A little love for our point guards...

[SupaDave]

Yes. We all know Tre Jones is the second coming. I love him.

But the Thoughts on Duke article troubled me a little with how little regarded our back up point guards are.

Goldwire, Buckmire and Bressner - in that order. But I also add another small caveat - Zion used to be a point guard - so we are fine there too.

Not just that - but Goldwire will likely shock quite a few folks. He's added 10 pounds of muscle and looks more like Derrick Rose than the freshmen he was last year.

He worked out all summer too after reaping the benefits of playing against a highly athletic point guard all last year in practice (Alex and Jordan worked out together this summer in GA).

Here's a Goldwire workout vid from June (so I could be late but I didn't see anything): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN2Vh8aYhBw

Also - Buckmire has gained a FULL one pound. But considering his stature it's likely hard for him to pack on the pounds right now. He's a leader and he'll be ready to go.

We will be just fine in Toronto.

[MartyClark]

Yes. We all know Tre Jones is the second coming. I love him.

But the Thoughts on Duke article troubled me a little with how little regarded our back up point guards are.

Goldwire, Buckmire and Bressner - in that order. But I also add another small caveat - Zion used to be a point guard - so we are fine there too.

Not just that - but Goldwire will likely shock quite a few folks. He's added 10 pounds of muscle and looks more like Derrick Rose than the freshmen he was last year.

He worked out all summer too after reaping the benefits of playing against a highly athletic point guard all last year in practice (Alex and Jordan worked out together this summer in GA).

Here's a Goldwire workout vid from June (so I could be late but I didn't see anything): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN2Vh8aYhBw

Also - Buckmire has gained a FULL one pound. But considering his stature it's likely hard for him to pack on the pounds right now. He's a leader and he'll be ready to go.

We will be just fine in Toronto.

Thanks SupaDave. I had been wondering about Goldwire's progress and hoping that he could provide some meaningful minutes this year.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

We will be just fine in Toronto.

Having a largely positionless team will also ease the burden of not having Tre...

[Furniture]

We will see if Tre doesn’t test the patience of some on this forum. I would not bet against the knives not coming out if he makes a few mistakes.

[NSDukeFan]

We will see if Tre doesn’t test the patience of some on this forum. I would not bet against the knives not coming out if he makes a few mistakes.

Hopefully not literally

[Native]

Mike Bucketsmire will be our guide. Have no fear.

[jimsumner]

I seriously doubt whether we will see any of Besser (note the spelling), Buckmire or Goldwire in crucial second-half situations this season. The first two are walk-ons and Besser is a wing. Goldwire can give a few useful minutes here and there--especially on the defensive end--but anything more than that is a reach, IMO.

Guys like Besser and Buckmire make their contributions in practice and hopefully become off-the-court leaders as upperclassmen. I don't think it unfair or demeaning to recognize that.

[CDu]

I seriously doubt whether we will see any of Besser (note the spelling), Buckmire or Goldwire in crucial second-half situations this season. The first two are walk-ons and Besser is a wing. Goldwire can give a few useful minutes here and there--especially on the defensive end--but anything more than that is a reach, IMO.

Guys like Besser and Buckmire make their contributions in practice and hopefully become off-the-court leaders as upperclassmen. I don't think it unfair or demeaning to recognize that.

Agreed. Buckmire and Besser have played a combined 8 career minutes. Neither is a PG. I would generously put the over/under on their combined minutes this season at 10. As Jim said, they are walk-on practice players. They aren’t here to contribute on the court in games.

Goldwire will play more than those two for sure. But if he averages more than 6-8 mpg this year, I will be quite surprised. And against better opponents, I would guess those minutes drop. We will likely have the ball in the hands of Barrett and Reddish as much as possible whenever Jones is out.

[Scorp4me]

Goldwire can give a few useful minutes here and there--especially on the defensive end--but anything more than that is a reach, IMO.

jim certainly knows more than me so I won't argue, but I like Goldwire and think he can provide a lot more than he has had the opportunity to up to now and I don't think I'm the only one. I did a quick search for "Goldwire outplayed" (because I knew I had read that phrase in several places) and this was the first link.

https://www.scacchoops.com/is-jordan...-forgotten-arm

Personally I hope we see more of him because I think he can provide a lot now and even more in the future when the next freshman phenom point guard is yet again off to the NBA early.

[Furniture]

I also think that Goldwire might one of these days break the rotation. Not this year but maybe in his Junior or senior years perhaps. It’s just a feeling.

[dukelifer]

Agreed. Buckmire and Besser have played a combined 8 career minutes. Neither is a PG. I would generously put the over/under on their combined minutes this season at 10. As Jim said, they are walk-on practice players. They aren’t here to contribute on the court in games.

Goldwire will play more than those two for sure. But if he averages more than 6-8 mpg this year, I will be quite surprised. And against better opponents, I would guess those minutes drop. We will likely have the ball in the hands of Barrett and Reddish as much as possible whenever Jones is out.

Under ideal conditions - I agree - but Jones is injured and Duke will be very lucky if this hip thing does not flare up. I suspect we will see a lot of Goldwire at some point in the middle of the ACC season.

[Troublemaker]

Under ideal conditions - I agree - but Jones is injured and Duke will be very lucky if this hip thing does not flare up. I suspect we will see a lot of Goldwire at some point in the middle of the ACC season.

Based on what? Three things:

1. If you watch Coach K's pre-Canada presser on GoDuke, he clarifies that Tre is no longer injured but is being held out because his conditioning isn't there yet.

2. What did you even know about this hip injury in the first place to suggest that it'll be recurring?

3. Duke has a lot of ball-handlers on this team, and I suspect JGold is going to effectively be the 4th-string point guard behind Tre, RJ, and Cam. I can't see him getting many minutes even if Tre gets injured again.

(4. Extra: I do understand what you're trying to accomplish with this post, but reverse-jinxes don't work when they're so obvious.)

[kAzE]

I'm with CDu. If Tre Jones has to miss extended time, I believe Cam Reddish will the primary ball handler/distributor. Both he and RJ will be handling the rock an awful lot, no matter who is on the floor. I do not expect to see much of Goldwire in games that matter, regardless of Tre Jones' health. But if he does blow away my expectations, and prove to be an asset, that would be fantastic, and a very welcome surprise.

In any case, we might get a decent idea of how it would play out in the 3 Canada games, since Tre isn't playing (although Cam is also out). We're missing our 2 best ball handlers, unfortunately.

My prediction for the starting lineup tonight is Zion/RJ/Marques/Alex/Javin, with RJ taking over most of the ball handling until Goldwire comes off the bench. No idea who is playing "small" forward in that lineup, but I guess we'll find out. (Probably Zion on offense, Javin on defense)

I suppose there is a decent chance Jordan starts over Javin just to avoid playing an awkwardly huge lineup.

[sagegrouse]

I'm with CDu. If Tre Jones has to miss extended time, I believe Cam Reddish will the primary ball handler. Both he and RJ will be handling the rock an awful lot, no matter who is on the floor. I do not expect to see much of Goldwire in games that matter, regardless of Tre Jones' health. But if he does blow away my expectations, and prove to be an asset, that would be fantastic, and a very welcome surprise.

In any case, we will get a pretty good idea of how it would play out in the 3 Canada games, since Tre isn't playing.

My prediction for the starting lineup tonight is Zion/RJ/Marques/Alex/Javin, with RJ taking over most of the ball handling until Goldwire comes off the bench. No idea who is playing "small" forward in that lineup, but I guess we'll find out.

I thought Goldwire was an asset when he played last season. Jordan may not be in the rotation, but if Tre isn't available in these early games, the insertion of Goldwire allows Cam and RJ to play their normal positions.

[dukelifer]

Based on what? Three things:

1. If you watch Coach K's pre-Canada presser on GoDuke, he clarifies that Tre is no longer injured but is being held out because his conditioning isn't there yet.

2. What did you even know about this hip injury in the first place to suggest that it'll be recurring?

3. Duke has a lot of ball-handlers on this team, and I suspect JGold is going to effectively be the 4th-string point guard behind Tre, RJ, and Cam. I can't see him getting many minutes even if Tre gets injured again.

(4. Extra: I do understand what you're trying to accomplish with this post, but reverse-jinxes don't work when they're so obvious.)

Actually- I wasn't trying to accomplish anything here- but I can see how it may come across as a reverse jinx. As for inside knowledge- I have none. Hip injuries can suggest some underlying imbalance- unless it came from contact. I do not know what the cause of the injury might be, so I am only cautiously optimistic that this will not recur. I agree that we may see a number of people handle but how they handle against pressure remains to be seen.

[SupaDave]

I also think that Goldwire might one of these days break the rotation. Not this year but maybe in his Junior or senior years perhaps. It’s just a feeling.

Goldwire watch!!!!!

28 mins (4th most on team), 1 point, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals.

Would like to see him hit some shots but not a bad game at all considering Zion and RJ basically took all of the teams shots. Crashing the boards hard - remember we've had some guards who weren't very good at that. One indication is that there wont be much drop off on defense when Goldwire is in the game.

[IrishDevil]

Actually- I wasn't trying to accomplish anything here- but I can see how it may come across as a reverse jinx. As for inside knowledge- I have none. Hip injuries can suggest some underlying imbalance- unless it came from contact. I do not know what the cause of the injury might be, so I am only cautiously optimistic that this will not recur. I agree that we may see a number of people handle but how they handle against pressure remains to be seen.

Sounds like a job for Greybeard/the Feldenkrais Method!

Too bad Greybeard has been absent - I can only imagine how he might wax rhapsodic about various members of this year's team, point guards and Mack trucks alike.

[SupaDave]

Sounds like a job for Greybeard/the Feldenkrais Method!

Too bad Greybeard has been absent - I can only imagine how he might wax rhapsodic about various members of this year's team, point guards and Mack trucks alike.

He would literally be telling us Zion, based on his posture, is too heavy for his own body and that pressure on his spine would catch up to him during the year.