Dukies in the NBA: 2022-23

[Gooch]

Halftime Zion Report: OMG where do I start?

Zion looks incredibly fit, even more than the last time we saw him play which was 517 DAYS AGO!!!

He gets to the rim at will, including a baseline move and thundering dunk that had me yelling at the TV in the very quiet sports bar but I’m not embarrassed because Zion. Or he gets triple teamed in the lane and kicks out for a wide open three.

Two sick blocks including one tracking back in the fast break that was totally it goaltending.

Made his free throws which is good because he will get fouled A LOT.

Multiple possessions as Point-Zion where he could probably work on his handle but I don’t care because he should have the ball in his hands every time down the floor.

And the BEAMING SMILE that we saw at Duke. He looks free and easy and happy to be playing again. I forgot how much joy he brings to the game. Sounds cheesy but it really brought me joy to see Zion on the floor again.

P.S. Bo Cruz is on the Pelicans! Another story line!

P.P.S. Please tell me Jose Alvarado isn’t the full-time backup PG. Yeah he’s a pest on defense but he wouldn’t shoot wide open threes and could barely run the offense. How about a trade for Tyus???

[brevity]

4 preseason games on Tuesday, with some Duke action in each.

Let's start with Zion Williamson and the Pelicans. He started at power forward and played 15 minutes. He had 13 points (4/6 FG, 5/5 FT) and 4 rebounds. And a really entertaining goaltend (see this video also embedded below). Brandon Ingram did not play; the announcers said he was injured. New Orleans beat Chicago 129-125.



RJ Barrett, starting in a three guard lineup, had 21 points (8/14 FG, 2/2 FT) and 5 rebounds in 23 minutes as New York beat Detroit 117-96. Cam Reddish came off the bench for 11 minutes and scored 3. Trevor Keels played 3 scoreless minutes, missing his only 3-point attempt. On the Pistons side, Marvin Bagley III played 20 minutes as a reserve and had 6 points and 7 rebounds.

Minnesota beat Miami 121-111. Wendell Moore Jr scored 6 points in 10 bench minutes, while his Wolves teammate Austin Rivers played 21 scoreless minutes.

Finally, Justise Winslow got the start at power forward for the Trail Blazers and had an 8-4-4-4-1 line in 19 minutes of play. Portland lost to Utah 118-101.

P.P.S. Please tell me Jose Alvarado isn’t the full-time backup PG. Yeah he’s a pest on defense but he wouldn’t shoot wide open threes and could barely run the offense.

Officially, yes? The Pelicans roster officially lists 3 point guards: Devonte Graham, Kira Lewis Jr, and Jose Alvarado. Lewis suffered a knee injury last season and has not returned. The Pelicans drafted Dyson Daniels in the 2022 lottery; I guess he's a combo guard. Despite some 4th quarter heroics in tonight's game, Daniels doesn't look anywhere near ready to replace Alvarado in the rotation.

[elvis14]

Like others, I really enjoyed watching Zion play last night. He scored 13 points on 6 shots (5 FT's) and the video in the last post shows that one of his 2 missed shots he put back. Kinda efficient. Commentator on the "goaltending" said "you can see there where it was just about to start moving downward". In other words, the ball was at it's apex, hadn't started down and it was a bad call (assuming the rule is that it has to be blocked before it starts down towards the hoop). Either way it was a pretty cool block. What I loved the most was the smile that he couldn't wipe off his face.

Looking forward to seeing BI, CJ and Zion play together.

I will say that after listening to DeMar DeRozan on JJ's pod cast last week I found my self rooting for DeMar to to well and suspect that'll continue.

[bundabergdevil]

More pre-season gum to chew --- the annual NBA General Manager's survey.

Banchero is the runaway prediction for ROY.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2...p-predictions/

[brevity]

More pre-season gum to chew --- the annual NBA General Manager's survey.

Banchero is the runaway prediction for ROY.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2...p-predictions/

Thanks for posting this. Here's a direct link to the NBA GM Survey.

Banchero topped two lists: 79% predicted him as Rookie of the Year, and 31% picked him as the rookie who will be the best player in 5 years.

AJ Griffin tied for third (10%) in responses to the question "Which rookie was the biggest steal at where he was selected in the Draft?" (His father, Adrian Griffin of Toronto, came in third when GMs were asked about the best assistant coaches.)

Zion Williamson rated 4th in votes for most athletic and 4th in most likely to have a breakout 2022-2023 season.

[cato]

Zion Williamson rated 4th in votes for most athletic and 4th in most likely to have a breakout 2022-2023 season.

That’s going to take some time to sink in.

[DukieInBrasil]

That’s going to take some time to sink in.

how athletic is a player who doesn't play? If a player is by far the most athletic but only plays in 1/4 the games, where does that player's athleticism rank?
I hope Zion has an injury-free season, but i wonder if his "athleticism" ranking was shaded by his limited playing time due to injury so far?

[Steven43]

how athletic is a player who doesn't play? If a player is by far the most athletic but only plays in 1/4 the games, where does that player's athleticism rank?
I hope Zion has an injury-free season, but i wonder if his "athleticism" ranking was shaded by his limited playing time due to injury so far?

Not sure what you’re trying to say. Are you really questioning the athleticism of Zion Williamson or am I misunderstanding?

Because as far as I’m concerned I would put Zion behind only Giannis Antetokounmpo on the athleticism scale. Zion has done things on the court that no human being his size has ever done.

[brevity]

5 preseason games Wednesday night. Two of them (Cavaliers-Sixers and Mavericks-Thunder) feature no former Duke players on their roster, though I should mention that Elton Brand is the Sixers GM and Antonio Lang is a Cavaliers assistant coach. The Blue Devil takeover continues.

Pacers over Hornets 122-97

Mason Plumlee (CHA) started at center and had 8 points and 9 rebounds in 22 minutes.
Mark Williams (CHA) had 8 scoreless minutes off the bench, missing 3 shots. He had 2 rebounds. He's been the third center on the depth chart, behind Plumlee and Nick Richards.

Raptors over Celtics in overtime, 125-119

Gary Trent Jr (TOR) started and scored 9 in 25 minutes.
Jayson Tatum (BOS) started and had 18 points and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes. He's #9 in tonight's Top 10 Plays.



Suns over Lakers 119-115

Frank Jackson (PHX) had 5 scoreless minutes off the bench. He did record 2 rebounds and a steal.

Zion Williamson rated 4th in votes for most athletic and 4th in most likely to have a breakout 2022-2023 season.

That’s going to take some time to sink in.

how athletic is a player who doesn't play? If a player is by far the most athletic but only plays in 1/4 the games, where does that player's athleticism rank?
I hope Zion has an injury-free season, but i wonder if his "athleticism" ranking was shaded by his limited playing time due to injury so far?

Not sure what you’re trying to say. Are you really questioning the athleticism of Zion Williamson or am I misunderstanding?

Because as far as I’m concerned I would put Zion behind only Giannis Antetokounmpo on the athleticism scale. Zion has done things on the court that no human being his size has ever done.

This discussion is probably moot if everyone just clicked the above link and read the survey.

Zion came in 1st last year and 4th this year. He finished behind Ja Morant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Anthony Edwards. There are 50 questions to the survey, and it would have to require write-in answers because they're not going to provide a select group of likely choices (too biased) or a complete list of names (too unwieldy). So you could reasonably attribute the drop to some combination of "out of sight, out of mind" and "what have you done for me lately".

Jayson Tatum appears elsewhere in the survey -- #2 small forward, honorable mention shooting guard -- but I forgot to mention him earlier.

[heyman25]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1577438325966790657

[DukieInBrasil]

Not sure what you’re trying to say. Are you really questioning the athleticism of Zion Williamson or am I misunderstanding?

Because as far as I’m concerned I would put Zion behind only Giannis Antetokounmpo on the athleticism scale. Zion has done things on the court that no human being his size has ever done.

It's just a philosophical exercise (brevity chimed in with a reasonable response). If Zion is unquestionably one of the top 4 most athletic players that people have seen, but doesn't play at all in a season, was he still one of the 4 most athletic players? If Zion is the one of those 4 most athletic players, but only plays half the games, does that reduce his "athleticism" by half? Does the reputation of being injury-prone reduce the perception of athleticism? Or is the perception of athleticism independent of on-court production/time? I would think you'd have to play to be in the conversation, but even if you don't play much one could be considered "the most athletic" without being good enough to earn playing time.

This discussion is probably moot if everyone just clicked the above link and read the survey.

Zion came in 1st last year and 4th this year. He finished behind Ja Morant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Anthony Edwards. There are 50 questions to the survey, and it would have to require write-in answers because they're not going to provide a select group of likely choices (too biased) or a complete list of names (too unwieldy). So you could reasonably attribute the drop to some combination of "out of sight, out of mind" and "what have you done for me lately".

Jayson Tatum appears elsewhere in the survey -- #2 small forward, honorable mention shooting guard -- but I forgot to mention him earlier.

i think those concepts feed the perception of athleticism as well.

[bundabergdevil]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1577438325966790657

Very cool. Wish they were doing it at Duke still...can you imagine that group as seniors?

[dukelifer]

Very cool. Wish they were doing it at Duke still...can you imagine that group as seniors?

They would be grad students by now. Their class graduated last year.

[bundabergdevil]

They would be grad students by now. Their class graduated last year.

My bad, was thinking they would be seniors!

[dukelifer]

My bad, was thinking they would be seniors!

No problem- was my daughter’s class.

[Phredd3]

They would be grad students by now. Their class graduated last year.

But they would have gotten an extra COVID year, so they could all be at Fuqua. I mean, if we're going to dream, might as well go all out.

[dukelifer]

But they would have gotten an extra COVID year, so they could all be at Fuqua. I mean, if we're going to dream, might as well go all out.

Or Tre, Zion, Cam and RJ join Joey at Michigan to become the new Fab 5.

[flyingdutchdevil]

how athletic is a player who doesn't play? If a player is by far the most athletic but only plays in 1/4 the games, where does that player's athleticism rank?
I hope Zion has an injury-free season, but i wonder if his "athleticism" ranking was shaded by his limited playing time due to injury so far?

I'm a fairly big Celtics fan, but there isn't a team I'm more excited about than the Pelicans (okay, the Celtics coaching drama has made the team a lot less interesting to me...).

Ingram and McCollum have been an awesome offensive duo. Their complementary players are highly complementary and offer tons of defense, rebounding, and opportunistic scoring. But add arguably the second most unique player in the last 20 years in Zion? It's going to be fascinating, as long as Zion is healthy (and sadly, this is far from a given). He is such a joy to watch and I believe Ingram/McCollum are two great dudes who really wanna play with Zion.

And the #1 most unique player in the NBA? Giannis, and it's not particularly close.

[DukieInBrasil]

I'm a fairly big Celtics fan, but there isn't a team I'm more excited about than the Pelicans (okay, the Celtics coaching drama has made the team a lot less interesting to me...).

Ingram and McCollum have been an awesome offensive duo. Their complementary players are highly complementary and offer tons of defense, rebounding, and opportunistic scoring. But add arguably the second most unique player in the last 20 years in Zion? It's going to be fascinating, as long as Zion is healthy (and sadly, this is far from a given). He is such a joy to watch and I believe Ingram/McCollum are two great dudes who really wanna play with Zion.

And the #1 most unique player in the NBA? Giannis, and it's not particularly close.

not that this refutes your closing claim, but has Zion dunked on Giannis? If not, do you think he could?

[flyingdutchdevil]

not that this refutes your closing claim, but has Zion dunked on Giannis? If not, do you think he could?

The few times Zion and Giannis have played, Giannis has gotten the better of Zion.

Zion could definitely dunk on Giannis, but Giannis could also dunk 5x as many times on Zion.