Why hasn't Thomas, Zoubek and Nelson Progressed ?
I am not a UNC fan nor do I intend for this post to be negative. I am hoping for an intelligent answer or answers.
When Zoubek committed to Duke there was great enthusiasm and when Thomas announced that he had chosen Duke over Rutgers and maybe Florida more enthusiasm for what ," experts", said was one of the top recruiting classes. These were 2 top 20 players. Unless there are some out there who have seen it differently, I have not seen any progress during the year from either player. Does anyone have an explanation save for the statement as it pertains to Zoubek that it takes longer for a big man to develop? There are many freshmen around making major contributions.
Nelson is a nice player but not the one Duke fans thought. He is the All Time leader in points scored in the State Of California and was ," Mr. Basketball", there. I know that he was hurt his first 2 years...is that the reason for his developement.
Once again I am hoping for an intelligent answer.
Thank you
Chronological age as well?
I would not consider either of them disappointments at all relative to what I'd heard about them prior to arriving (they were, by anything I'd read, rated well but below Henderson and Scheyer anyways). As interior players, strength/bulk is a major issue and chronological age seems to make a huge difference (in combination with the ability to focus on strength training each off-season). Not only is Duke's team young in terms of year (Freshman/Sophomore...etc.), but their chronological ages are fairly young as well. Both Zoubek and Thomas are still 18 years old and sophomore Josh McRoberts just turned 20 a few days ago.
By comparison, G. Vasquez, a freshman guard at Maryland turned 20 already a few months back, and sophomore Tyler Hansbrough has been 21 years old for months now as well.
Though his bigger issues have been with injuries delaying his maturation (and I agree that he should now benefit from the opportunity to spend a summer focusing more on skills than strength), our sole Junior Demarcus Nelson has the exact same day of birth as Sophomore Hansbrough.
Although just a few months may not make that much of a difference, for whatever it is worth, each of UNC's top freshman, Ellington, Lawson and B.Wright were already 19 by the 1st week of November last year.
BTW-I'm guessing that Josh's chronological age is definately not lost on NBA Scouts, in comparisons with, say, Hansborough. Although they certainly could be wrong about his ability to mature, I'm sure they project what McRoberts might be able to improve in terms of strength and skill (especially since he lost most of last summer to back surgery) over the next 16 months as that is how much younger he is than TH.
As one final caveat, there are some guys who are amazingly developed physically for their chronological age and this cannot be taught and absolutely stands out (Deng, Brand and Maggette come to mind for Duke). Frightningly, and partly accounting for why Durant may be selected above the best Center prospect in a decade, he is still 18 for another 7 months (and therefore more than 8 months younger than Oden). Yikes! Durant is EXTREMELY special.