So how did our alumni do in the NBA this year?

[DukieInBrasil]

First off, welcome back to Elton Brand, who recently began starting for the Clippers, after a devastating Achilles rupture. To my surprise, he didn't suffer a huge drop-off in play, averaging just slightly under his career averages for ppg and rpg. He missed most of the season and prob'ly benefited from everyone else being fatigued and somewhat injured themselves. Still, great to see him playing and playing well.
-Shavlik Randolph should also get a welcome back now that he returned to the Sixers roster after an ankle injury. He is a role player and comes from deep off the bench.
-Grant Hill saw a resurgence in his career in Phoenix after leaving Orlando behind. He has stayed healthy pretty much all year, although a groin strain is keeping his productivity pretty low right now. He has the benefit of not being the focus on O, reducing the wear on his body. His stats might not be as stellar as his AS days of yore, but he is more efficient, as his shooting %s are improved, as are other parts of his game. Playoff-bound.
-Carlos Boozer is mashing it up in Utah. He appears to be the 2nd coming of Karl Malone, which, if 'Los can stay as healthy as the Mailman did, should mean great things for the Jazz. Playoff-bound.
-Mike Dunleavy played very good ball his first year in Indiana, looking like the player he was advertised to be - smooth, polished and versatile. I don't think he has reached his peak yet and should be even better next year.
-Corey Maggette had a very nice season as a starter in Brand's absence and has moved back to being a 6th Man since EB's return.
-Shane Battier saw an upswing in his play since Yao went down and Tracy came back in Houston. It is kind of strange that Shane is seen as such a composed player (I'm not doubting that he is) and yet is very streaky on O. His D and general court-awareness are what win him the starting gig and occasionally he can light it up on O. Playoff-bound
-Luol Deng has continued to develop his game, but a mid-season injury cost him some of his mobility and has not played at his customary high level as consistently, lately. The Bulls have suffered for his set-back as well.
-Chris Duhon has also recently started playing for the Bulls again, after a temporary disciplinary action. The Bulls should consider shopping him around, there are plenty of teams out there that would like a quality PG, even if he's not a huge scorer he still put up a near 4/1 a/to.
-Shelden Williams got off the deep bench in Sacramento and played much better than he did in Atlanta. His productivity is quite good on a per min basis. His late-season play may have just been an audition for next year, possibly somewhere else. If his development continues, he ought to be able to become a serviceable PF.
-JJ Redick only got occasional PT in Orlando, and his stats are generally worse than last year. Everyone knows that he can shoot lights out, but apparently has not been able to convince his coaches that he has enough other skills to get the PT to show off his shooting touch. In the Playoffs, but will he play?
-Josh McRoberts was called up from the NBDL but was never much more than a deep-bench sub for the Blazers. Hopefully, all that work on developing a jumper will pay off.
-Dahntay Jones picked up a gig in Sacramento for a little while and had a couple of excellent games, but was let go when they picked up Shelden etc. Not sure what he's up to now, but his defensive prowess ought to land him a job in the NBA somewhere.
.....................................

[Franzez]

Really sums it up,im still shocked Daniel Ewing didnt make a NBA roster.

[SilkyJ]

Solid summation, but very "glass half-full" view of things with several of our role players:



-Shavlik Randolph should also get a welcome back now that he returned to the Sixers roster after an ankle injury. He is a role player and comes from deep off the bench.

"should get a welcome back?" uh uh. The only reason he was there is cause Billy King went to Duke. I don't know why you think he "should" get more PT now that billy is gone. He probably gets cut this off season



-Chris Duhon has also recently started playing for the Bulls again, after a temporary disciplinary action. The Bulls should consider shopping him around, there are plenty of teams out there that would like a quality PG, even if he's not a huge scorer he still put up a near 4/1 a/to.

It wasn't really a temporary discipline action that kept him on the bench, it was the acquisition of Larry hughes (the decision to play Thabo Sefolosha more may have factored in) His recent play was just a product of them being out of the playoffs and playing everyone more.



-Shelden Williams got off the deep bench in Sacramento and played much better than he did in Atlanta. His productivity is quite good on a per min basis. His late-season play may have just been an audition for next year, possibly somewhere else. If his development continues, he ought to be able to become a serviceable PF.

I dont think he played any better than he did in Atlanta at the end of last year. Different year, same story: he played late in the season once his team was out of the playoffs, and as you said, it was probably an audition for next year.



-Dahntay Jones picked up a gig in Sacramento for a little while and had a couple of excellent games, but was let go when they picked up Shelden etc. Not sure what he's up to now, but his defensive prowess ought to land him a job in the NBA somewhere.

Not sure what "excellent games" you are talking about. He scored 16 pts and pulled down 8rebs in one game and had 10pts in another. Those were his best outputs. He didnt get off the bench in a half dozen or more games, and even fouled out one game in only 9 minutes.

Not trying to be a downer, just offering my view.

[BlueintheFace]

Your not trying, but you are certainly succeeding haha.

[DukieBoy]

Dahntay Jones tore it up in the NBDL, averaging 25 points and had a 37 point outburst.

Also, the Nuggets are considering picking him up for the summer league. According to Yahoo (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Nuggets-may-sign-Jones-but-Green-not-a-summer-p;_ylt=ApsabzmHYbG3FRhIdphpwNmkvLYF?urn=nba,75962) , it's quite a possibility.

[SilkyJ]

Your not trying, but you are certainly succeeding haha.

yea i know...

Then I'll add this happy point: as a huge Dunleavy fan I'm glad to see him emerging as a good player and look forward to his continued improvement. Moreover, the notion that dukies can't play in the NBA should really never be brought up anymore b/c our players over the last 10 years or so have just absolutely abolished that myth.


Dahntay Jones tore it up in the NBDL, averaging 25 points and had a 37 point outburst.

Also, the Nuggets are considering picking him up for the summer league. According to Yahoo (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Nuggets-may-sign-Jones-but-Green-not-a-summer-p;_ylt=ApsabzmHYbG3FRhIdphpwNmkvLYF?urn=nba,75962) , it's quite a possibility.

I did not know that he was killing it in the NBDL. Good for him. If he can develop a decent jumper (doubtful at this point, but not out of reach) he could be a contributor on most teams...

[DukieInBrasil]

I never said Shav desrved more PT, and why should we not give him a welcome back? the man nearly broke his ankle and is playing in the NBA again. He might get cut he might not, lame and lazy complaint.
OK, great Duhon benefitted from end-of-the-year syndrome, he still had a great game. You´re denial of him being disciplined is contrary to other stuff i´ve read.
Shelden played MUCH better in Sac throughout his time there than he did in ATL earlier THIS YEAR.
As for Dhantay, 16 pts and 8 rebs is an excellent game for a bench player. Maybe he only had one excellent game and a few good to mediocre games.

I don´t think there was anything glass half full about any of what i said, although some of your remarks i found to be somewhat mean-spirited.

[Dukeford]

I don´t think there was anything glass half full about any of what i said, although some of your remarks i found to be somewhat mean-spirited.

I agree, probably the only original comments that may be overly optimistic were the ones concerning McRoberts. Pretty disappointing so far. I wonder if he's still crying and pouting in the NBDL.

By the way. At this point, Shav's pro career has probably been just as succesful as Sean May's, if not more. Haha!

[BobbyFan]

-Grant Hill saw a resurgence in his career in Phoenix after leaving Orlando behind. He has stayed healthy pretty much all year, although a groin strain is keeping his productivity pretty low right now.


Grant is the key to the Spurs-Suns series. His production isn't what it was earlier in the year offensively, but defensively, he needs to be healthy because D' Antoni wants to put him on Parker.

[SilkyJ]

I never said Shav desrved more PT, and why should we not give him a welcome back? the man nearly broke his ankle and is playing in the NBA again. He might get cut he might not, lame and lazy complaint.
OK, great Duhon benefitted from end-of-the-year syndrome, he still had a great game. You´re denial of him being disciplined is contrary to other stuff i´ve read.
Shelden played MUCH better in Sac throughout his time there than he did in ATL earlier THIS YEAR.
As for Dhantay, 16 pts and 8 rebs is an excellent game for a bench player. Maybe he only had one excellent game and a few good to mediocre games.

I don´t think there was anything glass half full about any of what i said, although some of your remarks i found to be somewhat mean-spirited.

They are not meant to be mean spirited at all. Just trying to give my objective opinion without royal blue colored glasses, which is probably impossible to do entirely.

Shav- when you said "should get a welcome back" I thought you meant from the Philadelphia organization, not from us as fans. I certainly welcome him back and hope he gets some PT next year.

I did not say "he might get cut, he might not." That's straddling the fence saying its 50/50 or something like that, and yes that would be lame. I said he would probably get cut. That's taking a side. Saying someone will "probably" do something is not the same as they "might or might not." I dont understand what is lame or lazy about saying I think shav won't be on the sixers next year. Its my opinion.

Duhon- I wasn't saying he didnt have discipline problems, I was just saying that his not playing was really a product of the reasons I listed, mainly the acquisition of larry hughes. My main point was to point out the very "glass half full comment" of "Chris Duhon has also recently started playing for the Bulls again, after a temporary disciplinary action" The way you put it makes it sound like A) duhon was back to his role on the team playing 25-30 minutes and B) the reason he was out due to a "temporary disciplinary action". Frankly, that's just wrong. He was out, as I said, b/c there were too many players ahead of him on the depth chart. And its not like he returned to his role as a starter or 6th man, again as I said, he just played cause everyone was playing. You sugarcoating made it seem like all is back to being well and good between chicago and chris and that he's a regular in the rotation, and thats far from the truth.

Sheld- Didnt think it was really worth comparing his play in sacramento to his play in ATL this year b/c he sat so much in ATL this year, whereas he actually got PT at the end of last year, just he like he did at the end of this year, so I thought that to be a better comparison. You are certainly right that his play was better with sacramento than it was with ATL this year.

Dahntay- Agree to disagree, and this is probably why I used the phrase "glass half full" to describe the way I saw ur comments. The way I saw it Dahntay did have that one really good game, and that's about it. I do think that he can land a gig somewhere in the league. Those #s in the NBDL are pretty awesome.

[jma4life]

You really think he'll get cut. He was doing some very good things (for a role player at least) prior to the injury and most spoke very highly of him. Iverson in particular had high praise for Shav.

[brevity]

You may want to save this image for the next time a Carolina fan argues that Duke players don't do well in the pros:

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[VaDukie]

Maggette deserves a little more love - he was 11th in the league in scoring at 22.1 ppg.

[SilkyJ]

Maggette deserves a little more love - he was 11th in the league in scoring at 22.1 ppg.

word. if livingston and brand can actually stay healthy, and if al thornton continues to improve, they're a legit squad. of course the west is unbelievably stacked so i won't say they'll make the playoffs but I think they could be at least as good as the blazers and warriors. The core of this squad, minus cassell, won a playoff series and took the suns to 7 games in the 2nd round of the playoffs 2 years ago. This is definitely a dark horse team if brand and livingston return in at least close to full form, which I think is more doubtful for livingston, but Brand seemed to be just fine in the few games he played.