Hope Hurt hits some weights over the year. He could be the lone big man option for 20-21.
They are not close in terms of college careers. Maye had a superior career in college. But the two had very similar career arcs. Both started as unheralded backups, made key contributions during a National Championship run, and then were more productive in a starting role on less successful teams. Unlike Maye, Plumlee was a good defender and had prototypical size and athleticism to play in the NBA.
Hope Hurt hits some weights over the year. He could be the lone big man option for 20-21.
Could also look at a grad transfer or someone who would be immediately eligible. K and the staff probably have a long list.
The staff has sniffed around other large men this summer (e.g. Hunter Dickinson, Xavier Foster) so I would imagine they'll work on a plan B...
NBADraft.net and NBA Draft Room both have him in their 2021 mocks in the middle of the 2nd round. But, we obviously need to see how this season goes to have a real sense. Much will depend upon what kind of strength he can develop and whether he shows the quickness to guard at the NBA level. It is not impossible to imagine him as a OAD or as a multi-year player.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Historically Duke hasn't shown that much interest in grad transfers. I guess it's one thing to only have a year to teach an OAD everything he needs to know to play Duke basketball and another thing to only have a year to unteach someone everything he learned in the past three or four years and then teach him everything he needs to know.
Both Hurt and Carey saw their draft stock fall this past summer. In Carey’s case he was hurt and not playing, but it still seemed rather surprising to me. At one point he was a top-5 player, now nbadraft.net has him at 21. Hurt was generally ranked in the teens but as you said isn’t on any draft boards. Potentially great news for us if one of these guys and/or Moore (also not on the 2020 board) entertains the notion of coming back. Stanley is kind of a wild card too.
ESPN (Draft Express) has Hurt mocked as a lottery pick (ESPN Insider $$$): https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/sto...ns-next-season
He's almost certainly OAD.
Thanks for sharing. A top 40 (Dickinson) and a top 60 (Foster) big man. Would love to see one of these two providing depth behind Mark Williams.
I disagree with the idea that we could start a Kuminga or Jalen Johnson or Joey Baker or Henry Coleman at the 5 and have a great year. These guys would wear down trying to defend and rebound against bigger teams. I cringe to think what a team like Florida State (or UNC or MSU or ...) would do to us inside - that would be hard to watch.
I believe Mark Williams would be a lock to start at the 5 and hopefully he could give us a strong 20-25 minutes a game his freshman year with a Coleman or Dickinson or Foster providing backup minutes.
Maybe we could play (very) small ball against certain teams that couldn't abuse us in the paint, but I can't imagine we'd go that route unless we had no other option.
If 247 is accurate, we are Mark Williams last scheduled visit. November 1.