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Lord Ash
10-12-2007, 06:22 PM
Okay.

I know that Scout had Taylor at 6'8 for a while.

Then he seemed to be listed at 6'7.

In the article linked on the front page, he is listed at 6'6.

Is he just wearing much thinner shoes or something now?

Bob Green
10-12-2007, 08:14 PM
I too was suprised by Taylor King being listed at 6'6" but overall it was a very good article. The remarks by Taylor about wanting to get into shape like J.J. were very encouraging.

Patrick Yates
10-13-2007, 01:19 AM
Getting in shape like JJ is great, but in the short term, this hurts.

If he is only 6'6, then our post just got hammered again. At 6-7 to 6-8, he is a legitimate option inside. At 6-6, with uncertain athleticism, he is at best a spot option inside, to be used sparingly or in emergency situations.

Many were hoping that he would provide at least a modicum of regular minutes at the 4. That dream is over if he is only 6-6. I don't care how long his arms are.

Patrick Yates

lavell12
10-13-2007, 01:32 AM
hell DeMarcus can play inside and he is only 6'3.

Bob Green
10-13-2007, 02:40 AM
Getting in shape like JJ is great, but in the short term, this hurts.

If he is only 6'6, then our post just got hammered again. At 6-7 to 6-8, he is a legitimate option inside. At 6-6, with uncertain athleticism, he is at best a spot option inside, to be used sparingly or in emergency situations.

Many were hoping that he would provide at least a modicum of regular minutes at the 4. That dream is over if he is only 6-6. I don't care how long his arms are.

Patrick Yates

Patrick,

Don't panic just yet. I've sent out an inquiry for confirmation on Taylor's actual height, but even if he is only 6'6" tall, his 3-point range will result in match-up problems for our opponents. He will be a perimeter player on the offensive end and a banger down low on defense.

MChambers
10-13-2007, 08:05 AM
If this trend continues, he'll have to play point his senior year, and that could prevent talented high school point guards from committing to Duke!

Indoor66
10-13-2007, 08:45 AM
Patrick,

Don't panic just yet. I've sent out an inquiry for confirmation on Taylor's actual height, but even if he is only 6'6" tall, his 3-point range will result in match-up problems for our opponents. He will be a perimeter player on the offensive end and a banger down low on defense.

He is also purported to have extremely long arms - making him play much taller.

JasonEvans
10-13-2007, 08:46 AM
Here is a list of some stud collegiate PFs and what they measured at the NBA Pre-Draft camp this past summer:

Mario Boggan 6-5 1/2
Stephen Lasme 6/4
Al Thornton 6-5 3/4
Curtis Sumpter 6-6
Julian Wright 6-6 1/2
Reyshawn Terry 6-6 3/4
Rashaun Freeman 6-6 3/4
Caleb Green 6-6 3/4
Joseph Jones 6-6 3/4

Granted, many of these guys are more athletic than Taylor, but it is not like it is totally unprecedented for a team to use a guy in the 6-6 range at PF and have very nice success at it.

What's more, we have evidence of Taylor's ability to defend in the post (which is what we need him for the most) from many AAU competitions where he faced the top other big men on the West Coast and held up quite nicely.

Size
is
over-
rated!

--Jason "I am much more concerned about Taylor (and any freshman's) ability to understand Duke's help defense than I am about his size" Evans

grossbus
10-13-2007, 12:06 PM
"hell DeMarcus can play inside and he is only 6'3."

LOL, funniest post i have seen in a while.

smvalkyries
10-13-2007, 07:39 PM
Who cares how long his neck is? With height the important fact is his length and I read that he has incredibly long arms.

jimsumner
10-13-2007, 07:59 PM
King is certainly big enough to play the 4. He's as big as Melchionni after all and Mel was an effective 4 in limited minutes.

I don't see him playing the 5. Between Thomas, Zoubek, and Singler, I think Duke can get the 40mpg it needs at the 5, without using King.

ACCBBallFan
10-13-2007, 11:15 PM
King is certainly big enough to play the 4. He's as big as Melchionni after all and Mel was an effective 4 in limited minutes.

I don't see him playing the 5. Between Thomas, Zoubek, and Singler, I think Duke can get the 40mpg it needs at the 5, without using King.

Unless Zoubek is in the game, it is somewhat academic when Singler-King or Singler-Lance or Lance-King are paired which one is labeled the 5 and which the 4. But since King will probably be matched up trying to guard the least mobile one, he might technically be the 5 on defense and the 2 on Offense, with Kyle or Lance being the nominal 4 because they guard the more mobile opponent.

King might be asked to play high post where he could shoot if not guarded closely or pass to a cutter, occasionally mixing in a pick and roll to keep the defender honest.

speedevil
10-14-2007, 12:54 AM
i hope its his waist line

Olympic Fan
10-14-2007, 10:04 AM
For the record, King is listed on Duke's official roster as 6-6, 230 --

http://www.goduke.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4200&KEY=&SPID=1845&SPSID=22727

Some of the reactions on this thread are amusing. So it's a big deal that Taylor iis just 6-6 and and not 6-7 or 6-8. Hell, let's list him at 7-2 if that makes you feel better.

He's the player he always is and if you've seen him play, you'd understand that he's a rugged, aggressive player in the post, who uses his big body and his long arms to negative his lack of height and so-so- jumping ability. If you haven't seen him play and your panic is based on the fact that some lame recruiting service listed his helight wrong last year, too bad.

watzone
10-14-2007, 10:14 AM
I never listed as anything other than 6-6. Guys, we cannot stretch our players no matter how hard you try. There is the possibility that Taylor is still growing and I think 6-7 may happen.

jimsumner
10-14-2007, 10:39 AM
"Guys, we cannot stretch our players no matter how hard you try."

Actually, they're working on a procedure at Duke hospital. K is going to get first chance to use this new procedure. So Nolan Smith should be 6'9" by his senior season, thus solving Duke's big man problems.

Lord Ash
10-14-2007, 10:45 AM
Man this board is SO overly-touchy. No one is panicked; it is just strange that in the beginning he was listed at 6'8, a pretty traditional PF height, by many places and now is listed at 6'6, which is more a small forward height. Given our inside concerns, you expect people to just ignore this?

The over touchiness of this place gets irritating sometimes when it seems like people don't even want to discuss something that could possibly be viewed in a negative light.

devildeac
10-14-2007, 12:32 PM
"Guys, we cannot stretch our players no matter how hard you try."

Actually, they're working on a procedure at Duke hospital. K is going to get first chance to use this new procedure. So Nolan Smith should be 6'9" by his senior season, thus solving Duke's big man problems.

Heck Jim, we did it with Dunleavy several years ago, why not bring the procedure back and utilize it again on Nolan AND Taylor!

YmoBeThere
10-14-2007, 02:15 PM
Standing next to DeMarcus a couple of years ago, if he was much over 6'2" I would be shocked. But height is difficult to judge standing next to someone. IIRC, Kairolinuh used to list a bunch of guys at 6'10"/7'0". This was during the Dean Smith era around 1985-1989. I mean they had Daugherty and Martin listed as 7'0". And then had Popson/Wolf and a couple of others at the same 6'10". So, you had 5-6 guys listed at 6'10" or higher. Didn't change the score any. Too this day, I chuckle at the games they played with the listed heights. I wondererd how the population could have gotten so much shorter in the ensuing 15-20 years.

Cameron
10-14-2007, 02:54 PM
Heck Jim, we did it with Dunleavy several years ago, why not bring the procedure back and utilize it again on Nolan AND Taylor!


Lol, it almost seemed as if there had to be some sort of laboratory experiment or unknown Indian medicine dance routine at work back then. Duneavly grew into a space alien by the time he was a junior. Whatever was done, it worked:)

Can you imagine if Taylor, who somewhat resembles a Dunleavy anyway, followed in that same type of growth spurt, becoming a 6'9'', slow-footed, can't run, can't jump, rebounding machine, three-point gunner, Larry Bird-like forward!!! Wow, I think I might die that day:)

Give this kid the works, Duke medical staff!

Olympic Fan
10-14-2007, 03:42 PM
IIRC, Kairolinuh used to list a bunch of guys at 6'10"/7'0". This was during the Dean Smith era around 1985-1989. I mean they had Daugherty and Martin listed as 7'0". And then had Popson/Wolf and a couple of others at the same 6'10". So, you had 5-6 guys listed at 6'10" or higher. Didn't change the score any. Too this day, I chuckle at the games they played with the listed heights. I wondererd how the population could have gotten so much shorter in the ensuing 15-20 years.

For the record, UNC listed 7-0 (according to the NBA) Brad Daugherty as 6-11. Warren Martin, who was actually a shade over 7-1, was listed as 6-11 1/2 (the only UNC player I ever saw listed to the 1/2 inch). When Kevin Salvadori signed in 1990, he was originally listed as 6-11 ... both Wolf brothers (Joe and Jeff) were listed as 6-10 (which is probably close to right). Popson was listed as 6-9.

Dean explained in his autobiography that he thought a 7-footer was at a psychological disadvantage against a smaller player.

Finally, when Dean signed 7-3 Serge Zwikker in 1994, it was impossible to maintain the fiction that he never had a seven-footer. He not only listed Serge as 7-3, but allowed Salvadori, a fifth-year senior, to be listed as 7-0.

Dean's refusal to admit that he had any 7-foot players (Rusty Clark was probably the first) amused Norm Sloan so much that one year he arranged for NC Agriculture Commissioner Jim Graham to show up at the first practice along with an official team from the state department of weights and measures to get true heights and weights of his players.

The most interesting result was that Phil Spence, listed as a 6-8 power forward in 1974, was measured and turned out to be 6-5 1/2. It didn't seem to bother him -- he improved from 6.0 ppg and 6.3 rpg. as a 6-8 sophomore to 13.1 ppg and 10.1 rpg. as a 6-5 1/2 junior.

Maybe the shrinkage will have the same impact on Taylor King's game.

YmoBeThere
10-14-2007, 04:03 PM
Thank you for providing insight into Deano's behavior!!!!

jimsumner
10-14-2007, 04:35 PM
I always heard that DES thought that being listed as a seven-footer placed unrealistic expectations on players. I think this started with Rusty Clark, who was a contemporary of Alcindor/Jabbar. Clark was a pretty good player but I don't think anyone was going to confuse him with Alcindor, regardless of what the roster said.

I believe Brad Daugherty was officially listed as 6'11 15/16." :)

FWIW, I've heard that Bubas may have underlisted Hack Tison for the same reason.

A twist. Elvin Hayes was about 6' 9.5" but asked the Houston folks to list him as 6'8". He reasoned that opponents would see 6'8" and think "he's really
6'7" " and then be knocked back mentally when they saw the real Hayes at
6'9.5" Must have worked. He was a stud.

Cali-Duke
10-14-2007, 08:50 PM
maybe its just cold outside

YmoBeThere
10-15-2007, 07:53 AM
Or perhaps he just got out of a pool?