Baker’s Ranking indicates he most likelywill be a 4-yr player according to this
https://247sports.com/college/duke/S...lTimeRecruits/
Well, you say it wouldn't be for garbage time, but unless you think he'd jump past Javin and Alex on the depth chart, I don't see how he'd get too many meaningful minutes. If K thought shooting was more important than defense, he would have already been playing Alex big minutes.
I suspect the question was explored extensively by Baker, his family, Coach K, and the rest of the coaching staff. We are merely witness to their decision.
Let's be clear, the expectation was that Baker would arrive on the Duke roster in the fall of 2019. That is when his high school class goes to school. That is the class into which he was recruited. But, an opportunity arose (thanks to Baker's accelerated school work) for him to come to Duke a year early. Rather than playing high school ball, he could spend a year practicing against college players and acclimating to the change that is college life. Duke and Baker thought that would be an excellent idea so they did it.
I never saw this as a "should we redshirt him" question. Baker is merely doing what was expected. The question was "is he so special that we should play him a year earlier than expected?" The answer was no.
-Jason "can we put this one to bed now? What is it even doing in this thread anyway?" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
To be more precise, I said the theory upon which taking off the redshirt makes sense would NOT be for garbage time...ie...no one who was advocating for this - which I was not necessarily - or even pursuing the discussion - was doing it with garbage time in mind. (And by the way, it was this year's frosh class who insisted Joey join them for the SI photo shoot. Just sayin...)
And again, to be precise, this notion really didn't come up for the most part until an historically poor four game shooting display. Nobody said burn the redshirt even if he's not ready to do anything but garbage time.
For what it is worth, Baker was ranked #37 in the final RSCI rankings. As far as I can tell, of the 100 guys who were ranked 25-49 in the final RSCI rankings between 2011 and 2014,
- 26 were drafted by the NBA within 4 years of their HS class entering college.
- 8 were not drafted, but have played at least one NBA game.
Based on this, you could say that 34 of the 100 players ranked 25-49 in the RSCI between 2011 and 2014 were "ready for the NBA" within 4 years of entering college.
Conversely, you could say that approximately two-thirds of players ranked 25-49 were probably not "ready for the NBA" after their 4th year in college and, thus, would have been good candidates to return for a 5th year if they had the option.
Baker's prospects to be "NBA ready" by the end of the 2021-22 college season may or may not be typical of this group. Of course, even if he is "not NBA ready" by the end of the 2021-22 season, there is also a chance that he will not be at Duke for a 5th year in 2022-23 .
Last edited by House P; 01-30-2019 at 09:39 AM.
if Baker was better than White, he'd be on the floor. It's that simple.
It's actually more nuanced than that. Based on what I've heard and seen, White is indeed overall a better player than Baker.
But imagine they were roughly equal. Further imagine that roster composition suggested you could only play one, while redshirting the other.
Who would benefit more from that redshirt, a still-physically-developing freshman who reclassified and moved up a year or a physically mature junior?
Baker is sitting out this season because there's no guarantee he would see significant PT but also because he should benefit from a redshirt year more than anyone else on the team, especially in the weight room.
Rivals updated their Top 150 for the Class of 2020. Some notable rankings (and movement from the last listing):
3. (+2) Jalen Johnson, 6'8" SF, Glendale, WI
5. (-1) R.J. Hampton, 6'5" PG, Little Elm, TX
7. (+1) Brandon "B.J." Boston, 6'6" SG, Norcross, GA
16. (+8) Sharife Cooper, 5'11" PG, Powder Springs, GA
19. (-10) Walker Kessler, 7'0" C, College Park, GA
21 (-5) Jeremy Roach, 6'0" PG, Fairfax, VA
42. (+1) Henry Coleman, 6'7" PF, Richmond, VA
53. (no change) Marcus Bagley, 6'7" SF, Sacramento, CA
Coleman recently paid a visit to Duke, although I do not believe he has received a scholarship offer yet. Neither has Marcus Bagley, but I thought some of you might be interested in seeing where he stacks up here.
how likely is an offer to marcus bagley? he's probably not a "tier 1" recruit but it's good to take care of family.
A lot could and probably will change by 2020-21. That being said, there is a scenario where Bagley could be a contributor in due time.
O'Connell will be a senior, Joey Baker a redshirt-sophomore and the possibility of any or all of Wendell Moore, Jalen Johnson, Brandon Boston, and maybe another wing/forward like Henry Coleman could be on the roster that year. After that year, O'Connell graduates and any or all of Moore (if he even stays for a sophomore year), Johnson, and Boston would be "at risk" of going pro. That would leave a big hole for a sophomore Bagley to fill, along with a redshirt-junior Joey Baker as well as any Class of 2021 wings/forward being targeted.
So your guess is as good as mine.
Walker Kessler was on an official visit to Duke today and took in the St. John's game (picture courtesy of Adam Zagoria via twitter)
Thanks for your contributions to the recruiting threads. I love to read about possible Duke stars of the future. Sure beats some of the arguing and look at me posts. GoDuke!
He really looks like Grayson's big little brother
I really didn’t see it.... until that picture!
okay . . the resemblance is pretty incredible.
“Walker”? Sounds like a UNC kid.
Kessler, Grayson and Ted Cruz would be quite the formidable squad for the Big3 league, if that is still around.