2008 Men's Recruiting

Drew Gordon

Gordon's visiting Arizona on his own dime this weekend. The Tucson paper says playing time is a big factor and quotes him as saying "I'm definitely expecting to play a lot the first year." Can't see K giving the necessary reassurances there. But if he is, as reported, six-nine 236 lbs as a high school junior, it shouldn't be too hard to envision a role for himself, assuming Patterson doesn't sign.
 
Nolan Smith Update

"2007-2008 Outlook: Smith isn’t going to be featured on any mock drafts anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean he won’t have an impact in the ACC next season. In fact, Duke is desperately in need of a player with Smith’s skillset. The Blue Devils were missing that athletic, defense-minded ball-handler with the graduation of Daniel Ewing and Sean Dockery the past two seasons. Expect Nolan Smith to play early and often in 07-08."

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1998

there is a more thorough rundown of his performance at the Nike Hoops summit.
 
A couple of months ago I was of the opinion that Nolan Smith would see limited minutes as a Freshman due to Duke's depth in the backcourt. After reading posts on various threads from fans who have seen him play and watching the McDonald's AA game on TV, I am sold that he will see lots of minutes as a Freshman. This quote from the linked article is an attention grabber:

"He has a mature, muscular frame and the athleticism to effectively break down defenses off the dribble on the Division One level."

Bob Green
Yokosuka, Japan
 
I read somewhere that Nolan is a 5th yr senior. Can anyone confirm/disconfirm this? If so, that might explain some of his maturity.
 
houstondukie said:
I read somewhere that Nolan is a 5th yr senior. Can anyone confirm/disconfirm this? If so, that might explain some of his maturity.
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I cannot confirm this but I do know that Nolan is younger than players in his grade such as Oj and Singler, so I don't think he is a 5th yr senior unless he started school early. Also Smith was the captain of Oak Hill his Sr. Year, he is a leader.
 
Nolan Smith is currently 18 as his birthday is July 25, 1988. According to the High School notes section of the USA Basketball Bio he is not a 5th year senior, but he did play varsity ball while in the 8th grade:

"Has played his senior and junior seasons at Oak Hill Academy (Va.), as well as varsity seasons at Riverdale Baptist (Md.) in 2004-05, St. John’s (Md.) in 2003-04 and as an eighth grader at Key School (Md.) in 2002-03."

Bob Green
Yokosuka, Japan
 
The Blue Devils were missing that athletic, defense-minded ball-handler with the graduation of Daniel Ewing and Sean Dockery the past two seasons.
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Interesting. I think Paulus is at least as athletic as Dock and a much better ball-handler than Ewing. I don't remember Ewing's defense standing out, either. To me his main defensive advantage over Greg would be his experience (the sole senior leader, vs frosh/soph Greg) and an extra ~2.5 inches.

Anyway. A hearty Duke welcome to Nolan. I'm confident our staff will find the right role for him next year, no matter what bored offseason sports writers say between now & then.
 
Mature & muscular?

Bob Green said:
A couple of months ago I was of the opinion that Nolan Smith would see limited minutes as a Freshman due to Duke's depth in the backcourt. After reading posts on various threads from fans who have seen him play and watching the McDonald's AA game on TV, I am sold that he will see lots of minutes as a Freshman. This quote from the linked article is an attention grabber:

"He has a mature, muscular frame and the athleticism to effectively break down defenses off the dribble on the Division One level."

Bob Green
Yokosuka, Japan
Click to expand...

Bob

When I looked the kid up I found he was listed at 6' 2.5" and 175 pounds. He does look thin when I saw him play. Nothing wrong with his size, but at 18 years old I wouldn't describe him as either mature or muscular.

The kid does have game and he seems to have composure in a way that Scheyer has it. I think he will get substantial playing time by relieving Paulus and by getting some minutes from Nelson.
 
Bob,

I watched him play and I would describe him as very muscular and very athletic; and, the report also noted that 'Smith.....will be Duke's most explosive backcourt performer from day one....a mature, muscular frame to break down defenses off the dribble in D1.

welcome Mr. Smith!

dth.
 
Richard Berg said:
Interesting. I think Paulus is at least as athletic as Dock and a much better ball-handler than Ewing. I don't remember Ewing's defense standing out, either. To me his main defensive advantage over Greg would be his experience (the sole senior leader, vs frosh/soph Greg) and an extra ~2.5 inches.

Anyway. A hearty Duke welcome to Nolan. I'm confident our staff will find the right role for him next year, no matter what bored offseason sports writers say between now & then.
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Mr. Berg - I have to disagree with you 100% with Paulus being just as athletic as Dock and being a better ball-handler than Ewing. Without meaning to sound like a jerk, Dockery is 100 times more athletic than Paulus and Ewing is a much better ball handler. Paulus can't even face the basket when he's in the half court set because he's too slow to keep quicker guards from reaching in and stealing the ball. This is a fact, watch any Duke game and you will notice this. As for Ewing, Ewing could break down anyone off the dribble. Paulus has shown the ability to do that, but he is by no means anywhere close to Ewing.
 
freedevil said:
Mr. Berg - I have to disagree with you 100% with Paulus being just as athletic as Dock and being a better ball-handler than Ewing. Without meaning to sound like a jerk, Dockery is 100 times more athletic than Paulus and Ewing is a much better ball handler. Paulus can't even face the basket when he's in the half court set because he's too slow to keep quicker guards from reaching in and stealing the ball. This is a fact, watch any Duke game and you will notice this. As for Ewing, Ewing could break down anyone off the dribble. Paulus has shown the ability to do that, but he is by no means anywhere close to Ewing.
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I think you're giving Ewing too much credit as a ball handler. Part of the reason he wasn't a very good converted point gaurd his senior year was because of poor ball handling. Often Ewing had trouble bringing the ball up the court with pressure defense on him. While I agree Paulus is not a very good ball handler (sometimes I cringe as he brings the ball up the court), Ewing was not any better than Paulus.
 
Holy crap...I just watched a video of Nolan Smith and he is extremely athletic. He would be a top pick in a dunk contest which is saying a lot for someone only 6'3". I'm really excited about what he brings to the table next season.
 
Richard Berg said:
Interesting. I think Paulus is at least as athletic as Dock and a much better ball-handler than Ewing. I don't remember Ewing's defense standing out, either. To me his main defensive advantage over Greg would be his experience (the sole senior leader, vs frosh/soph Greg) and an extra ~2.5 inches.

Anyway. A hearty Duke welcome to Nolan. I'm confident our staff will find the right role for him next year, no matter what bored offseason sports writers say between now & then.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, I have to disagree with you.

Dockery is a FAR better athlete (in terms of quickness, agility, speed, and probably leaping ability) than Paulus. It's not even close. Dockery was an extremely quick player for Duke. His only limitation was that he was not a very good point guard.

As for the ballhandling, I don't think Paulus is exceptionally good at this either. He rarely faced up his man in the half-court set with the dribble, indicating a lack of confidence in his ballhandling skills. Ewing on the other hand was pretty adept at shaking his man and getting into the lane. I'd say Paulus loses that comparison as well.

What Paulus does better than both Dockery and Ewing (and most likely Smith as well) is shoot and pass. But I think the website had it right: two of Paulus' weaknesses have been athleticism and ballhandling.
 
Paulus as ballhandler

What made me first question Greg's ballhandling skills was as a freshman he constantly played with a chickenwing off ball arm to keep defensive players from being able to steal the ball. He still did it last year and I couldn't believe that he didn't get called for it. When he wasn't using it he had to keep his back to the defender which didn't help playmaking, and Duke couldn't make defenses pay for pressing all year. I was glad to see him show the clutch shot and I think that Duke will benefit more from him playing the off guard with occasional ballhandling duties that regularly handling the ball. Some people will point to games when he had low TO's but I wonder who was guarding him in those games. I don't know that I saw any point guard in the NCAA's that I didn't think "I wish we had him at Duke." I hope Smith gets the point duties and the fast break is back.
 
houstondukie said:
I think you're giving Ewing too much credit as a ball handler. Part of the reason he wasn't a very good converted point gaurd his senior year was because of poor ball handling. Often Ewing had trouble bringing the ball up the court with pressure defense on him. While I agree Paulus is not a very good ball handler (sometimes I cringe as he brings the ball up the court), Ewing was not any better than Paulus.
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H-Town hits it right on the head. Greg is a little better at bringing the ball up court. But freedevil has one good point: Ewing could break guys down and get to the basket better than Greg,. But that was really b/c he is quicker and more athletic, not because of some great ball handling skills.

Overall Greg is a better dibbler, but he is not as quick or as athletic as Ewing, obviously. Thats not a knock on either one of them: remember, Greg has been a PG his whole career, or a large part presumably, and Ewing was a SG for his whole life, or at least 7 straight years, until senior yr at Duke.

As for Dock, its not even close. 100% more athletic (if you never saw him in warmups: he could throw the ball off glass, catch in midair and do a full windmill. didn't do it very often, except when you asked him to). 100% better dribbler. Dock actually has a SICK handle, just never really got the chance to showcase it. Its very much a street-ball, flashy kind of dribble, which K & Co. obviously got him to tone down a little and just stick to basics.
 
SilkyJ said:
H-Town hits it right on the head. Greg is a little better at bringing the ball up court. But freedevil has one good point: Ewing could break guys down and get to the basket better than Greg,. But that was really b/c he is quicker and more athletic, not because of some great ball handling skills.

Overall Greg is a better dibbler, but he is not as quick or as athletic as Ewing, obviously. Thats not a knock on either one of them: remember, Greg has been a PG his whole career, or a large part presumably, and Ewing was a SG for his whole life, or at least 7 straight years, until senior yr at Duke.

As for Dock, its not even close. 100% more athletic (if you never saw him in warmups: he could throw the ball off glass, catch in midair and do a full windmill. didn't do it very often, except when you asked him to). 100% better dribbler. Dock actually has a SICK handle, just never really got the chance to showcase it. Its very much a street-ball, flashy kind of dribble, which K & Co. obviously got him to tone down a little and just stick to basics.
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Ya but how often did Ewing break people down off the dribble it seemed like he was always pulling up shooting a jumper... :rolleyes:
 
Eagerly awaiting Nolan's arrival

Kilby said:
I hope Smith gets the point duties and the fast break is back.
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I agree. I think Duke's problem this year is that they had to rely on 1/2 court offense way too much. Even though they played great defense most of the year, they never did a great job of getting themselves easy baskets. Then, when it came down to it, they really didn't have to athleticism to run up and down with certain teams, and that hurt as well.

I can't say that I'm not excited at the prospect of seeing Nolan Smith possibly running the point. Quite simply, he brings athleticism to a position where Duke needs it badly. This is why I have to disagree with Mr. Berg. If Patterson enlists, you have to believe we'll have the personnel to bring back the fast paced tempo. A lineup like Smith, Nelson, Henderson, Singler, and Patterson could do definite damage under Coach K, and it's been a while since Duke put a lineup like that on the floor.
 
I reported this yesterday, that Duke was going to offer him. I think it is a good move becouse Henderson could be gone after next year and I like the fact that this kid is very athletic. The only thing I do not understand is why Duke has not offerd Drew Gordan this guy is a beast and I do not think we are going to get pp.
 
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