was the hero and missing piece that he was more developed than he really was? Obviously, he would be there at some point no matter, so don't get me wrong. I just want other peoples' thoughts.
Could the limited number of games played for Kyrie fooled people into thinking he was more developed than he is? I am not saying it is for sure the case, but does anybody else get the feeling that he will have to work more than people thought?
I feel like his athleticism is there, and he will no doubt be a very good pro, but could we have started to imagine him as being better than he was because we missed him so much over the season? It is like Tim Tebow. He was a great college player, but his fan base makes him out to be something that he isn't. The injury kept us from seeing weaknesses last season. In Kyrie's instance, it isn't the weaknesses we saw, but what we didn't see that may have built our own image of Kyrie that wasn't real. My point being, he will be a good pro, but could we have been wrong in thinking he was already on that level? Didn't he even have limited workouts for scouts? I get the nagging feeling that he could have used a full season to develop. He was a great player, but you can only grow so much in a few games. Wall had a full season, as do most first overall picks. Kyrie had a long layoff, and, while he hedged his bets by taking the money quick, he may have to learn on the job with some bigger bumps along the way.
Analogy of what I am asking, isn't it hard to analyze a prizefighter who only has a hand full of fights?
Last edited by Gthoma2a; 12-26-2011 at 11:55 PM.
Some added notes for tonight in the NBA for "Duke guys:"
Luol Deng (CHI) - Led all CHI scorers (by a lot) with 22 pts (10 of 15 shooting), 10 reb, in 39 min.
Carlos Boozer (CHI) - Also started for CHI, in the close loss to GS played 25 min, scored 6 pts (3 of 5 shooting), with 3 Reb's.
Elton Brand (PHI) - Started and played 27 min., scoring 10 pts and 8 reb's in a close loss.
Grant Hill (PHX) - Started and played 23 min., scoring 6 pts and 7 reb's in the Phoenix loss.
McBob (LAL) - Started and played 21 minutes, scoring just 2 points (0-2 shooting) and 5 reb's for the Lakers losing to Sac.
Nolan Smith (POR) - For the winning Trailblazers speelled starting PG Ray "God" Felton for just 3 pts in 3 minutes of play.
Shaun Livingston (MIL) - Always a Dukie in my heart, seems to be coming back nicely from that horribleiknee injury5 years ago, as the 6th man for Milw., playing 35 minutes (!!) and scoring 14 pts, with 6 assists and 4 reb's in their close loss to Charlotte. (Kinda fun seeing two guys who coulda easily have been Duke teammates playing together in the pro's - SL and Mike Dun.)
Chris Duhon (Orl) - Back-up PG Chris D. plays 18 min and scores 5 pts (2-4) with 2 assists. Of note, he outscored starting PG Nelson in slightly more than half the minutes. If Nelson keeps playing like this expect to see Chris playing many more minutes...)
OVERALL NOT A BAD "OPENING" NIGHT FOR NBA DUKIES - ESP. Henderson, Deng, Maggette, Dunleavy, Reddick, and Brand. And I expect Kyrie to settle in nicely after some initial jitters. He's a core piece of the Cav's future for a long time.
BTW, Jason, I understand/agree with your point about the message Duke can truthfully emphasize to recruits, but it sure is hard to fit that "on a bumper sticker." It would be really key to see a superstar develop to carry the Duke flag in the league, maybe from among Kyrie, Deng, Reddick, Boozer, Henderson...
--- BD- "unfortunately that seems to be what kids notice more" -BD
I think that the sample size of Kyrie's NBA career has shielded more of his true ability than the sample size of Kyrie's college career. K has worked with several NBA-caliber guards and a handful of world-class guards (team USA). He was as complementary of Kyrie's abilities as anyone.
Kyrie will be more than fine. He'll be one of the best three rookies in the league this year. Even elite talents struggle early in their careers (this was J-Will's third game... pretty similar to Kyrie's tonight.)