Agreed, it is unseemly imo to harbor so much bitterness toward Jalen. I also had a daughter who had trouble dealing with high school at the time and switched to cyber.
Blue Devils in the NBA 2023-2024
- Thread starter brevity
- Start date
Agreed, it is unseemly imo to harbor so much bitterness toward Jalen. I also had a daughter who had trouble dealing with high school at the time and switched to cyber.
Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15
Member
I am sympathetic to most athlete situations. I generally side with an athlete over the program, if it comes down to it.
But the two former Duke players I have difficulty embracing on a purely personal level are Sulaimon and Jalen.
They don't owe me any explanation, of course. I'm just Joe Blow fan. But absent any better understanding, I see them as teammates who let their cohorts down in major ways.
I don't wish either of them any bad things, I just don't think much of them at all.
brevity
Member
I appreciate all of the responses. I was not expecting this much activity.
Just a reminder that the list I provided is a jumping-off point for a thread about a long and hopefully interesting NBA regular season, and not the substance of the thread.
I started this list for the 2022-2023 season and have maintained it ever since. I should admit that I focused most of my energy on adding new names, and making sure that existing names were updated with their new teams. I did not make as strong an effort on removing anyone, unless I knew for certain that he or she had moved away from the league. To provide a pair of different OKC Thunder examples, both Amanda Green and Jack White might be in some form of NBA career limbo right now, but I don't know their next moves, so I can't just drop them from this list entirely. I don't see the harm of keeping them there.
Put another way, I guess I choose to err on the side of inclusion rather than exclusion.
Just a reminder that the list I provided is a jumping-off point for a thread about a long and hopefully interesting NBA regular season, and not the substance of the thread.
I started this list for the 2022-2023 season and have maintained it ever since. I should admit that I focused most of my energy on adding new names, and making sure that existing names were updated with their new teams. I did not make as strong an effort on removing anyone, unless I knew for certain that he or she had moved away from the league. To provide a pair of different OKC Thunder examples, both Amanda Green and Jack White might be in some form of NBA career limbo right now, but I don't know their next moves, so I can't just drop them from this list entirely. I don't see the harm of keeping them there.
Put another way, I guess I choose to err on the side of inclusion rather than exclusion.
Matches
Member
I tend to agree. Not a fan of players bailing on the team mid-season, but that covid year was weird. We’ve wished guys well in the past who transferred, even mid-season. JJ’s not ever going to be on my list of favorite Dukies but I do consider him one of ours.
He played more games at Duke than Kyrie Irving did.
Just to reiterate, although I would prefer that Jalen not be listed, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the work and the list. It's fantastic and I should have posted the 'leave the quitter out' post for a later time and I apologize for derailing the thread on the first day.
Back on topic, I'm really interested to see how Grayson is used with the Suns. I feel like the Bucks have really been derailed the last couple of seasons by injuries so they didn't excel in the playoffs. Cam and he Lakers...which Cam shows up? He can be really good but it also seems like he can disappear. I wish him well, still remember that shot against FSU!!!
Not Duke related but I'm also curious to see how the GSW look with Paul (seems like a square peg, round hole situation).
Matches
Member
If history is a guide, Cam will get a chance out of the gate. Lebron will either love him or hate him, and once he’s decided he won’t change his mind. Either Cam becomes a rotation fixture or he’s playing somewhere else by the trade deadline.
DavidBenAkiva
Member
I love everything about this thread and the reminder that I can start checking box scores in the morning to see how the former Blue Devils are doing.
Thanks to brevity for all the heavy lifting!
Thanks to brevity for all the heavy lifting!
Like every fat many who gos by "Tiny", I appreciate the original poster going opposite of his DBR name.
CrazyNotCrazie
Member
I appreciate that comment!
BandAlum83
Member
Ummm. Pless as e don’t refer to him as JJ. There is only one JJ.
We conjured a good play out of him, he stole a ball 3 on 1 and quickly stuck it back as a quick lay-up in traffic. The Lakers are hanging tough. They have a lot of new faces. Christian Wood giving them good minutes and interested to see if Vincent can continue that magic he had in Miami last year. Reeves is getting hunted on D like he was in FIBA this summer. Current crunch time line-up LBJ, the Brow, Reeves, Taureen Prince and DLo.
Aaron Gordon is a much better passer than I realized. He pounds the ball on the block but keeps his head up and is nice at dishing when he draws a double. This Nuggets team are champs for a reason, they are TOUGH.
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JasonEvans
Host, The Duke Basketball Roundup
Put me in the camp that says we include Jalen in the Dukies in the NBA. The program considers him a Dukie and the NBA guidebooks all list him as coming from Duke. He adds to our totals and that is a good thing. What's more, there is a decent chance he starts for the Hawks this year and it is not at all impossible to imagine someone with his athletic gifts becoming a consistently good NBA player. Duke loves to tout all our NBA studs and I see no reason we should kick on to the curb when everyone else in the basketball universe says he is part of The Brotherhood.
Plus, he is on my Hawks so I have to root for him anyway
Plus, he is on my Hawks so I have to root for him anyway
CrazieDUMB
Member
Put me in the camp that says we include Jalen in the Dukies in the NBA. The program considers him a Dukie and the NBA guidebooks all list him as coming from Duke. He adds to our totals and that is a good thing. What's more, there is a decent chance he starts for the Hawks this year and it is not at all impossible to imagine someone with his athletic gifts becoming a consistently good NBA player. Duke loves to tout all our NBA studs and I see no reason we should kick on to the curb when everyone else in the basketball universe says he is part of The Brotherhood.
Plus, he is on my Hawks so I have to root for him anyway
Yes - I made a joke on the off-topic section about Jalen being 8 of our top 10 most notorious alums, but in all honesty I'm fine with giving him the benefit of the doubt. The official Duke MBB twitter had him in their graphic, FWIW.
TheOldBattleship
Member
Well, weird first NBA night. Good to see Reddish out there; I thought he overall looked pretty good! He made a few decisive/hustle plays of the kind that will probably be the determining factor in whether he sticks for a long career in the NBA or not. Getting consistently involved and being able to put his stamp on the game without being a primary (or even secondary) ballhandler is still something that he's working through, but he's definitely engaged and working. Here's hoping he can stay health; the REAL bugaboo for him thus far, I think, is that he's never been able to really put together a consistent string of games to get truly comfortable in a role with a team, partly due to circumstance and largely due to injury. The Lakers certainly do need a lot of what he can bring!
Only other minor note is that it's truly wild how totally reliant the Lakers are on LeBron, even still. With everything else that's going on with that team, last night it really came down to the fact that, with LeBron, they could generate offense and guard the interior (AD having to chase Jokic all over the place), and without him, they couldn't. Obviously, he's LeBron, so rules of time don't apply, but HOW IS THIS STILL HAPPENING?! This was, like, what we were saying in the Alspaugh dorm common room about the Cavs in 2006! Like, Jokic having that kind of on-off court effect this year makes sense: he's in his prime and playing a super weird role that nobody else can imitate. But the fact that everything with the Lakers revolves so entirely around LeBron to generate looks on a team with AD and multiple big-money playmakers (DLo had assists, but was decidedly not running an effective offense without LeBron) in the year 2023 is truly wild.
I'll throw my totally irrelevant vote in favor of including Jalen, as well. Apart from anything else, I feel like being 18 or whatever and a freshman in college in 2020 would have been a weird enough situation that you have to give unbelievable amounts of grace for just about any decision about basketball that a player could make.
Only other minor note is that it's truly wild how totally reliant the Lakers are on LeBron, even still. With everything else that's going on with that team, last night it really came down to the fact that, with LeBron, they could generate offense and guard the interior (AD having to chase Jokic all over the place), and without him, they couldn't. Obviously, he's LeBron, so rules of time don't apply, but HOW IS THIS STILL HAPPENING?! This was, like, what we were saying in the Alspaugh dorm common room about the Cavs in 2006! Like, Jokic having that kind of on-off court effect this year makes sense: he's in his prime and playing a super weird role that nobody else can imitate. But the fact that everything with the Lakers revolves so entirely around LeBron to generate looks on a team with AD and multiple big-money playmakers (DLo had assists, but was decidedly not running an effective offense without LeBron) in the year 2023 is truly wild.
I'll throw my totally irrelevant vote in favor of including Jalen, as well. Apart from anything else, I feel like being 18 or whatever and a freshman in college in 2020 would have been a weird enough situation that you have to give unbelievable amounts of grace for just about any decision about basketball that a player could make.
grad_devil
Member
I never know if it's going to work until the morning after opening day, but it does, indeed, look like the page is functioning with little to no modifications from last year. If anyone notices an error (no, Jalen Johnson being on there is not an "error") or omission, let me know!
gam7
Member
Front Page Correction
Quick correction on the Wemby/Lively article on the front page: Chip Engelland is now an assistant coach with OKC (as reported in this July 2022 Woj article and as noted in brevity's handy table above), so he probably won't be helping Wemby with his shooting this year.
Quick correction on the Wemby/Lively article on the front page: Chip Engelland is now an assistant coach with OKC (as reported in this July 2022 Woj article and as noted in brevity's handy table above), so he probably won't be helping Wemby with his shooting this year.
brevity
Member
There are 12 games Wednesday night and we could see up to 20 former Duke players on the court. But only one of them is making his regular season pro debut, so I'm putting a small focus on Dereck Lively II. His Mavericks play the Spurs at 9:30pm ET on ESPN.
This video was posted earlier today. An anime artist visits Lively in Dallas and drops off a series of gifts:
USA Today/For the Win: 10 NBA rookies make predictions for their first game before the season begins
Mavs.com: Opening-Night Starter? Lively Could Join an Elite Group of Mavericks
Complex: Nike Announces 2023 NBA Rookie Signings
This video was posted earlier today. An anime artist visits Lively in Dallas and drops off a series of gifts:
USA Today/For the Win: 10 NBA rookies make predictions for their first game before the season begins
Mavs.com: Opening-Night Starter? Lively Could Join an Elite Group of Mavericks
Complex: Nike Announces 2023 NBA Rookie Signings