All-Time Starting Lineup

[dukefan1980]

I am doing a painting commemorating Coach K's 903rd victory and in the painting are the 9 players that have their numbers retired during Coach's tenure: Johnny Dawkins, Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Shane Battier, Jason Williams, JJ Redick, and Shelden Williams.

The other day I was thinking about which players would start and what role they would play on this super team. This is the starting lineup that I came up with and the roles for the reserves:

Center: Christian Laettner
Power Forward: Shane Battier
Small Forward: Grant Hill
Shooting Guard: Johnny Dawkins
Point Guard: Bobby Hurley

In this fantasy world, I would see Shelden coming in for Laettner, Ferry coming in for either Battier or Grant, Redick backing up Johnny, and JWill splitting time with Hurley.

[BlueDevilBrowns]

I am doing a painting commemorating Coach K's 903rd victory and in the painting are the 9 players that have their numbers retired during Coach's tenure: Johnny Dawkins, Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Shane Battier, Jason Williams, JJ Redick, and Shelden Williams.

The other day I was thinking about which players would start and what role they would play on this super team. This is the starting lineup that I came up with and the roles for the reserves:

Center: Christian Laettner
Power Forward: Shane Battier
Small Forward: Grant Hill
Shooting Guard: Johnny Dawkins
Point Guard: Bobby Hurley

In this fantasy world, I would see Shelden coming in for Laettner, Ferry coming in for either Battier or Grant, Redick backing up Johnny, and JWill splitting time with Hurley.

If we have to stay with the 9 retired players, I would Have Ferry starting over Battier(more scoring and Battier is the ideal 6th man on this team) and I would SERIOUSLY consider JWill over Hurley, with Hurley getting primary minutes in crunch time, if needed, although with this "super" team, I think they would beat every other "normal" team by 30 points or more.

If possible, I would also consider Elton Brand in place of Sheldon and I would do my best to find a home for Singler, as well ( I would'nt want him to transfer after 1 year for lack of playing time).

[sagegrouse]

You have four consensus NPOYs on your list, plus Ferry, who was selected by four entities. Using these five players yields --

Laettner - C
Ferry - PF
Battier - SF
Redick - SG
JWill - PG

Looks like a strong team to me.

sagegrouse

[ChicagoCrazy84]

I am doing a painting commemorating Coach K's 903rd victory and in the painting are the 9 players that have their numbers retired during Coach's tenure: Johnny Dawkins, Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Shane Battier, Jason Williams, JJ Redick, and Shelden Williams.

The other day I was thinking about which players would start and what role they would play on this super team. This is the starting lineup that I came up with and the roles for the reserves:

Center: Christian Laettner
Power Forward: Shane Battier
Small Forward: Grant Hill
Shooting Guard: Johnny Dawkins
Point Guard: Bobby Hurley

In this fantasy world, I would see Shelden coming in for Laettner, Ferry coming in for either Battier or Grant, Redick backing up Johnny, and JWill splitting time with Hurley.

I can't argue with this except for maybe Redick starting in place of Johnny Dawkins. That is a close one though.

BTW, off subject but I had the pleasure of meeting Bobby Hurley in New Orleans (he deserves to be the starting PG in my book) and he said he would be joining the staff at Rhode Island this next year. Excited for him to be back in the college game. Good luck to him at URI.

[Chris Randolph]

I am doing a painting commemorating Coach K's 903rd victory and in the painting are the 9 players that have their numbers retired during Coach's tenure: Johnny Dawkins, Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Shane Battier, Jason Williams, JJ Redick, and Shelden Williams.

The other day I was thinking about which players would start and what role they would play on this super team. This is the starting lineup that I came up with and the roles for the reserves:

Center: Christian Laettner
Power Forward: Shane Battier
Small Forward: Grant Hill
Shooting Guard: Johnny Dawkins
Point Guard: Bobby Hurley

In this fantasy world, I would see Shelden coming in for Laettner, Ferry coming in for either Battier or Grant, Redick backing up Johnny, and JWill splitting time with Hurley.

I'd go with the same starting lineup. The only change I thought to make would be to start JWill over Hurley but with that particular starting 5 you are better off having more of a "floor general" at point than a scorer. JWill and Redick coming off the bench with instant offense is nasty good.

[luvdahops]

You have four consensus NPOYs on your list, plus Ferry, who was selected by four entities. Using these five players yields --

Laettner - C
Ferry - PF
Battier - SF
Redick - SG
JWill - PG

Looks like a strong team to me.

sagegrouse

Hard to argue for Shane as a starter at SF, a position he barely played in college, especially over Grant, who could literally play anywhere. I would go with:

Laettner
Ferry
Grant
Dawkins
Hurley

with a bench of Brand, Battier, JJ and J-Will

[Tappan Zee Devil]

Rather these lists are all k era.

There are guys like Art Heyman, Jeff Mullins and Bob Verga from the Bubas era, and Tinkerbell and G-man from the Foster era who need to be considered. And I won't even mention Dick Groat since that was back in the Paleolithic era.


Also - have we already had this discussion - maybe last summer

[CDu]

Rather these lists are all k era.

There are guys like Art Heyman, Jeff Mullins and Bob Verga from the Bubas era, and Tinkerbell and G-man from the Foster era who need to be considered. And I won't even mention Dick Groat since that was back in the Paleolithic era.


Also - have we already had this discussion - maybe last summer

We have one of these like every summer (or pretty much any time someone approaches a major Duke statistical milestone).

[1 24 90]

I can't argue with this except for maybe Redick starting in place of Johnny Dawkins. That is a close one though.

BTW, off subject but I had the pleasure of meeting Bobby Hurley in New Orleans (he deserves to be the starting PG in my book) and he said he would be joining the staff at Rhode Island this next year. Excited for him to be back in the college game. Good luck to him at URI.

I'm so jealous that you got to meet my all time favorite Dukie. BTW, Hurley was already back in the college game. He was an assistant to his brother at Wagner and they are both moving on to Rhode Island this coming season.

[Bojangles4Eva]

Rather than who starts, what about who finishes? Which of those 5 do you want on the court in the last couple minutes of a tight game?

I'd put

5: Laettner (for obvious reasons)
4: Battier (clutch defense)
3: Hill (can create his own shot probably better than anyone on this list)
2: Dawkins (handle and D better than Reddick)
1: Hurley (better FT% than JWill)

[JNort]

Rather than who starts, what about who finishes? Which of those 5 do you want on the court in the last couple minutes of a tight game?

I'd put

5: Laettner (for obvious reasons)
4: Battier (clutch defense)
3: Hill (can create his own shot probably better than anyone on this list)
2: Dawkins (handle and D better than Reddick)
1: Hurley (better FT% than JWill)

Well it depends on the scenario doesn't it? Are we down 3 or down 2 or down 1? Are we up and need defense and FT shooters?

[sduke1986]

I feel like you would have to start Dawkins without question. You must take into consideration that Dawkins had a better all around game and was a better defender. I love JJ, but Dawkins scored almost all of his points without a 3 point line. Imagine what his total would have been had he had a 3 point line through the duration of his career. I also think as was previously stated, that you would have to consider some of the guys from the Bubas era.

[Indoor66]

Rather than who starts, what about who finishes? Which of those 5 do you want on the court in the last couple minutes of a tight game?

I'd put

5: Laettner (for obvious reasons)
4: Battier (clutch defense)
3: Hill (can create his own shot probably better than anyone on this list)
2: Dawkins (handle and D better than Reddick)
1: Hurley (better FT% than JWill)

That group wouldn't have a tight game!

[sduke1986]

I was under the impression this was an all time list, that is why i mentioned the Bubas players. I now see it is for the all time Coach K players, so disregard the Bubas comment.

[dcdevil2009]

This is always a fun discussion to have, especially when there are very few wrong answers. To add another layer to the debate, are we picking players based on their overall careers or their best seasons in a Duke uniform? For example, I'd rather have Brand's sophomore season over any single Ferry season, but would rather have Ferry's two best years than Brand's freshman and sophomore year.

If we taking only their best years, I'd probably go with the following lineup, which I realize doesn't exactly fit neatly into the tradition PG, SG, SF, PF, C lineup:

• 1 - Bobby Hurley 1992-1993. Comfortable with the ball in his hands and an incredible distributor.
• 2 - Jay Williams 2001-2002. There's an argument for his 2000-2001 because season it overlaps with the Battier year I'd take. However, this Jay Williams spent more time off the ball than the 2000-2001 version and because I need him to be more of a scorer than distributor with Hurley as the primary ball handler, I took his consensus NPOY season.
• 3 - Hill 1993-1994. Because I've got a smaller backcourt, I wanted a lot of versatility in the front court, something Grant has in spades.
• 4 - Battier 2000-2001. As with Grant, Battier's ability to defend and play multiple positions would be huge for this team.
• 5 - Brand 1998-1999. Brand over Laettner was probably my toughest decision and honestly I could go either way. Ultimately, Brand's athleticism is what swayed me as I don't see this team playing much in the half court. It also might be some unintentional bias in favor of the more recent players that caused me to leave off Laettner.

[slower]

I know that this is totally not the point of the thread, but give me the following five, roll out the ball and we'll keep it close:

Gminski
Singler
Deng
Nolan
Kyrie

[OldPhiKap]

JWill -- point
Johnny -- sg
Grant -- f
Shane -- f
Laettner -- C


Limiting myself to players I've seen, not looking at what anyone else has posted, and going with my first instinct before kvetching about finding room for Bobby, Elton, Alarie, JJ, Carlos, Kyrie (oh, what could have been!), etc.

[OldPhiKap]

Well it depends on the scenario doesn't it? Are we down 3 or down 2 or down 1? Are we up and need defense and FT shooters?

The only time that team would be down is if Lenny Wirtz was calling the game. Even Karl Hess or Teddy Valentine couldn't keep that team down.

[Dev11]

Laettner
Singler
James
Jones
Hurley

I dare you.

(I, like slower, realize this isn't the point of the thread)

[Zeb]

C - Laettner - Easiest inclusion on the list.
PF - Brand - Because he was only at Duke 2 years and how 1999 ended, people seem to discount Brand. Battier was an outstanding college basketball player--could defend multiple positions, amazing leader, good outside shot. But Brand was the #1 pick in the draft as a sophomore and was unguardable in the post. If you put Battier or Ferry in here, you are vulnerable to being out muscled inside. Brand gives this team rebounding and low post scoring to complement Laettner's ability to go outside.
SF - G Hill - Possibly the most talented player on the team. A ball handler/playmaker, a lockdown defender who can guard nearly any position, an excellent rebounder.
SG - Dawkins - Best scorer in Duke history. Excellent passer too--4 assist per game career average. Redick was an outstanding SG, and on a team this talented, he would not have to worry about creating his own shot. But while Dawkins is not quite as good a shooter, he is a better defender, and would be better suited to the frenetic pace this team would want.
PG - Hurley - Someone needs to get the ball to these guys, and no one was better at that than Hurley. He was also a tenacious pest defending the other PG. Jason Williams was a better scorer. but we don't need more scoring from the PG position with this crew.

Bench:
Ferry - Could come in for the 3-5 spots, provides even more outside shooting
Battier - Comes in to lock down hottest wing, or could replace Brand if we want to turn up the pace even more
J-Will - Can sub for either guard, possibly best 3-pt shooter on team

This team would play at a very fast pace, it would pass the ball amazingly well (Hurley, Hill, Dawkins, and Ferry were all well above average passers at their positions). The defense would be insane.

The amount of talent that wouldn't even get significant playing time boggles my mind... Redick, Boozer, Dunleavy, Alarie, Deng... it's ridiculous.