Duke will be fine with Zoubek and Thomas

[phaedrus]

i'm no watzone, but from what i can gather greg monroe is more of an inside/outside player than people here seem to realize. he will not be a shelden or elton type bruiser. more like brandan wright with a jump shot, which is still great defensively but not exactly a low-post anchor on the offensive end.

[mepanchin]

This team really lacks athleticism as well - with Paulus, Scheyer, McClure, King, and Zoubek all sub-par athletes.

Thomas, Nelson, Henderson and Smith are all great athletes! I bet Henderson and Nelson see more PT than any of those guys but Paulus anyway.

For all the crap McClure gets for being unathletic, he is probably the best defender on the team. He is gritty, and has great energy. If he's healthy, he's a superb role player/glue guy.

Scheyer will, hopefully, be a 6th man. Despite late season struggles, he was our most efficient offensive player last year and is a definite asset with a year of experience.

But I agree that we really should not have to play Paulus and Scheyer together much. Together they are a bit of a defensive liability - if just 1 is on the floor, we can be ok covering for them. Hey, they are both already better defenders than JJ was in any of his 4 years.

[Boston Dukie]

I think you are right on all counts

I love McClure, but did see a huge drop-off after he hurt his knee. Let's hope that we get the pre-knee injury McClure next year, for the whole year

I also agree on having Paulus and Scheyer together for long stretches is tough - it was just brutal to watch those 2 try to defend the peremiter at the end of each tight game (which we usually lost).

The one guy no one is talking about is Marty. He is a great athlete, very quick, great hops, strong, etc (in the NC State game and the NCAA game, he was great). I would like to see him get 20+ mins a game, especially since we are going small.

Marty, Nelson, Smith, Singler, Henderson, and Thomas are all above average athletes, and Henderson, Nelson, and Smith are way above. So I hope this offsets the other guys I mentioned before.