Originally Posted by
fgb
it seems like so much of these kids coming into their own has to do with a sort of perspective reset. they've spent their whole lives being the best player by far on their school teams, and suddenly their put on an entire roster of people who were that same thing. the spotlight for them has always shone on their excellence; this is maybe the first time that they've had to grow an awareness of their own limitations. it happens at different rates for different players. it happened pretty quickly for tre, it seems, and it took a little longer for rj (in a strange way, i've wondered if the lights out shooting he displayed in the game at uva might have been a sort of a setback for him in this sense). cam maybe just hasn't clicked in this way yet. i do think, once he becomes aware of what he can't do well, he'll blossom. unfortunately that's not likely to happen in a duke uniform, just given where we are in the season, but i'm still hopeful.
of course none of this applies to zion. nothing does.
(a) I am pushing back against criticism against Cam Reddish because we would be much more patient -- and appreciate his evident talents -- if he were a multi-year player who would be a star next year (or the year after). Now it's deliver immediately.
(b) Then we compare him with the other freshmen, which is grossly unfair. RJ Barrett led the Canadian Under 19 team to a FIBA championship, including a huge win over the USA, when he was 17 -- he was MVP of the tournament. RJ is not perfect but mature well beyond his years. Zion is one-of-a-kind, with which everyone agrees. "Never before in college basketball has there been a player... etc., etc." Now Tre is "back" (there was a freshman wall he hit), and he is a prodigy. IMHO, where the H got swept away with the confetti at the Spectrum, Cam is a really good college freshman.
I look forward to some great games from Cam in the tournament.
Sage Grouse
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'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