Yeah, I'm like 99.9999999999% sure that phaedrus was making a joke based on the "previous poster got the wrong white shooter" angle, going back to Taylor King.
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There's another Taylor King joke in here somewhere...but I'm too distracted to find it.
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At least no one has called him Joey Beard. On this thread, at least. But it's Monday and the week is young.
Funny you should mention that. When I first read that Baker was transferring, I told my SO that Joey Beard was transferring and she looked at me and asked "who the hell is that?" I replied, "you know, #13!" She informed me that that was Joey Baker and she had no idea who Joey Beard was. OK, so sue me. I had a senior moment... :confused:
Not sure anyone really considered at the time Joey announced his transfer how badly that decision could really end up hurting us. He'd sure be nice to have on the roster about now, wouldn't he, even given his limitations? Even if we bring in the transfer from Texas (Ramey), he doesn't have a rep as a shooter. If our team is Roach/Ramey/Whitehead/Flip/Lively, and I'm an opposing coach, you better believe I'm packing my defense in and making Duke prove it can make shots from the perimeter, as I wouldn't believe it till I saw it on a consistent basis. We're gonna see a lot of that. And Joey sure would've helped to beat it.
Why do you say that? Joey had a rep as a shooter in HS, but we never really saw evidence of that. He shot 41% from 3 this past year. .9 makes on 2.5 attempts. Per game. We can't get him many more attempts than that. For 4 straight years we've needed him to be the guy that shoots over defenses that were packing it in on us, and he never did it consistently.
Like I said, he had a rep in HS as a shooter. But it didn't translate at Duke. He's a great kid, and was part of K making the FF in his last year, hanging one last banner. I will always love him for that. But don't build him up in your mind into something he wasn't.
I think It would be awesome if Joey Buckets came back. Joey struggled more on defense than offense. 41% is pretty darn good. It’s true that he doesn’t always catch the ball ready to shoot but no one was laying off Joey. Perhaps Coach S will be more willing to play some zone or looser M2M to allow for Joey’s defensive deficiencies. He’s a better defender than Seth Curry was, especially his Senior year while injured, and Duke did OK that year.
Baker has definitely held his rep as a shooter. He has averaged 2.9 made 3s per 40 minutes for his career. You referenced his 2.5 attempts per game? That's ignoring that he played only 12 mpg! On a 30 mpg pace, that's 2.3 makes and 5.5 attempts.
Baker has absolutely been the shooter his high school rep suggested. 38% from 3 and 81% from the FT line for his career. His issue has been everything except shooting, most notably defense.
I agree with your comments regarding Joey Baker. In Duke's man2man defense, he was a liability. Just like AJG was, but AJ got major minutes in spite of his bad defense. I think Joey would really help our offense in 2022-2023. Currently as the perimeter roster stands, only Jeremy has taken 3 point shots at the college distance. I'm hoping to see some variations to the defense under Jon but it's too late for Joey Baker.
GoDuke!
I’m good with Baker, Schutt, and Blakes. Schutt can shoot:). Letting it fly won’t be an issue. Based on his mix-tapes, his biggest adjustment might be learning to fill a role instead of being “the man” and initiating the offense. I guess most HS stars have to make a similar adjustment at Duke. Blakes shooting will likely improve his sophomore year as is the norm.
I just don’t think Joey would really move the needle for this team.
Yeah players can improve substantially even as seniors ala Zoubek and Robinson. Having a 5th year senior captain is a good thing for a very inexperienced team l. Also 3 options at shooting guard are better than 2. There’s almost no question that Joey is going to play with the current lineup.
Marshall Plumlee also comes to mind. He played sparingly throughout his career until senior year where he really was a solid contributor. Robinson showed flashes late in his final season, including the very last game where he turned it on considerably, but his impact wasn't really season long (except certainly from a leadership perspective).
Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t count on Baker making a difference. It is not impossible (Alondes Williams went from an ineffective reserve as a senior to ACC PoY as a super-senior, for example), but not likely. That said, he would help with continuity if nothing else. And would give us one more dart to throw at the wing shooter spot if we don’t land a starter.
That said, it seems like the plan is still to find a starter elsewhere.