Nolan Smith: Impending Breakout

[airowe]

http://www.slamonline.com/online/col...ding-breakout/

[Kedsy]

http://www.slamonline.com/online/col...ding-breakout/

You have to like his attitude. I know there are a lot of "keys" to Duke's season this year, but Nolan breaking out may be the biggest (or co-biggest along with Mason being a prime time player right out of the box).

[Bud]

Nolan is the key to are season. IMO

[elvis14]

That's a good interview and it really shows the kinds of kid we have in Nolan. I've felt ever since he got here that he's on the verge of being great. Happened last year for G! let's hope that this year Nolan can take his game to the next level. IMHO, he's most effective when he's aggressive. If he can learn to dish as well as finish, look out!

I agree that he's the key. If he really steps up, we can be really good.

[Greg_Newton]

Loved these two quotes... sounds to me like he fully understand the role he needs to fill this year and is ready to step up big.

The main thing, though, that I’m looking to do this year, is to be the most talkative guard in the country. One thing that really caught my eye this summer was the Kobe Doin’ Work video. Watching how much he talks on the court; he’s a leader; you know, he’s not a point guard, he does it off the ball. Whether I have the ball or if I’m off the ball, I feel that I can vocalize and lead this team along with Jon and Kyle [Singler].

For me, as a point-guard, shooting-guard, combo-guard, what ever you want to call it, I’m going to look to go out in every game this year, and punch the opposing team’s point guard in the mouth… [chuckles] not literally, though.

[airowe]

Loved these two quotes... sounds to me like he fully understand the role he needs to fill this year and is ready to step up big.

Here's the Kobe Doin' Work Video he referenced:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7nxYC7FdtU

[jv001]

That Nolan is the key to a great year instead of just a good one. No doubt Nolan will be asked to guard the opposing pt. guard. If he get's into foul trouble we lose a valuable player that may not be able to be replaced. Jon and Andre(maybe) can do an acceptable job of guarding the #2 and #3, but who can effectively guard the pg? Remember the Villanova game? I look for some zone this year, but not alot of it. So that can help out if use it. Should be an interesting year. Go Duke!

[Duke of Nashville]

Nolan's athleticism brought alot of energy to the court last year, and he deserved the starting role from the beginning. Nolan will not have to score 16 ppg in order for us to be successful. I look for him to definitely play a larger role in keeping our offense moving by generating steals, assists, and a floor general’s role of backing the play out and starting back up the offense.

I have faith in Nolan, that he will show his experience, and truly show other teams that he "is a problem."

[ACCBBallFan]

Another thing that would also make Duke an improved team is some incremental (not quantum, just incremental) improvement from Lance and Zoubek.

PT ought to be real interesting this year among the bigs. You never hear Kyle or Jon or Nolan the three leaders reference their fellow upperclassmen and always hear them speak positively about the three frosh.

Some of that may just be upper classmen encouragement for the benefit of their new teammates, but kind of disappointing to not hear anything about the other two seniors improving any at all, other than Zoubek going through an injury free summer.

Have not heard a lot about Miles either, other than he bulked up, So it may just be veterans drawing contrast with last year by talking about who is new.

Particularly with the exodus of so many good guards from last year's ACC, I do expect Nolan to have a break out season without having Lawson-Ellington, Rice, Teague, Douglas, McClinton, and Clinch, plus ripple effect of Vassallo, Rivers, and Fells.

The Scheyer-Smith tandem and Vasquez-Hayes duo will be best in ACC with Ish-LD Williams and Landesberg-Baker(Zeglinski) not far behind. Still a couple of good guards who need a partner like Delaney, Shumpert and Ginyard, but Nolan has excellent chance of shining, with Jon and Kyle drawing most of the enemy fire.

[airowe]

Have not heard a lot about Miles either, other than he bulked up, So it may just be veterans drawing contrast with last year by talking about who is new.

LW: So you expect top-10 by the end of the season?

JS: Oh, without a doubt. I think the reason people don't know where to rank us is, they know the people we lost, but if they could see our pickup games this summer, they'd have us as high up as anybody. A lot of guys have really developed -- Miles Plumlee, for one, has been a monster this summer. And we're probably going to be bigger than any team we'll play the whole year.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...1/jon.scheyer/

[miramar]

Nolan had a really unusual season last year, but I have no doubt he can turn it around this year. Although not a natural point guard, he started out well and was averaging 12.3 PPG after 10 games. The next 10 games, his scoring dropped to 7.7 PPG, and then in the seven games before the injury, his scoring dropped further to 4.7 PPG. Part of the drop was caused by declining minutes, but that happened because his defense and ball handling also suffered, which was probably psychological since he could have made up for his scoring problems with better all-around play.

Fortunately, he scored in double figures in three of the six games after the injury, and he also looked much more comfortable out there. There is no question that he is capable of much more on both ends of the floor, so I really think that this will be his year. And since we know what to expect from most of the players, it may be that as Nolan and the Plumlees go, so goes Duke.

[SupaDave]

Nolan had a really unusual season last year, but I have no doubt he can turn it around this year. Although not a natural point guard, he started out well and was averaging 12.3 PPG after 10 games. The next 10 games, his scoring dropped to 7.7 PPG, and then in the seven games before the injury, his scoring dropped further to 4.7 PPG. Part of the drop was caused by declining minutes, but that happened because his defense and ball handling also suffered, which was probably psychological since he could have made up for his scoring problems with better all-around play.

Fortunately, he scored in double figures in three of the six games after the injury, and he also looked much more comfortable out there. There is no question that he is capable of much more on both ends of the floor, so I really think that this will be his year. And since we know what to expect from most of the players, it may be that as Nolan and the Plumlees go, so goes Duke.

Nolan will easily be more prepared this year. I think you can almost pinpoint where he lost some of his confidence and I think it has a lot to do with that crushing defeat we took down south last year. ACC play is no joke and it is somewhat parallel to Nolan's fade.

And while he only mentions the concussion and the knee, he was also having back issues after a hard fall from a lay-up. I think those spasms affected him more than anyone let on.

He mentions being vocal like Kobe which could be huge b/c it will mean that he not only knows what's going on but what's supposed to happen.

I predict Nolan will make quite a splash this year.

[MChambers]

I predict Nolan will make quite a splash this year.

Nolan's one of my favorite players on the current roster, and a key to this season, as others have observed. If he does make quite a splash, and a couple of bigs step up, Duke will be just fine.

[SilkyJ]

Another thing that would also make Duke an improved team is some incremental (not quantum, just incremental) improvement from Lance and Zoubek.

Don't hold your breath. These guys have been doing the same thing for years now and are steady presences, but will never be 10ppg players. I think Lance will be a starter for us, but thats more b/c of his intangibles and versatility, and Zoubs should improve a little but that will be mostly due to being healthy and a little more mobile.

I think we'll see a LITTLE incremental improvement, but nothing major.

The Scheyer-Smith tandem and Vasquez-Hayes duo will be best in ACC with Ish-LD Williams and Landesberg-Baker(Zeglinski) not far behind. Still a couple of good guards who need a partner like Delaney, Shumpert and Ginyard, but Nolan has excellent chance of shining, with Jon and Kyle drawing most of the enemy fire.

Delaney has Jeff Allen, who is a pretty solid post player.

[ChicagoCrazy84]

There is no reason why Nolan can not have an All-ACC type season. Im not saying he'll be 1st team all conference, but third team or an honorable mention at the least. He has the athleticism, the defensive presence, he'll ge the PT, as long as he stays confident throughout the season, something that I think he lacked.

With LT and Zoubek, they are who they are. I was expecting the last 3 years for Thomas to break out, but he never really did. With both Plumlees and Kelly around now, I don't forsee anything crazy. As long as he puts in his 6 PPG and 6 RPG, I am happy.

[SilkyJ]

With LT and Zoubek, they are who they are. I was expecting the last 3 years for Thomas to break out, but he never really did. With both Plumlees and Kelly around now, I don't forsee anything crazy. As long as he puts in his 6 PPG and 6 RPG, I am happy.

I dont mean to rip on these guys, but 6 and 6 would actually be a bit if a surprise for me. Lance averaged more like 5ppg and 3.5 rpg last year, and has a career average of 4.5/3. With the clutter we have in the post, I dont think either of those guys will see enough run to put up 6 and 6.

http://goduke.statsgeek.com/basketba...p?playerid=519

Lance did shoot close to 63% from the field last year, but only took 115 shots or about 3 shots per game.

[Tim1515]

I dont mean to rip on these guys, but 6 and 6 would actually be a bit if a surprise for me. Lance averaged more like 5ppg and 3.5 rpg last year, and has a career average of 4.5/3. With the clutter we have in the post, I dont think either of those guys will see enough run to put up 6 and 6.

http://goduke.statsgeek.com/basketba...p?playerid=519

Lance did shoot close to 63% from the field last year, but only took 115 shots or about 3 shots per game.

6 and 6 would be a surprise? Z averaged 4.1 ppg and 3.7 rpg in 11.4 mpg. That's really pretty good. People need to get past the perceptions of Zoubek. He's never going to look pretty on the court or make any sportscenter highlights...but when he's in he has put up decent numbers.

I argued all last year that when Duke actually gave Brian the ball in the post (his best asset) more often then not something good happened. He's has good touch and more importantly he's a good passer. The problem was Duke NEVER threw the ball in the post.

He's not a world beater...i would just like to see Duke throw the ball in the post a handful of times when Z is in the game.

[SupaDave]

I dont mean to rip on these guys, but 6 and 6 would actually be a bit if a surprise for me. Lance averaged more like 5ppg and 3.5 rpg last year, and has a career average of 4.5/3. With the clutter we have in the post, I dont think either of those guys will see enough run to put up 6 and 6.

http://goduke.statsgeek.com/basketba...p?playerid=519

Lance did shoot close to 63% from the field last year, but only took 115 shots or about 3 shots per game.

Well you're ripping right along...

If you take a CLOSER look you will see that Lance left nearly 42 points on the floor from free throws. That's not including the shots he missed out on from not converting one and ones. Sooooooo, if Lance just gets his free throw percentage up to say 75% - then you have a totally different ball game my friend.

Also keep this in mind. Zoubs converted 24 of 29 fields goals last year in limited time. If he just can stay on the COURT for just five minutes longer per game then his impact will be much MORE than incremental.

Supa "I just love stats sometimes. Stay thirsty gentlemen." Dave...

[Kedsy]

Also keep this in mind. Zoubs converted 24 of 29 fields goals last year in limited time. If he just can stay on the COURT for just five minutes longer per game then his impact will be much MORE than incremental.

Supa "I just love stats sometimes. Stay thirsty gentlemen." Dave...

Actually, the 24 of 29 was free throws, not field goals. He was 61 for 106 on field goals.

But the point should be that if Z can get up to 18 minutes per game, we can certainly expect 6 and 6, and IMO a little better. My guess on Lance is 6 and 4.

[Greg_Newton]

Actually, the 24 of 29 was free throws, not field goals. He was 61 for 106 on field goals.

But the point should be that if Z can get up to 18 minutes per game, we can certainly expect 6 and 6, and IMO a little better. My guess on Lance is 6 and 4.

That's a big if, IMO. He'll be competing with a much-improved Miles, Mason Lance and Ryan for big man minutes this year instead of just Lance, Kyle and a freshman Miles who was never really part of the rotation. He should have an effective year, but if his average minutes are around 20mpg, we're probably in trouble because that means the Plumlees will be less of a factor than we hoped.

The Escalade will get all the PT he wants though.