MBB 2019-20 Starters

[wsb3]

I’m going to comment from a different perspective - who will be the 6th Man? I like the first player off the bench to be a scorer, someone who comes in and gives the offense a boost.

Matthew Hurt and Alex O’Connell stand out to me as the leading contenders. Wendell Moore could certainly work his way into the conversation.

A 6th Man who understands his role and understands he really is a starter everywhere except the box score is an invaluable asset.

Great post Bob. (Must spread comments, blah blah)

[jipops]

I’m going to comment from a different perspective - who will be the 6th Man? I like the first player off the bench to be a scorer, someone who comes in and gives the offense a boost.

Matthew Hurt and Alex O’Connell stand out to me as the leading contenders. Wendell Moore could certainly work his way into the conversation.

A 6th Man who understands his role and understands he really is a starter everywhere except the box score is an invaluable asset.

If Jack and the rest of the staff and team ever fully understand that his strength is not in putting the ball on the floor, then I say Jack White. Shooting struggles aside, if he is spotting up on the catch he's a good outside shooter. Defensively he is very solid and on the boards he is terrific for his size. I think these attributes belie the consummate role player. I think the leading contenders are White and Javin. AOC looks much more comfortable out there and is probably our best shooter outside of Hurt. I see him getting a number of starting nods throughout the season. I can also see there being games where Carey picks up early fouls and Javin has to come in sooner than later with extended burn. Javin has developed little to no offensive skill while at Duke but helps a great deal with the pressure D and can rebound. I think Moore is going to have some up and down struggles this season. He has very good potential as a player but getting the vibe that K is going to have a hard time trusting him in the meat of the season. Hurt should be a starter for most of the season, I don't see him being a bench guy at all. He is just too skilled.

majority game starters/finishers:
Tre
Cassius
AOC
Hurt
Carey


competing for 6th man:
White
Javin

1st half off the bench players with little to no time in the 2nd half:
Goldwire
Moore

So I can see us technically having a 9 man rotation. But I totally see K going with 7 guys exclusively in the 2nd halves of ACC games.

[scottdude8]

I’m going to comment from a different perspective - who will be the 6th Man? I like the first player off the bench to be a scorer, someone who comes in and gives the offense a boost.

Matthew Hurt and Alex O’Connell stand out to me as the leading contenders. Wendell Moore could certainly work his way into the conversation.

A 6th Man who understands his role and understands he really is a starter everywhere except the box score is an invaluable asset.

This is spot on, and something that I think most would agree recent Duke teams have been missing (not that we haven't had good players off the bench, just not one that really fills the "sixth man" role in the classic sense). I think the closest may have been Amile when he was coming off the bench down the stretch in 2015 after Justice shifted over to the 4.

I think a true sixth man can fill one of two roles: either an instant offense guy off the bench (Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson typified this role for the Bad Boys era Pistons), or a guy who comes in as a defensive stopper. Considering the strength of this team is defense, at it seems like we can roll out a variety of lineups while preserving our defensive integrity, I think K may want an "instant offense" sixth man, as many have speculated.

It will be interesting to see how this develops with the varying starting lineups we've rolled out thus far this season. If K wants to go small/defense early and starts Jack over Matt, then Hurt becomes a great instant offense sixth man. If K wants to go big/athletic on the outside and starts Cassius and Wendell, then AOC shifts to this role. It wouldn't surprise me if if our go-to starting lineup down the stretch this season is influenced just as much by who plays best off the bench than who K wants in the starting lineup.

[JasonEvans]

I don't know what the record is for different starting lineups under K but I won't be at all surprised if we set it this season.

3 games in and we have had 3 different starting lineups. Here is who has started:

Tre - 3
Carey - 3
Cassius - 3
Hurt - 2
AOC - 2
White - 1
JGold - 1

But more significantly, as an indication of how many potential starters we have, here is the minute distribution thus far (skewed a bit by Tre missing much of game #3 due to being concussion cautious):

Tre - 26.3 mpg
Cassius - 26.3
AOC - 22.3
Hurt - 22.3
Carey - 20.0
Moore - 17.3
White - 17.0
Javin - 15.7
JGold - 15.3
Baker - 10.0

Just thought I would update things...

Kansas - Tre, JGold, Cassius, Hurt, Carey (1)
Co State - Tre, AOC, Cassius, Hurt, Carey (1)
Cen. Ark - Tre, AOC, Cassius, White, Carey (1)
Ga State - Tre, AOC, Cassius, Hurt, Carey (2)
California - Tre, Wendell, Cassius, Hurt, Carey (1)

So, we have now used 4 different starting lineups in 5 games. In terms of who has started:

Tre - 5
Carey - 5
Cassius - 5
Hurt - 4
AOC - 3
White - 1
JGold - 1
Wendell - 1

And in minutes per game, here is how it looks:

Tre - 29.6 mpg
Cassius - 26.4
Carey - 23.2
Hurt - 22.2
AOC - 19.0
Moore - 17.6
White - 17.0
Baker - 14.8
Javin - 14.2
JGold - 13.6

-Jason "I know it is still very early in the season, but 10 guys solidly averaging double-digit minutes... who kidnapped Coach K and replaced him with a bench-using clone?" Evans

[Devilwin]

I would start:
Carey
Jones
Stanley
Moore
Hurt
White first off the bench.

[Kedsy]

I would start:
Carey
Jones
Stanley
Moore
Hurt
White first off the bench.

You mean, exactly what we did yesterday?

[Adaephon]

You mean, exactly what we did yesterday?

Yes it seems like he thinks that is the way to go. I don't think he was attempting to propose a wild new idea but merely state that he likes that lineup.

[lotusland]

Jack played 33 minutes tonight and suspect he played all of the final 10 minutes. It helps that we were protecting a lead vs playing catch-up but it feels like Jack is going to be in the top
5 MPG for Duke this year. That combined with how well Carey is playing may squeeze Hurt’s minutes - only 5 tonight- in close games.

[kAzE]

Jack played 33 minutes tonight and suspect he played all of the final 10 minutes. It helps that we were protecting a lead vs playing catch-up but it feels like Jack is going to be in the top
5 MPG for Duke this year. That combined with how well Carey is playing may squeeze Hurt’s minutes - only 5 tonight- in close games.

5 minutes for Matthew Hurt? Hmm . . . that's a bit concerning. I'm all about Jack White, but if this team is going to get to the promised land, we need Hurt to live up to his reputation. Fortunately, we have two tune up games coming up before Michigan St.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Jack played 33 minutes tonight and suspect he played all of the final 10 minutes. It helps that we were protecting a lead vs playing catch-up but it feels like Jack is going to be in the top
5 MPG for Duke this year. That combined with how well Carey is playing may squeeze Hurt’s minutes - only 5 tonight- in close games.

For all the criticism of Dakich as an announcer, and over the years I've not liked him at all...last night every time Jack did some little winning play thing - that many announcers would not notice, Dakich noted it. He's a fan of White.

[jv001]

For all the criticism of Dakich as an announcer, and over the years I've not liked him at all...last night every time Jack did some little winning play thing - that many announcers would not notice, Dakich noted it. He's a fan of White.

And he loves Wendell. If I'm not mistaken, he said Moore would be the best player for Duke by years end. Dakich seems to be a much better announcer than he was last season. Maybe the bosses told him to tone it down a little. GoDuke!

[cato]

And he loves Wendell. If I'm not mistaken, he said Moore would be the best player for Duke by years end. Dakich seems to be a much better announcer than he was last season. Maybe the bosses told him to tone it down a little. GoDuke!

If he could just avoid getting hung up on how the refs are calling the game, he would be decent.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

And he loves Wendell. If I'm not mistaken, he said Moore would be the best player for Duke by years end. Dakich seems to be a much better announcer than he was last season. Maybe the bosses told him to tone it down a little. GoDuke!

Yes, he loves Wendell for sure...my point on White is that Dakich noticed a lot about a pure role player who does the little things...little more expected for an announcer to notice the players who do the big things.

[jipops]

I’ve been very wrong about Moore so far. He’s been an excellent utility guy while also providing some offense.

Hurt has really been struggling lately. Don’t think that will last. I wonder if K will go small the next couple games and start Jack and Wendell at both forward spots bringing Hurt in first.

[Edouble]

I wonder if K will go small the next couple games and start Jack and Wendell at both forward spots bringing Hurt in first.

Moore at the 3 and White at the 4 is small? That just seems regular.