Would it be churlish of me to suggest that Duke played halfway decent basketball before the mid-1980s?
Zion, Grant, Elton, Nolan, and if someone is not listed are they free? Because I'll take Quinn Cook, thanks.
Doubles as a nominee for most charismatic Duke team.
- Chillin
Laettner $5, Grant $5, J Dawkins $3, Ferry $1, Singler $1
IMO, Ferry is a huge steal. Brand and Dawkins are great value at $3. Battier is almost as good a value at $4.
Luol and Ferry are crazy bargains. Luol was the #7 pick and Ferry was the #2 in a great '89 draft. 1$ + $2= $3
Need a point guard, Hurley's D gives him the nod over JWill's scoring. $3 +$4 =$7
Thought about taking Johnny D for the point, a great deal at $3, but putting him at the 2 leaves me a $5 player. $7 + $3 = $10
Laettner was one of the best college players ever, and had an indominable will to win, and would fit the "5" perfectly for this team.
However, I think Grant would give us more flexibility and give us an incomparable defense. By his senior year, Grant became (out of necessity) the full offensive package. We'll be playing "small ball" with Ferry at the 5 and Luol at the 4, but the ball pressure would negate our height disadvantage.
Hurley
Dawkins
G Hill
Deng
Ferry
I'll take my chances with this squad.
I need to know what rules we are playing under. If it’s ole school then it’s rough contact and no replay I need Christian and Shane. If it’s touch calls like today I want JJ racking up foul shots
I generally don't place much stock on anything written on B/R. This list seems to be over-valuing NBA success over college success. How else to account for two-time ACC POY and NPOY Danny Ferry being "ranked" behind Brandon Ingram, who was second-team All-ACC in his one season at Duke?
I'm certainly not taking FerryFor50.
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
I'm super excited to be posting something positive about Cam Reddish in this thread! Cam had easily the best game of his young career tonight: 25 points on 10/17 from the field, 4/7 from 3, and 1/2 from the free throw line. He opened the game by hitting a couple of threes off passes, but showed off a much more diverse scoring game than we've seen from him in the NBA so far. He scored in transition(!) around the rim(!!) through contact(!!!). He Eurostepped, he got and-1s. He ran the pick and roll as a secondary ballhandler, and hit midrange shots off the dribble. He was tough on the boards pursuing the ball out of his zone. He was a net positive on defense, and came up with a few steals. He just looked more fluid right now than he has in a while (watching a game like tonight's, you can really get behind the theory that he was bothered a bit by some relatively minor but troublesome injury for a lot of his time at Duke. I still haven't heard whether that's anything more than a rumor, but when he just seems to be so much more flexible and willing to push it physically, I have to wonder).
Here's his highlight reel. Fingers crossed that this isn't just an outlier game for him. It's obviously super early in his career, but he's been, by just about any combination of serious stats and the eye test, one of the worst players in the NBA getting minutes this year. This game shows that he's very capable of more.
In unsurprising news, Trae Young was truly magnificent (offensively) in this game, and Atlanta gave up 130 and lost by double digits. Their assortment of injuries and the Collins suspension (and Evan Turner getting minutes at all; man, he's brutal to watch right now...) have really tanked whatever the Hawks' season might have been, though watching them now doesn't convince one that it would ever have been much more than this. But all this losing might be for the best in the long term if they get another good player in the draft this year out of it.
Glad to hear he played a great game. Also, the Reddish playing through injuries at Duke isn't a rumor anymore. He and his father openly discussed them earlier this year. He played through broken ribs, a toe injury, and may have still been recovering from a torn groin suffered in high school, though that last part is unclear.
https://therookiewire.usatoday.com/2...y-core-muscle/
https://theathletic.com/1258614/2019...pect-from-him/
Makes total sense, thanks for the links. The core injuries (groin/ribs) especially click for me, because they wouldn't be obvious except in making him super tentative. He just looked so stiff when he'd try to go to the basket in transition, especially, and just couldn't contort his body at all to avoid contact. Ribs and/or groin fit 100%. Here's hoping that he's through injury issues and that what he showed tonight is going to start being the norm rather than an extreme aberration.
This was hopefully a breakthrough game for Cam. He has been dreadful up to this game. Thanks for Youtube link. He is a very smooth player and this is why Atlanta picked him. Hope the light bulb has come on to play like this every game.https://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=401160951
I may pick a real team later. I agree that you start with Grant and go from there and that Elton and Dawkins are a steal. But as I looked at this I thought: just take the $3 line. Sure Marvin would have to play the 3 and BI the 2 but still...
OK I guess I can create a real team:
$5 Grant (SF)
$3 Elton (C)
$3 Johnny (PG)
$2 Justise (PF)
$1 Gryason (SG)
Tough deciding between Nolan and Grayson for the 2.
So many good answers though. I could throw that team away (except for Grant) and come up with another I'm just as happy with in a minute.