Is Grayson Allen the only current NBA player who graduated from Duke?
Last shot. Bird or JJ? according to JJ.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/jj-redi...090006214.html
Zion, it’s time.
https://nbaanalysis.net/2023/05/30/n...licans-rumors/
Here's the companion story from the Pelican team managment angle:
Pelicans to restructure player care and performance team after injury-marred season: Sources
https://www.nola.com/sports/pelicans...2d9a2ab3f.html
“I really don’t like the conversation being, ‘Player availability, player availability.’ It’s also, ‘Let’s do the right things with the players who are available. Let’s get those guys doing the right things every day. And let’s build the right culture where we can be critical of each other in ways we need to be.’ I failed miserably in that. We have to do a better job in a lot of ways.”
There are enough NBA players going public with this that something is obviously up. I didn’t want it to be because I love Zion but they’re clearly suggesting he’s not putting in the work in on his side and that he, frankly, may not want to.
I can’t imagine what the pressure of Zion is like but just on a fan level, I’d love to see him be the absolute best him he can be.
Makes guys like Lebron all that more impressive. To meet and exceed the hype and expectations on you at a young age and deliver for 20 years.
I thought that I should do a quick summary of how players did overseas this season. If people want similar updates on people who played in the G League or transfers, I can do that as well.
Ryan Kelly played for Shibuya for the fifth straight season, returning from an injury last season to turn in a strong individual season.
Quinn Cook signed in China and had some memorable efforts in Hangzhou, but there were some disagreements with the team and he ended up leaving early.
Antonio Vrankovic joined Mornar Bar in Montenegro. He had a solid season, but the team had pretty disappointing results across the board.
Justin Robinson stayed with Elitzur Ironi Netanya in Israel's second division. He had a very good season and they made it a round further in the promotion playoffs, but lost in the semifinals.
Javin DeLaurier played overseas for the first time, signing with Karditas, which had just gotten promoted to the top division in Greece. He was playing well and that got the attention of Israeli champions Hapoel Holon in the middle of the season. He played well, but they were bounced out of the Basketball Champions League early and when it came to domestic league play, he was in and out of the lineup as the team juggled the use of their foreign players spots and he did not play in their last playoff series.
Theo John signed with Finnish champions Kauhajoki to start the season, but suffered an injury early and ended up heading to the G League after parting ways with the team.
DJ Stewart is playing internationally for the first time, joining the Vancouver Bandits, which plays in the Canadian league that runs on the opposite schedule of most of the world so they just started their season.
Haley Peters played for Lattes Montpellier in France for a second straight season. She had another good season, but they did not quite reach their postseason goals.
Chelsea Gray had an agreement with Cukurova in Turkey to join after the start of the season. She was later joined by Elizabeth Williams who had not planned on a full overseas season after playing in the Arab Club Championship with Lebanon's Beirut, but the team had a positional need. The team made history in reaching the EuroLeague Women final, but struggled with the world's strong women's team for this season and only finished the season with one trophy.
Chloe Wells signed with Landerneau in France, but she and the team struggled early in the season and her leaving was one of a number of roster changes made over the course of the season to ultimately prevent them from getting relegated.
Angela Salvadores returned to Valencia in Spain and helped them win the championship there, although she was a bit inconsistent and will not return next season.
Oderah Chidom stayed in France, but moved to Saint-Amand and was leading the league in scoring for most of the season, but the team missed out on the playoffs.
Kendall Cooper returned to Ifs in France's third division and the team loaded up their roster for a promotion push, but should not shake off a slow start.
Haley Gorecki played for Arka Gdynia in Poland and had a strong individual season even though the team fell short of expectations.
Leaonna Odom was scheduled to play in Hungary, but was injured before she could report and ended up being replaced.
Sofia Roma played for the Morovis Mountaineers in Puerto Rico, which runs a short season. They finished in a tie for the last playoff spot and lost the play-in game. Later in the season, she joined struggling Vicenza in Italy's second division and helped them have a stronger second half of the season to jump up in the standings.
Jade Williams started her pro career in Greece with newly promoted Panathlitikos and did well enough individually, but the team had a tough time in the most important games and ended up dropping right back down to the second division.
Miela Goodchild signed with the Melbourne Boomers after injuries left them scrambling for midseason signings. Australia has leagues that run opposite the main national league and she has played extremely well for the Mt. Gambier Pioneers in the first half there.
Bego Faz Davalos is partway through the season with the Veracruz Reds. That league in Mexico has pretty loose foreigner rules so the local players do not get much time, but she has been effective while playing.
Appreciate the update, thanks!
sporkz
You must spread some Comments around before commenting on awhom111 again.
"One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese
Kyle gets BUCKETS!
https://youtu.be/NJWPASQZqLc
From the Sydney Morning Herald. It's still Jack White's life and we're all just living in it.
“I’ve got the best job in the world,” White said.
“I get to do what I love every day, go out there, play basketball and meet amazing people."
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/basketb...01-p5dd2u.html
Here are some that were in attendance.
Quinn, Wendell, Jeremy (in a boot), Flip, Savarino, Bolden, Coach Wojo.
There is a piccy in this tweet..
https://twitter.com/DukeMBB/status/1...alking-boot%2F
Kyle gets BUCKETS!
https://youtu.be/NJWPASQZqLc
There's a continuum between lazy and obsessive workaholic, and between minimal and otherworldly talent. Guys like MJ and Kobe were top right quadrant. Before injuries, I'd have ranked Zion's talent level a notch higher than MJ's and Kobe's, just incredible. But at this point I'd be happy for him to be even average when it comes to effort and taking his job seriously.
Given his injury history, I'll be surprised if he's still in the league at 30, and he might not even last that long if he doesn't change his attitude and approach. I think the Pelicans should continue to ramp up the pressure on him to earn his massive paycheck and be a good teammate.
I'm not trying to be contrarian (this time), but what do we ACTUALLY know about the situation with Zion? What do we know about his health, workout routines, effort, conversations with Pelicans management. I am not aware of an actual statements of individuals with actual knowledge about the situation. Does anyone?
During his last injury rehab, Zion didn't speak up about what was happening with his body or his mentals - which he isn't necessarily obligated to, outside of communication with the Pelicans organization. That allowed the press and fans to determine the narrative that he was lazy/disinterested/uninvolved.
I had hoped that he might learn from that and be more pro-active in getting his message out this time, but it seems not to be the case.
In an information vacuum, people are likely to draw their own conclusions. He's still a very young man and I am rooting for him to right the ship. But he would be well-served to at least hire a competent PR person to get ahead of some of these storylines that pop up in the absence of his perspective.