Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Neither Marques nor Javin is on the 66 player NBA Draft Combine list recently released by the NBA.
https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/sta...89372926246912
"Play and practice like you are trying to make the team." --Coach K
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Who would listen to a guy who makes up ridiculously inaccurate numbers out of thin air?
Assuming both Marques and Javin made 100% of their dunk attempts (which I doubt is true but I'm too lazy to figure out how many missed dunks they may or may not have had), Marques made 54.7% of his non-dunk shots around the rim and 26.1% of his two-point jump shots. Javin made 62.2% of his non-dunk shots around the rim and 60% of his two-point jump shots (of which admittedly there were only five).
There are a lot of other things Javin has done considerably better than Marques (shooting percentage, rebounding, and steals, to name three). And Marques's block advantage is not as big as you might think (Marques's block% this season was 8.5%; Javin's was 7.9%). Javin also has much quicker feet and a much better vertical, both of which matter in the NBA.
And while Marques did improve on his free throw shooting a great deal this season (as sophomores, Marques shot 59% from the line while Javin shot 55%, so the difference was just this season), they both have improved their fouling. From freshman to junior year, Marques lowered his fouls per 40 by 3.8 (from 8.2 to 4.4) and Javin lowered his fouls per 40 by 3.3 (from 9.8 to 6.5), so really not that big a difference in their two-year improvement.
Curious if there is an “alternate” list - typically some players will voluntarily skip or have injuries and then some players on the alternate list will get late invites. Regardless, it continues to appear unlikely that either of our guys would be drafted.
I think they already checked with these guys if they want to come based on the fact Rui Hachimura was invited but declined.
Not gonna lie, I'm a little relived to see Jordan Poole's name on the list... otherwise his rash decision to burn his eligibility would've looked even more foolish than it already does with him a fringe draftable prospect.
At this point, I have to imagine both Javin and Marques are aware that it's very unlikely they'd be drafted unless a team absolutely falls in love with them at an individual workout. There's nothing to lose by going through those workouts and getting feedback, but not being invited to the combine is a flashing neon sign telling you you aren't viewed as a draft prospect at the moment. Last year something similar happened for Michigan's Charles Matthews, who was not invited to the combine but still stuck around through the process before returning to school. FWIW, he did earn an invite this year, showing that returning to school can lead to some tangible improvements to your draft stock (Matthews is very athletic so it wouldn't surprise me if a strong showing at the combine leads him to become a mid second rounder, whereas last year without the showcase opportunity presented by the combine he had very little chance).
The writing is on the wall now: if Javin and/or Marques are OK with the high probability of starting their career in the G-league or overseas, with no guarantees, they'll stay in the draft. If they'd rather continue to develop at Duke, they'll return. I doubt there will be any more real solid news until a decision is made, because this now becomes the most crucial and overarching data point in their decisions (unless they earn one of those G-league invites to the combine, but that seems so convoluted I'm not gonna jump down that rabbit hole, haha).
Scott Rich on the front page
Trinity BS 2012; University of Michigan PhD 2018
Duke Chronicle, Sports Online Editor: 2010-2012
K-Ville Blue Tenting 2009-2012
Unofficial Brian Zoubek Biographer
If you have questions about Michigan Basketball/Football, I'm your man!
It was more than instinct. The guy was a savant. He could reliable predict how the ball would come off the rim based on velocity, trajectory and distance. Then he had the physical ability to be near that place. Because of his off court shenanigans, he never gets the credit for his mental game. That ability is very difficult to teach.
Javin can watch all the tape he wants, but he is never gonna be close to Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman. He doesn't have anywhere near the agility, strength, motor or talent that Rodman had. Rodman tore up the NAIA, averaging something like 26 and 15 and was MVP of an NBA pre-draft invitational camp before getting drafted.
Rodman was capable of averaging double digit points in the league during his career if he had wanted to. He also had an incredibly high basketball IQ. MJ said that Rodman picked up the triangle principles faster than anyone he had ever seen, including himself.
It wasn't instinct. He spent hours and hours studying where a ball was likely to go, based on where the ball was shot from and, yes, who was shooting it. He was also willing to sacrifice his body for rebounding position under the basket before a shot, willing to box out (a lost art) against much bigger players when a shot was in the air, and willing to fight hard to get to the ball once it had come off of the rim. He was willing to do so on every possession.
Few players have the mental edge or the second (or third, or fourth, or fifth...) jump that Rodman had. The term "unicorn" gets thrown around a lot these days, and Rodman is certainly deserving of the moniker.
And yet with all that, Coach K decided to start Marques more games and play him more total minutes than Javin (which doesn't account for the fact that Marques missed 3 complete games and most of a 4th). They are both average players with fairly significant warts to their respective games. I hope they both come back since I think they both add something to the team and neither really appears ready or capable of playing in the NBA.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Didn’t do an exhaustive search for ACC players that dropped from the list, but off the cuff I don’t see Diakite.
Last edited by bluedev_92; 05-08-2019 at 04:57 PM. Reason: Wording
I watched a lot of film on Dennis Rodman once. I ended up with a lot of rings in my face and an intense desire to go to North Korea.