Duke in The NBA

[Hancock 4 Duke]

This may have been discussed before, so feel free to delete this if it has, but who do you think is having the best career in the NBA (that played at Duke) out of these five players?

[sivartrenrag]

Well, Corey is seeming to finally come into his own and Chris has been playing very well this season, but the answer is definitely Grant Hill. For his first 6 years he was one of the best players in the league and if it weren't for some serious injuries, who knows what might have been.

[SilkyJ]

Oops, just read and saw that it said "career" not "season."

In that case I'll go with Hill, but C Du is having a very good season...

I love grant, but I'm going with C Du and his 12.5 pts and 8 asts per game, the latter of which is good for 8th in the league. Granted there's the D'antoni effect, but his ast/to ratio is also very good at 2.83, good for 15th in the league.

And he's a big part of why the Knicks are one win away from matching their win total from last year.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/statistics?stat=nbaassists&qual=true&sort=astto&league=nba&split=0&season=2009&seasontype=2&avg=48&pos=all

[jv001]

Voted too quickly, I too thought the vote was for this year and not career. Change my vote to Grant Hill. No brainer. Go Duke!

[Indoor66]

Where are Brand and Boozer? Both have had and will have pretty good careers.

[juise]

Luol should probably be an option too.

[Indoor66]

Luol should probably be an option too.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooopsssssssssssssss!

[Lord Ash]

I don't think this was meant to be an "All the Dukies in the NBA" poll but rather a "All the Dukies who are, at the moment, not at the top of their game" poll or something? I have no idea, it is an odd poll.

Still... one of these things is not like the other. Grant Hill got the most votes ever in the NBA All-Star voting for a rookie and won Rookie of the Year. He was a multiple time All-Star and led the league in All-Star votes a few times, including over Jordan and Shaq. He led the league in triple doubles a few seasons, and did very well in MVP voting. I don't think there is really any comparison between Grant and the other guys. To be honest, unless there is something to this poll we have missed, I think it is a strange one.

[CDu]

This is pretty much a "hands-down" answer based on the list of players provided. Grant Hill has more Rookie of the Year Awards (1) than the rest of those guys combined (0). Grant Hill has gone to more all-star games (7) than the rest of those guys combined (0). Grant Hill has made more all-NBA teams (6) than the others combined (0). Grant Hill has averaged 20 points per game in more seasons (5) than the rest of those guys combined (3). Grant Hill has scored more points and gotten more rebounds and assists than those guys combined. The answer is pretty clearly Grant Hill. The other guys don't even come close.

Now, the list does not include other really good Duke players, like Brand, Deng, and Boozer. But even those guys don't have nearly the career that Grant Hill has had. Seems like a pretty odd poll, comparing a former NBA superstar to a bunch of second/third-tier guys or even benchwarmers.

[SilkyJ]

Seems like a pretty odd poll, comparing a former NBA superstar to a bunch of second/third-tier guys or even benchwarmers.

Totally agreed, but how about a lil love for your namesake, mr. Duhon? He's risen from second/third tier to be a pretty good PG. He's having a pretty good year and is shooting the ball better than he ever has in his career from 3pt land, 2pt land, and the charity stripe...if the knicks start winning a bit more and he raises his game just a little, in a year or two we might be talking about him as a top tier PG...

[CDu]

Totally agreed, but how about a lil love for your namesake, mr. Duhon? He's risen from second/third tier to be a pretty good PG. He's having a pretty good year and is shooting the ball better than he ever has in his career from 3pt land, 2pt land, and the charity stripe...if the knicks start winning a bit more and he raises his game just a little, in a year or two we might be talking about him as a top tier PG...

Yeah, by second/third tier I just meant not a star/superstar. I think Maggette and Duhon (at least this year) are both very solid, productive starters, which is what I meant by second/third-tier. Don't get me wrong - I'm psyched about Duhon's emergence. He seemed destined to be a career backup PG or fringe starter - a guy who can run an offense and play outstanding defense but whose lack of offense would make him a liability in extended minutes. The assist/to ratio is no surprise, but the scoring punch has been shockingly good.

[Acymetric]

Yeah, by second/third tier I just meant not a star/superstar. I think Maggette and Duhon (at least this year) are both very solid, productive starters, which is what I meant by second/third-tier. Don't get me wrong - I'm psyched about Duhon's emergence. He seemed destined to be a career backup PG or fringe starter - a guy who can run an offense and play outstanding defense but whose lack of offense would make him a liability in extended minutes. The assist/to ratio is no surprise, but the scoring punch has been shockingly good.

I'm always surprised when people say they didn't expect Duhon to become a starter. Back in the days when the Cavs needed a PG I thought Duhon would be a great fit. His numbers certainly wouldn't have been as good, but he would have been starting for a much better team. Any time Duhon got a real chance with the Bulls he proved himself worthy of starting there, but they just didn't like him. People complain about how JJ is treated in Orlando, but I think Duhon had it even worse (though some of the negative relationship was his own fault, he does love to party).

[CDu]

I'm always surprised when people say they didn't expect Duhon to become a starter. Back in the days when the Cavs needed a PG I thought Duhon would be a great fit. His numbers certainly wouldn't have been as good, but he would have been starting for a much better team. Any time Duhon got a real chance with the Bulls he proved himself worthy of starting there, but they just didn't like him. People complain about how JJ is treated in Orlando, but I think Duhon had it even worse (though some of the negative relationship was his own fault, he does love to party).

The reason I only saw Duhon as a fringe starter is that he was just SUCH a bad shooter that defenses could play off of him. As a backup, that's fine. And on a team that has plenty of guys who can stretch the defense, that can be tolerable (but isn't ideal).

I think Duhon would actually have been a pretty poor fit in Cleveland, where they wanted/needed a point guard who could shoot/score as much as they need a guy who can create for everyone else (they have a pretty good playmaker already in LeBron).

Duhon's problem in Chicago wasn't that the team didn't like him. It was a twofold problem. First, they had a guy who was slightly better in Hinrich. Second, their best shooting guard (Gordon) was undersized for the position, meaning the PG had to guard the other team's SG. That wasn't a good fit. Had Duhon shot like he has in NY, it might have been a different story. But Duhon never got his offense going in Chicago, which meant he couldn't convince them to find a way to make him the starter.

This year is the first year in which Duhon has showed the shooting/scoring ability necessary to be a regular starter on any type of team.