Originally Posted by
JasonEvans
I love your passion, David, but you are barking up the wrong tree here.
PG - Tre Jones has never played a second of NBA basketball and doesn't exactly seem like a lock to be a rotation player at this point... and you are comparing him to a likely All-Star in Trae Young. Huge advantage Hawks.
SG - Huerter is the starter ahead of Cam on the Hawks, so that tells you all you need to know about which team has an advantage here. Huerter is a far superior shooter though Cam's long arms make him a slightly better defender. Still, advantage Hawks.
SF- Hunter and RJ don't have radically different offensive stats thus far and Hunter is a far superior defender. I could argue Hunter is the more complete player because of the D, but I will let it go and we can call this a push.
PF - We are yet to see anything of what Zion will be in the NBA, other than some brief preseason action. He certainly looks like he could be a stud, but Collins is a really nice piece who was a 20 and 10 guy last year (not many of those in the NBA these days). He's a likely a future All-Star. Until we know more about what Zion will be against NBA competition, I'm tempted to call this a push but to be nice I will make it a small advantage for Duke.
C - Wendell is waaaay better than what the Hawks have in the middle. No doubt about that. He doesn't appear to be a future all-star, but is clearly a solid NBA player. Strong advantage Duke (though nowhere close to the advantage the Hawks have at PG).
Of course, your comparison did not touch on the bench, where the Hawks are absolutely crushing Duke in a major way. I mean, when the Hawks give a guy a rest, they bring in someone who is almost as good. When Duke goes to Duval or Trent they are going to guys who are basically somewhere between G-league and the end of a NBA bench.
The Dukie team you proposed (Marvin Bagley III, RJ Barrett, Wendell Carter, Jr., Trevon Duval, Cam Reddish, Gary Trent, Jr., Zion Williamson, Tre Jones and others) would have the worst backcourt and worst outside shooting of any team in the NBA by a really wide margin. Shooting matters.
-Jason "go back a couple years to add Tatum, Frank, Grayson, and Kennard to Marvin, Wendell, RJ, Cam, and Zion and you've probably got a playoff team though... need a PG probably" Evans