2024-2025 Men’s Basketball Season: General Offseason Discussion

My impression is that Brown is very much a rugged power forward who is much better at finishing inside than Mark Mitchell was. I think Mark wanted to be a slasher and hadn't yet fully developed wing or inside skills.
 
dlmzzz said:
The interesting thing about this team is that it has more than one possible way to get to that level. What if Brown shows that he now has a reliable 3 point shot, while still being an All ACC defensive player? I'd say there is at least a 40% chance of that. A top 5 defense that can rain 3s from every position would be fun. And Maluach may have the same chance at that.
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Thank you for posting this. The number of posters who assume Maliq will be bad on offense while players who have shown jack-poo at the D1 level will be elite is insane. Maliq would have been the 4th best 3pt shooter on Duke last season. You know, top 10 offense Duke last season. Yes, it was a small sample size but a larger sample size than any incoming freshman. His free throw shooting hints that there may be something there. That's not even the best part of Maliq's offense. He took around 160 2pt shots, and only four were characterized as long 2s. Frickin' 4. He made his 2s at an elite level. So he doesn't take bad shots and is elite at most of the shots he takes and respectable at the others but he's going to be an issue on offense. Oh, and BTW he is elite at defense. Yeah let's put him on the bench.
 
azzefkram said:
Thank you for posting this. The number of posters who assume Maliq will be bad on offense while players who have shown jack-poo at the D1 level will be elite is insane. Maliq would have been the 4th best 3pt shooter on Duke last season. You know, top 10 offense Duke last season. Yes, it was a small sample size but a larger sample size than any incoming freshman. His free throw shooting hints that there may be something there. That's not even the best part of Maliq's offense. He took around 160 2pt shots, and only four were characterized as long 2s. Frickin' 4. He made his 2s at an elite level. So he doesn't take bad shots and is elite at most of the shots he takes and respectable at the others but he's going to be an issue on offense. Oh, and BTW he is elite at defense. Yeah let's put him on the bench.
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I didn't see Syracuse play much. Based on what you've described (and what I've read), Maliq rarely shoot threes but can hit the occasional one if left alone, almost never shoots twos outside the paint, and is elite around the basket. Does he have a developed post game? Is Amile Jefferson an offensive analogue - racking up a few buckets from each of offensive boards, dump-offs, broken plays, and the occasional post up?

I have no doubt he'll be valuable (I think he has the highest upside of the transfers), but am curious to see how he is used. If he shares the floor with Maluach, then I hope one of them has the green light to shoot open threes.
 
phaedrus said:
I didn't see Syracuse play much. Based on what you've described (and what I've read), Maliq rarely shoot threes but can hit the occasional one if left alone, almost never shoots twos outside the paint, and is elite around the basket. Does he have a developed post game? Is Amile Jefferson an offensive analogue - racking up a few buckets from each of offensive boards, dump-offs, broken plays, and the occasional post up?

I have no doubt he'll be valuable (I think he has the highest upside of the transfers), but am curious to see how he is used. If he shares the floor with Maluach, then I hope one of them has the green light to shoot open threes.
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I have not seen a ton of tape on Maliq but I would say he's a more of a player that maximizes his right place, right time opportunities than one who has a developed post game. Amile is probably a really good offensive analogue. My favorite aspect of Maliq's offensive game is that he very rarely takes bad shots. For a fourth or fifth option on offense, I think that's huge.

Jon did not get the three best transfers out there, but he did get three plus defenders (probably elite in Maliq's case) who have shown they can positively impact the offense in a low usage role. There is only one ball. Cooper and Tyrese (and probably Caleb to a lesser extent) will have the ball in their hands a ton.
 
azzefkram said:
I have not seen a ton of tape on Maliq but I would say he's a more of a player that maximizes his right place, right time opportunities than one who has a developed post game.
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I wouldn't say I've watched a ton, but perhaps more than many on this board. Syracuse's offense used a double-forward set that was explicitly designed to run opposing big men around and brush them off with screens. Maliq was elite as using those screens to find an open lane to the hoop, and he simply did not miss the resulting layup/dunk, even when challenged by a help defender. He also was a very good offensive rebounder, with the resulting close-in scoring chances. Don't count on him to shoot threes, though. That's not why he's out there. He was all of 7-for-19 last season, and he shot exactly zero the year before. He shoots enough to keep defenders honest, but not enough to look for him out there. Don't count on him to post guys up, either. He quick and pretty strong, but he's only 6'8". He used his quickness and strength to get open in the lane, not to post guys up.
 
Phredd3 said:
I wouldn't say I've watched a ton, but perhaps more than many on this board. Syracuse's offense used a double-forward set that was explicitly designed to run opposing big men around and brush them off with screens. Maliq was elite as using those screens to find an open lane to the hoop, and he simply did not miss the resulting layup/dunk, even when challenged by a help defender. He also was a very good offensive rebounder, with the resulting close-in scoring chances. Don't count on him to shoot threes, though. That's not why he's out there. He was all of 7-for-19 last season, and he shot exactly zero the year before. He shoots enough to keep defenders honest, but not enough to look for him out there. Don't count on him to post guys up, either. He quick and pretty strong, but he's only 6'8". He used his quickness and strength to get open in the lane, not to post guys up.
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Thank you for the scout. I don't expect the 3 to be a significant part of what Maliq brings offensively, but, like you said, enough to keep defenses honest. I think Maliq would make defenses pay if he got Mitchell'd.
 
azzefkram said:
If Duke plays the right players, it has an outside shot of being better than Houston and Iowa St. It would probably require Khaman to be better than second-half freshman-year Mark, Caleb to go from a poor defender to an average defender, and a smidge of backsliding from Houston and Iowa St.

Every off-season posters bemoan the offense. Duke has been top 10 every season but 2 since 2011. They have been outside the top 20 once. In the same time frame, Duke has had a defense outside the top 20 7 times and outside the top 40 6 times. Defense at that level often takes you out of the Championship mix. Maybe we should be more worried about defense.
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Yes but those stats about our offense was when K was coach. K clearly valued offense at the end and put the defense on the back burner. Jon clearly values defense more than K. I know we finished 8th in KenPom last year but that was heavily inflated by James Madison, Miami and even Virginia. Our offenses have been hard to watch the first 2 years. I give Jon a pass in yr 1 because of the Whitehead injury but overall I have not been impressed with our offenses.
 
DBKilby said:
Yes but those stats about our offense was when K was coach. K clearly valued offense at the end and put the defense on the back burner. Jon clearly values defense more than K. I know we finished 8th in KenPom last year but that was heavily inflated by James Madison, Miami and even Virginia. Our offenses have been hard to watch the first 2 years. I give Jon a pass in yr 1 because of the Whitehead injury but overall I have not been impressed with our offenses.
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The offense this past season won't win any beauty pageants, but it was still effective. Duke was over 120 in adjusted O in 18 of it's 36 games and over 110 in adjusted O in 11 others. It wasn't just a few games propping up the season.
 
Maliq Brown was one of the most efficient scorers in the lane in all of college basketball last season. And one of the best defenders in the ACC. I expect he'll have the most impact of our three transfers.

One thing not mentioned is that he's excellent sprinting out on the break. There are lots of highlights of him beating his man downcourt and finishing in transition. Hope we see a lot of this.

I, for one, do expect to see Maliq and Khaman on the court together. But probably only for that 5-10mpg when Coop is catching his breath.
 
MarkD83 said:
As long as Cooper plays Kyle Singler’s and Shane Battier’s position I’ll be happy. That position is “winner”
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SkyBrickey said:
This is the answer. He can also play Grant Hill's position. All three of those guys were legends.
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Yeah - but we got to watch them for four years.
It was a lot more fun when the athletes were actually students, were invested in the school and we got to know them.
That was especially so when I was at Duke and was rooting for guys that I had been in classes with.

I know, I know - different world thats not coming back, but ...
 
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