Jack White signs with Melbourne United

[JasonEvans]

Captain Jack has signed a 3-year deal to return to his native Australia. No word on how much he will earn but I suspect Jack would be treated as a "marquee player." Each NBL club is allowed to have 4 marquee players and they each earn between $120k and $250k (a bit more about the NBL salary structure can be found here: https://pickandroll.com.au/barebones...ry-cap-system/ ).

[scottdude8]

This is great news... I was curious what Jack's next steps would be. I imagine he'll be able to carve out a pretty nice life for himself playing down under, especially if the NBL continues to court high-end talent that doesn't want to pursue the OAD route (although the G-League may throw a wrench in those plans).

Watching TBT over this past week has hammered home for me that just because a guy doesn't make it in the NBA doesn't mean they can't have a very nice career playing professional basketball. Being a non-US citizen helps though, as many of these overseas leagues have by-laws requiring that a certain proportion of their teams be home-grown talent. (As an illustrative aside, Michigan had a guy, Ricky Doyle, who was a very average high-major big man but knew he had the potential to play overseas since he had French citizenship, and thus transferred to a school he thought could showcase him more, even though he was seeing solid minutes at Michigan. Unfortunately injuries derailed his career, but it's a very interesting case study.) Jack should be able to make a great life for himself playing in his home country.

I loved watching Jack at Duke, and one of my biggest possible "what ifs" is "what if Jack's shooting hadn't gone so improbably cold against Syracuse in 2019, sapping his confidence?". I think it's no coincidence that when the last two Duke teams were at their best, Jack was contributing significantly. As I often said, Jack White makes winning plays. I'm sure he will in Australia too.

[MChambers]

I'm really glad to read this. Jack was one of my favorite players in recent years. When he was on, Duke was at its best.

Hope he can re-adjust to the ball circling around the rim counterclockwise.

[wsb3]

I wish him well. One of my favorite players in recent memory.

[BlueDevilStop]

Very happy for him. Was always a big fan of his. Really admired the way he kept fighting through the time period where he could not make a three.

[Steven43]

I'm really glad to read this. Jack was one of my favorite players in recent years. When he was on, Duke was at its best.

Hard not to like a Duke guy who was Third Team All-ACC! 😉

[Furniture]

Brilliant mate!

[awhom111]

The virus situation is mostly under control in Australia, except for Victoria, which is where Melbourne is. The NBL teams are doing some practice right now even though the season is months away. Regional leagues are playing as New South Wales and Australia Capital Territory started play in their combined league a couple weeks ago, Western Australia started last weekend, and Queensland starts this weekend while Northern Territory has been playing as originally scheduled.

Unfortunately, two of Jack's teammates tested positive so the team has stopped training:
https://www.melbourneutd.com.au/news...positive-tests

Assuming that he has been around them recently, he would going through some protocol right now too.

The season is still a long time from now, but there are persistent concerns as teams do not have the benefactor ownership model so prevalent in basketball teams around the world and do not have much media income so they have to hope that fans can attend when they start play.

[Alan_Wilson]

First time poster here so I hope i'm doing this right... just wanted to chime in about how underappreciated of a defender Jack White was. People will unfortunately remember him for his shooting. But he was an absolutely outstanding defender within K's defensive framework. .. as I recall, he sealed the Kansas game with a steal under the basket. On an individual level, he was an extremely adept shot blocker but you never really heard anyone mention it. I'll miss his contributions, especially given how hard it is for increasingly young Duke teams to effectively pick up their defensive assignments.

[Truth&Justise]

First time poster here so I hope i'm doing this right... just wanted to chime in about how underappreciated of a defender Jack White was. People will unfortunately remember him for his shooting. But he was an absolutely outstanding defender within K's defensive framework. .. as I recall, he sealed the Kansas game with a steal under the basket. On an individual level, he was an extremely adept shot blocker but you never really heard anyone mention it. I'll miss his contributions, especially given how hard it is for increasingly young Duke teams to effectively pick up their defensive assignments.

Thanks for stating this so well! I loved watching Jack White's shot blocking--not high in volume, but consistently in the right place and always seeming to catch opponents unaware that he had excellent shot blocking timing and technique. You could see it coming, whenever he was the last defender under the hoop and some opponent thought they could just easily go over or through him...fool's gold. It was a joy to see these past two years.

[awhom111]

An additional 10 unnamed players have tested positive:
https://nbl.com.au/news/covid-19-update