Sage Grouse
---------------------------------------
'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
A lot of people give you crap for that? Seems like we just got a couple Kyrie axe-grinders. It's fine; there are some famous people whose personality and life choices just really rub the people in the stands of life the wrong way. Someone aggravated me so much I once posted over 1,800 times in a single thread. Not here, though. It was on the, uh, EBR board. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Nice analysis. Also note that these picks are appreciating assets in that they will get more valuable as they get closer, so the Pels could potentially trade them later for a vet as they get closer to their “window”. Holiday due to age will be a depreciating asset so they have both invested in the future and bought flexibility.
Expected to return tonight! https://boston.cbslocal.com/2021/01/...-nba-covid-19/
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club
Exactly, you only need the team to have one down year for it to pay off big and we're projecting half a decade in the future (Giannis leaves, Giannis misses time with injury, so on and so forth) and even that doesn't happen it still might pay off if you make good picks in the back half of the draft.
Nobody's gonna mention that both Zion and Brandon Ingram scored 32 on 16 and 19 FGAs? and that the Pelicans won? Wow, whole buncha slacking going on round here Duke South was joined by JJ who only scored 5 pts.
Additionally, Kyrie scored 26 on 17 FGAs in the OT win for the Nets. On the other side of the court, Cam Reddish had a wonderful game for ATL, scoring 24 on 17 FGAs.
In BOS, Tatum scored 25 on 25 FGAs. The only criticism i have of Tatum's game is that he doesn't get to the FT line enough. Semi addd 5 pts.
Seth had a forgettable game for PHI scoring only 2 pts
MB3 had an excellent game for SAC, scoring 16 on 14 FGAs and grabbing 12 rebs. Bagley's FT% has fallen off a cliff this year, which is certainly limiting his effectiveness.
MP2 had a nice dub-dub for DET going for 15 and 12. Rounding out the Duke Midwest roster, Jah and Frank Jackson both added 3 pts.
Tre Jones, Quinn Cook, Cassius Stanley all got DNP-CDs, and Big Vern got sent to the Hornets G-league team.
Harden deserves a lot of credit for being one of the smartest players in the game. He's figured out the "cheat codes" and fully maximizes those. His skill level (both in normal basketball sense and in the "figuring out a way to game the system sense") is off the charts.
That said, I agree with you about watching him play. It's not aesthetically pleasing at all, even if it is effective.
I watched most of the 4th quarter of the Nets v Hawks game. First off, if Cam Reddish had been this kind of player at Duke, we probably win the title. The staff never quite figured out how to get him going with all of the other big personalities and games on that team. He's still a below 30% 3 point shooter, but he plays with a different level of confidence than he did at Duke, and he can actually drive without turning it over. Case in point, he hit the game tying drive to send the game to OT while being defended by KD, just took it right at him.
As for Harden, I am having a lot of fun watching Steve Nash try and meld these talents. It's kind of an amazing thing to see Harden leading a break with KD and Kyrie filling the lanes. In crunch time of this tight game, they turn to Harden to run point because he's such a great playmaker. Guard him straight up and he's got the advantage...bring help and who are you helping off? The obvious candidate, Jeff Green, was therefore feasting because they often wound up trying to hide Trae Young on him. They aren't guarding anyone, but Harden in this playmaker/PG role is very fun on this team.
As to the other two stat lines I highlighted, it just shows that stats are not always the story. Despite Seth's pedestrian line, he was on the floor during crunch time of a potential Finals preview - what an amazing rise he has had. As for MP2, sadly the widespread takeaway on his evening was the viscous postering he received from Andre Drummond.
“Coach said no 3s.” - Zion on The Block
I'm not doctor or an exercise physiologist.I don't remember the news about Cam having an injury. My amateur opinion is that he wasn't ready for big time college basketball, couldn't handle the ball and couldn't shoot under pressure.
Nothing against the kid but he was a major disappointment for Duke.
Sage Grouse
---------------------------------------
'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
That’s a pretty harsh assessment. But to each his own. Cam played through broken ribs and a toe injury of some kind. And he had core muscle surgery (whatever that is) before the NBA draft.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/therook...re-muscle/amp/
“Coach said no 3s.” - Zion on The Block
Down 23 with 9 minutes remaining.
https://youtu.be/OydPe7ZtdRY
Kyle gets BUCKETS!
https://youtu.be/NJWPASQZqLc
Cam was really good. Hit that Clutch 3 in that mega comeback against Louisville and a few when needed against UCF for that other insane comeback. Played well in the ACC tourney. Good person in general. I mean a freshman starting with Zion and RJ — exactly. To me he met expectations. And as a freshman. Meanwhile the rest of the shooters struggled so he was carrying extra expectations. I think the outcome of that season leaves major what-if disappointments all around, but I don’t see how that translates to one player, especially one who was chronically injured. I just remember being on the road and ducking into a bar to watch what was the most perfect game when RJ, Zion and Cam played flawlessly running on all cylinders and dismantled a top Kentucky team on national TV. They were incredible. One of the best performances of any Duke era. And everyone thought ... no one can beat this team. That’s how I choose to remember that team.
Cam is going to continue to grow into a very good pro.