Grayson Allen - Nice Read

[BullBlue]

I love Grayson's competitiveness and the way he attacks the game. Here is a nice article on Grayson, in Forbes, no less.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2015/11/29/five-leadership-lessons-from-basketball/

[mr. synellinden]

That's awesome. Thank you so much for sharing.

[Indoor66]

That is a great read - a lot of fun. I thank you for posting the link.

[moonpie23]

good read.......i dig it...

[kAzE]

Nice find! I agree with the writer as well, he's just a kid who is easy to root for. Honestly, I never got the "Grayson Allen will inherit the Laettner/Redick hate factor" story line. How can you hate this kid? Just because he's white? He plays harder than anybody out there and is 100% heart. It's almost impossible to hate him.

[Li_Duke]

Nice find! I agree with the writer as well, he's just a kid who is easy to root for. Honestly, I never got the "Grayson Allen will inherit the Laettner/Redick hate factor" story line. How can you hate this kid? Just because he's white? He plays harder than anybody out there and is 100% heart. It's almost impossible to hate him.

I never got the Laettner or Redick hate factor to begin with.

[sagegrouse]

I never got the Laettner or Redick hate factor to begin with.

Here's at least one view:

The hate for Laettner as a collegian is mostly myth, IMHO (and if you find the missing H, please FedEx it back to me). Laettner looked like a choirboy and played like an All-American. The "hatred" seemed to really begin with the intentional foul on Aminu Timberlake in the Elite Eight in 1992 and was, of course, fomented by Kentucky fans. (I don't blame them -- I would have been upset with "the Shot" as well, not to mention Laettner's stat line: 10-10 1-1 10-10 31.) But that was in the third to last game of Laettner's 148-game career. Yes, Christian could be a real pain and gave the refs a hard time, but his prickly personality was not generally recognized at the time.

The player in that era that came in for more abuse was Bobby. He always seemed to look like he was pouting. Although he improved a bit after being shown videos by the coaching staff, that was still his natural expression. But here's what was worse: you have an ordinary-sized kid who can't dunk making first-team All-American. Who wouldn't be jealous of that?

JJ earned his abuse the old-fashioned way -- he buried you with a barrage of three-point shots and seemed to run down the court afterwards holding your heart up for everyone to see. But there also seemed to be a physical jealousy factor as well. Although JJ was a pretty big dude up close, on the court he looked like a fraternity president trying to play varsity hoops.

[kAzE]

Here's at least one view:

The hate for Laettner as a collegian is mostly myth, IMHO (and if you find the missing H, please FedEx it back to me). Laettner looked like a choirboy and played like an All-American. The "hatred" seemed to really begin with the intentional foul on Aminu Timberlake in the Elite Eight in 1992 and was, of course, fomented by Kentucky fans. (I don't blame them -- I would have been upset with "the Shot" as well, not to mention Laettner's stat line: 10-10 1-1 10-10 31.) But that was in the third to last game of Laettner's 148-game career. Yes, Christian could be a real pain and gave the refs a hard time, but his prickly personality was not generally recognized at the time.

The player in that era that came in for more abuse was Bobby. He always seemed to look like he was pouting. Although he improved a bit after being shown videos by the coaching staff, that was still his natural expression. But here's what was worse: you have an ordinary-sized kid who can't dunk making first-team All-American. Who wouldn't be jealous of that?

JJ earned his abuse the old-fashioned way -- he buried you with a barrage of three-point shots and seemed to run down the court afterwards holding your heart up for everyone to see. But there also seemed to be a physical jealousy factor as well. Although JJ was a pretty big dude up close, on the court he looked like a fraternity president trying to play varsity hoops.

I think JJ contributed to this heavily through his on-court behavior. He had a swagger that couldn't be contained. When he was going off on the road, he LOVED to rub it in the face of the opposing fans. (I have distinct memories of the "F you JJ" chants at Maryland being silenced by dagger 3s, and the trademarked JJ smirk as he ran back on defense) He definitely fed off of that negative energy. Wojo was also another guy who got under the skin of opposing fans like no other. He's similar to Bobby H, being a short, ordinary-looking white athlete making all-american teams.

[luvdahops]

Here's at least one view:

The hate for Laettner as a collegian is mostly myth, IMHO (and if you find the missing H, please FedEx it back to me). Laettner looked like a choirboy and played like an All-American. The "hatred" seemed to really begin with the intentional foul on Aminu Timberlake in the Elite Eight in 1992 and was, of course, fomented by Kentucky fans. (I don't blame them -- I would have been upset with "the Shot" as well, not to mention Laettner's stat line: 10-10 1-1 10-10 31.) But that was in the third to last game of Laettner's 148-game career. Yes, Christian could be a real pain and gave the refs a hard time, but his prickly personality was not generally recognized at the time.

The player in that era that came in for more abuse was Bobby. He always seemed to look like he was pouting. Although he improved a bit after being shown videos by the coaching staff, that was still his natural expression. But here's what was worse: you have an ordinary-sized kid who can't dunk making first-team All-American. Who wouldn't be jealous of that?

JJ earned his abuse the old-fashioned way -- he buried you with a barrage of three-point shots and seemed to run down the court afterwards holding your heart up for everyone to see. But there also seemed to be a physical jealousy factor as well. Although JJ was a pretty big dude up close, on the court he looked like a fraternity president trying to play varsity hoops.

I think the Laettner hatred began in earnest a bit earlier, arguably with an SI story (something along the lines of "Durham 27706") about what rock stars our guys were on the road, and how many female fans they had, many from opposing schools. The story was about the team, but the focal point was of course Laettner. There was also a whole lot of Duke hype all year - chasing a repeat, doing things the right way with real student/athletes and 4-year guys, etc. - that built some cumulative dislike as well, with Laettner again as the focal point.

[DieHard]

My NCSU friend does not like Grayson because "they offered him first when nobody else in the ACC knew who he was. Duke swoops in and signs him." He feels the same about a couple of other Duke players.

Never know what is going to spark the hate. Michigan State might not like the dunk and stare down by Allen.

Fanatics do have strong feelings. 9F!

[Furniture]

I never got the Laettner or Redick hate factor to begin with.

I don't get this everybody is going to hate him comments about Grayson either and its banded about a little too much For me. The hidden message is obvious and inappropriate.

[uh_no]

I don't get this everybody is going to hate him comments about Grayson either and its banded about a little too much For me. The hidden message is obvious and inappropriate.

shrug.

I have people at work that say "he's just so hateable...it's something about his face"

the hate's already there. no reason worrying too much about it.

[JNort]

Plenty of reasons to hate him not sure why some don't get it. One is he's just plain good. Most people don't pick out bad players to hate. Two he looks like your average kid out on the court but he jumps out the gym, makes people jealous. Three his play type, offensively he draws a lot of contact and he gets the benefit of the doubt a lot due to being on the attack (ala James Harden). His defensive style is very uhhh shall we say scrappy. He dives around, gets tough in the paint and tries to contest everything. Four he likes to yell, opposing fans never like that. Five and last but not least he plays for a team that gets constant media attention, is ranked among the best year in and year out and fresh of a national championship which he had a big hand in. That team being Duke doesn't help

[JNort]

Also don't think him being white is that big of a factor. Do you realize how much Cook was hated? Tyler Thornton? They just were never as good as Grayson is so the hate could only spread so far. They were never the star of the team, heck Cook was in a way behind 3 other guys with more star power last year.

[Furniture]

Also don't think him being white is that big of a factor. Do you realize how much Cook was hated? Tyler Thornton? They just were never as good as Grayson is so the hate could only spread so far. They were never the star of the team, heck Cook was in a way behind 3 other guys with more star power last year.

Not to belabor a point but people never said the hate thing about Cook, Tyler Thorton neither Jabari, Austin Rivers etc etc....

[devildeac]

Not to belabor a point but people never said the hate thing about Cook, Tyler Thorton neither Jabari, Austin Rivers etc etc...

I dunno. I can think of at least 20K (even more intense) haters after this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asCHZeFl33k

[JNort]

Not to belabor a point but people never said the hate thing about Cook, Tyler Thorton neither Jabari, Austin Rivers etc etc...

Not about Jabari but yes Cook, Rivers and Thornton were very unpopular

[JetpackJesus]

Also don't think him being white is that big of a factor. Do you realize how much Cook was hated? Tyler Thornton? They just were never as good as Grayson is so the hate could only spread so far. They were never the star of the team, heck Cook was in a way behind 3 other guys with more star power last year.

Take for a look at this analysis of a 2013 top-20 most hated Duke players list (http://www.vdare.com/posts/top-20-most-hated-duke-basketball-players-by-race-whites-most-hated-by-far). It's annotated by race and the summarized findings are as follows:


So the Most Hated Top 20 adds up to 4 blacks, 2 mulattos, and 14 whites. The Top Ten most hated is 9.5 / 10 white, with the seven most hated players being white.

Seeing lists like this does make you wonder.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention Grantland's Duke bracket from the most hated NCAA basketball players of the last 30 years thing they did a year or two ago:

5740

There is a basis for this "hate them because they're white" notion. Does it have merit? I have no idea since I don't hate any Duke players so I can't think like those people. But I can see where it comes from.

[JNort]

Take for a look at this analysis of a 2013 top-20 most hated Duke players list (http://www.vdare.com/posts/top-20-most-hated-duke-basketball-players-by-race-whites-most-hated-by-far). It's annotated by race and the summarized findings are as follows:



Seeing lists like this does make you wonder.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention Grantland's Duke bracket from the most hated NCAA basketball players of the last 30 years thing they did a year or two ago:

5740

There is a basis for this "hate them because they're white" notion. Does it have merit? I have no idea since I don't hate any Duke players so I can't think like those people. But I can see where it comes from.

I don't buy it. I can completely understand what's so hateable about all those guys including the ones I mentioned (Cook and Tyler). Like I said most were very very good which will bring natural hate. Others did things that other fan bases found annoying (floorslap anyone). Some were just considered a little rough/dirty/try hards. Rivers, Cook and JJ all are hated for how much they relish the hate but again JJ got more because of how talented he was

[kAzE]

I don't buy it. I can completely understand what's so hateable about all those guys including the ones I mentioned (Cook and Tyler). Like I said most were very very good which will bring natural hate. Others did things that other fan bases found annoying (floorslap anyone). Some were just considered a little rough/dirty/try hards. Rivers, Cook and JJ all are hated for how much they relish the hate but again JJ got more because of how talented he was

Eh, I buy it. What about guys like Johnny Dawkins, Chris Duhon, Shelden Williams, Justise Winslow, Jabari Parker, Grant Hill, Nolan Smith, and Jason Williams? Were those guys any less talented? Did they slap the floor less (excluding Wojo, he wins in that department), or hit fewer game winners? Nah, they were just perceived as being elite athletes from the start and did not inspire the same type of resentment. The white Duke guy hate factor is real. If anybody watches Grayson Allen play, it's obvious that he is an elite athlete, but I doubt most of the typical Duke haters would watch enough Duke games to understand that.

[JNort]

Eh, I buy it. What about guys like Johnny Dawkins, Chris Duhon, Shelden Williams, Justise Winslow, Jabari Parker, Grant Hill, Nolan Smith, and Jason Williams? Were those guys any less talented? Did they slap the floor less (excluding Wojo, he wins in that department), or hit fewer game winners? Nah, they were just perceived as being elite athletes from the start and did not inspire the same type of resentment. The white Duke guy hate factor is real. If anybody watches Grayson Allen play, it's obvious that he is an elite athlete, but I doubt most of the typical Duke haters would watch enough Duke games to understand that.

I'm not saying it's not part of the reason cause I certainly think it is. Just I think it's a smaller reason than what others think. As to the above yes some of those were hated as well. Justise was labeled a dirty player after two separate incidents last year. Nolan I don't think ever got the hate but he was just an extremely kind individual to everyone he met. Parker didn't get hate cause he never did anything to deserve it, he had talent yeah but didn't do anything to annoy opposing fan bases. I honestly don't remember any hate for JWill either which is surprising. Ughh who am I kidding I can't keep going through every player we've ever had.

Obviously we see it differently and that's just how it is. I never should have continued to stray off topic. This thread was supposed to be about praise for Grayson and I'd say so far it's well deserved. Kid appears to be a hard worker and loved by the team and his classmates.