Isaiah Evans

kAzE said:
I’ve been mostly very happy with Mason Gillis’ play this season, but the one thing I do have a bit of a gripe with is how often he tries to put the ball on the floor to drive. It’s been a pretty low percentage play for him, and I do wish he would embrace more of a pure 3&D role and just move the ball rather than try to make the play himself.

But I haven’t watched him much until this year, so maybe I’m wrong and he is more capable of attacking the paint than I’m giving him credit for. However, in the Arizona game, he did drive into traffic and turned it over, which lead to an AZ fast break bucket, and then went to the bench for the rest of the game.

But on the actual topic of this thread, I agree Evans’ minutes are mutually exclusive with Gillis.
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If you look at Mason’s stats at Purdue, he mostly took 3s and shots at the rim. With Edey in the low post, that’s not surprising. I think that in his Brotherhood podcast appearance, he said he needed to work at putting the ball on the floor. So perhaps driving is something the coaches have asked him to do, with the idea that it would benefit the team later in the year.
 
Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15 said:
I'm mesmerized by the fact that this thread has more posts than the "Flagg leads Duke in every stat" thread.
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kAzE said:
I’m not surprised at all. Minutes/rotation threads are always 🔥 on DBR.
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What kAzE said. What more is there to say about Flagg leading us in everything, "Yup, he's amazing."

But the Evans thread is all about expectations and hopes for how players perform and how they work together.
 
Travis said:
It seems to me that Gillis and Evans play very different positions. The place I could see Evans getting some minutes, if his defense improves enough, would be for Proctor. I would not have thought so before the year started but Tyrese is playing off the ball extensively as a shooter. Contemplating Evans’ potential defense, it would seem more likely that he could be able to guard the types of players that Proctor guards rather than the players that Gillis or even Kon guards. Not saying it is likely it will happen, but a scenario where Evan’s comes in as an outside threat and guards a guard while Proctor gets a breather would seem the path he could take this year. I just don’t imagine he will somehow be able to bang with the opponents heavier wings and even power forwards lile Kon and Gillis. Maybe he can play the wing against some teams, but generally think the player he most could resemble and so replacement he might could provide would be Proctor
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Agree, Isaiah is a 2. Hard to take minutes away from Proctor or Sion.
 
Travis said:
It seems to me that Gillis and Evans play very different positions. The place I could see Evans getting some minutes, if his defense improves enough, would be for Proctor. I would not have thought so before the year started but Tyrese is playing off the ball extensively as a shooter. Contemplating Evans’ potential defense, it would seem more likely that he could be able to guard the types of players that Proctor guards rather than the players that Gillis or even Kon guards. Not saying it is likely it will happen, but a scenario where Evan’s comes in as an outside threat and guards a guard while Proctor gets a breather would seem the path he could take this year. I just don’t imagine he will somehow be able to bang with the opponents heavier wings and even power forwards lile Kon and Gillis. Maybe he can play the wing against some teams, but generally think the player he most could resemble and so replacement he might could provide would be Proctor
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Tyrese is our best perimeter defender. He takes on the opponent's best backcourt guy each game and does a good job. He's defended Love and RJ Davis last season and will more than likely guard him this season. Sion is probably our next best defender of our back court players. I guess if Evans is going to get minutes it will come from Caleb. There could be times we see Sion guarding the opponent's best guard/wing with Evans the other guard while Proctor gets a break. I feel like this is our best lineup: Proctor, Sion, Kon, Cooper and Malauch. Brown first sub off the bench followed by Caleb then Mason or Evans. I know Evans doesn't play the same position as Mason.

GoDuke!
 
It's also about the reality that it's hard to expect any highly rated recruit who doesn't get regular minutes to be back the next year, and it would be nice for Maliq Brown not to be the only returnee next year, but I guess that's old fashioned.
 
Duke79UNLV77 said:
It's also about the reality that it's hard to expect any highly rated recruit who doesn't get regular minutes to be back the next year, and it would be nice for Maliq Brown not to be the only returnee next year, but I guess that's old fashioned.
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I'm not a mind reader but I have to think Coach K didn't like the way college basketball was going. I may be wrong, but I think if some of the Duke greats that stayed for four years played in this environment, they would have gone to the NBA early. Some may have even taken the NIL $$$$$$$$ and transferred. It's going to be interesting to see what some of our players do if they don't get meaningful minutes the rest of this season.

GoDuke!
 
jv001 said:
I'm not a mind reader but I have to think Coach K didn't like the way college basketball was going. I may be wrong, but I think if some of the Duke greats that stayed for four years played in this environment, they would have gone to the NBA early. Some may have even taken the NIL $$$$$$$$ and transferred. It's going to be interesting to see what some of our players do if they don't get meaningful minutes the rest of this season.

GoDuke!
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Yep, rinse and repeat yearly. It's what it is.
 
Duke79UNLV77 said:
It's also about the reality that it's hard to expect any highly rated recruit who doesn't get regular minutes to be back the next year, and it would be nice for Maliq Brown not to be the only returnee next year, but I guess that's old fashioned.
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I have seen nothing that indicates that Foster is draftable, nor that he is considering anything but returning. Tyrese has decent overall numbers thru 5 games, but also has not shown much to indicate that he is going to generate much draft buzz. Those 2 plus Maliq makes for 3 returnees. Please get back to us when you get some substantial intel indicating that anyone is considering leaving Duke other than those who are eligible to graduate.
 
Duke79UNLV77 said:
It's also about the reality that it's hard to expect any highly rated recruit who doesn't get regular minutes to be back the next year, and it would be nice for Maliq Brown not to be the only returnee next year, but I guess that's old fashioned.
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Darren Harris came to Duke clear eyed about his prospects of playing much as a freshman. Much like Jaylen Blakes and Jaden Schutt, he did not expect to get more than mop-up minutes as a freshman and is hoping/expecting to break into the rotation as a sophomore.

Patrick Ngongba has struggled with long-term injury problems but is finally getting healthy. He has indicated he does not expect a large role as a freshman and the team would appear to have significant plans for him as a soph (we have not recruited other centers -- Cam Boozer is a PF, for sure).

No one knows what Foster and Proctor will decide but I would not be surprised if at least one of them chose to return to Duke.

I have no idea what Isaiah Evans will decide to do. If he sees a path to a significant role at Duke as a soph, which most of us seem to see, then I would expect his to strongly consider staying.

We will have MUCH MORE than just Maliq Brown back next season, I'm pretty confident about that.
 
Jon has said a couple things consistently about playing time. One, that it will be earned through competition and that you need to play defense. Go back and listen to early season Isaiah quotes and he talks about knowing what he needs to do, and that is improve on D.

As to earning time on the court, I think it’s really about the emergence of Kon. Kon’s gravity and IQ on offense is a weapon. His d is solid and, if you including rebounding as part of D, more than solid. I’d expect Isaiah to keep improving on D and start to earn some minutes, and I’d expect those minutes to mostly come from Kon, if only to keep him fresher.
 
My understanding is the guys from last year left because they weren't told anything that indicated they would play big minutes this season. If things go the way we expect (Kon and Cooper leaving) I think Evans and maybe Harris will see a clearer path to major minutes.
 
Maged said:
My understanding is the guys from last year left because they weren't told anything that indicated they would play big minutes this season. If things go the way we expect (Kon and Cooper leaving) I think Evans and maybe Harris will see a clearer path to major minutes.
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I don't think anybody at Duke is guaranteed they will have a certain amount of playing time or a certain role on the team. I know Coach K always told kids they get what they earn, and that's it. Even when he was recruiting them. I don't know if that philosophy still applies 1 to 1, with all the options kids have these days, but at Duke, I would hope that a pure meritocracy still exists. The players who will win the games should play. Everything else should be secondary.

Maybe not everyone agrees with that, and sometimes feelings get hurt. In any competitive medium, sometimes you have to make tough decisions in order to win that won't sit well with some people. I remember a lot of people here who were upset over the 7 players who left the program this past offseason, but not many people are complaining anymore.
 
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