Better pg at duke: jay Williams or bobby Hurley

[skysdad]

Can anyone just imagine Bobby Hurley on any Duke team. If it were possible to pick one Duke player to have immortality and be able to play for Duke forever my choice would be Hurley. I'm not saying he's the greatest or best Duke player ever I'm just saying he could make every Duke player who ever played there better by getting them involved. You could say this about 2 or 3 of his team mates during his time at Duke but if Hurley had never came to Duke we would have 2 less national championships. OFC

 

[dukehokie]

Can anyone just imagine Bobby Hurley on any Duke team. If it were possible to pick one Duke player to have immortality and be able to play for Duke forever my choice would be Hurley. I'm not saying he's the greatest or best Duke player ever I'm just saying he could make every Duke player who ever played there better by getting them involved. You could say this about 2 or 3 of his team mates during his time at Duke but if Hurley had never came to Duke we would have 2 less national championships. OFC

Hurley was so good at a time when the "true point guard" was covered and there were a fair amount before him and during his time here, yet he still stood above the rest.

Jason was a totally different point guard and I think this debate comes down to a preference of "true point guard" or "scoring point guard". Look at their post Duke careers and you can see that both Bobby and Jason made their teammates exponentially better.

 

[HuffyJB]

Seeing this argument, and watching Kyrie in the playoffs, makes me want to scour the recruiting rankings and see if there is an elite PG prospect from New Jersey in there anywhere.

 

[DFerryFan]

I loved the fact that Jason Williams got to beat Maryland 4 times in the 2000-2001 season (including the miracle minute plus the final four game which ended up being the biggest comeback in NCAA tournament history). But remember Hurley helped beat that unbelievable UNLV team. I'd have to give it to Hurley, and the only Duke player I can think of who would be more competitive than Hurley would be Christian Laettner.

 

[aah555]

Love Hurley. As a facilitator / floor general, Hurley clearly gets the edge. But, in terms of who was the better overall player, I think JWill was clearly the better overall player -- and frankly I don't think it's all that close if you look at production. JWill was a much better scorer. JWill was a dominant defensive player (e.g., the guy averaged over 2 steals a game in each of 3 collegiate seasons); far moreso than Hurley who could be exploited from time to time. To put that steal number in context, it's been a full decade since a Duke player has even put up one season of 2.0 steals (Daniel Ewing). While JWill was not quite the passer as Hurley, he did average about 6 assist per game for his career -- which is still a pretty incredible number when coupled with his scoring. And, frankly, he just mattered more. Battier was the heart and soul of that 2000 team. But, let's not kid ourselves, J-Will was clearly the most talented player on that 00-01 championship team and the principal offensive engine of two elite Duke teams. As great as Hurley was -- and he was great, there was never any doubt who the best player was on those teams -- and, frankly, it's debatable whether he was even the 2nd best player on those teams.

And, while I'm not saying awards always tell the full story, I do think they are telling here. Reality is that Hurley was only an AA as a Sr. and never won any major conference or national POY awards (at least based on the full season). By contrast, JWill was not only a consensus first team AA as a soph. & jr., but won major NPOY awards in both his soph. & jr. year -- with him sweeping all or nearly all of the major awards as a jr. Also, JWill also went #2 in the draft, whereas Hurley went #7.

 

[dukehokie]

Love Hurley. As a facilitator / floor general, Hurley clearly gets the edge. But, in terms of who was the better overall player, I think JWill was clearly the better overall player -- and frankly I don't think it's all that close if you look at production. JWill was a much better scorer. JWill was a dominant defensive player (e.g., the guy averaged over 2 steals a game in each of 3 collegiate seasons); far moreso than Hurley who could be exploited from time to time. To put that steal number in context, it's been a full decade since a Duke player has even put up one season of 2.0 steals (Daniel Ewing). While JWill was not quite the passer as Hurley, he did average about 6 assist per game for his career -- which is still a pretty incredible number when coupled with his scoring. And, frankly, he just mattered more. Battier was the heart and soul of that 2000 team. But, let's not kid ourselves, J-Will was clearly the most talented player on that 00-01 championship team and the principal offensive engine of two elite Duke teams. As great as Hurley was -- and he was great, there was never any doubt who the best player was on those teams -- and, frankly, it's debatable whether he was even the 2nd best player on those teams.

And, while I'm not saying awards always tell the full story, I do think they are telling here. Reality is that Hurley was only an AA as a Sr. and never won any major conference or national POY awards (at least based on the full season). By contrast, JWill was not only a consensus first team AA as a soph. & jr., but won major NPOY awards in both his soph. & jr. year -- with him sweeping all or nearly all of the major awards as a jr. Also, JWill also went #2 in the draft, whereas Hurley went #7.

IMO Jason Williams is in the top 4 maybe even 3 players of all time at Duke. I'm not talking all time wins or "pure point guard" or whatever else. He is up there with Dawkins, Laettner, and Grant Hill in terms of straight up talent and he did win a title. I want him on any and every team I can get him on when it comes to current and former Duke players.

 

[Wall2Boogie]

If I'm starting a team, I'm taking jay Williams. Nothing against Hurley, but in today's game he may not flourish like he did. He had a hof in grant hill not to mention laetter wone of the greatest college players ever.(that makes me sick saying that) I think jay would flourish in today's game. He had great players but he never had the guys to win back to back. Give him those type of players and he's all over Hurley. Yes I know Williams was a subpar ft shooter but the guy was absolutely clutch when you guys needed a big shot. He was a beast. Plus in today's game he might make it to his sophomore year, while Hurley would be Atleast a 4 year player. I think Williams was just as good if not better than some of the other guys you've had

 

[timo0402]

If I'm starting a team, I'm taking jay Williams. Nothing against Hurley, but in today's game he may not flourish like he did. He had a hof in grant hill not to mention laetter wone of the greatest college players ever.(that makes me sick saying that) I think jay would flourish in today's game. He had great players but he never had the guys to win back to back. Give him those type of players and he's all over Hurley. Yes I know Williams was a subpar ft shooter but the guy was absolutely clutch when you guys needed a big shot. He was a beast. Plus in today's game he might make it to his sophomore year, while Hurley would be Atleast a 4 year player. I think Williams was just as good if not better than some of the other guys you've had

He absolutely had the guys to do it, they just didn't.

 

[aah555]

He absolutely had the guys to do it, they just didn't.

Agreed. But again, that's an argument for why J-Williams isn't Laettner -- not really an argument for Hurley. If Laettner doesn't literally make every shot against UK and drill that turnaround jumper at the buzzer, there is no back-to-back in 91-92. J-Will's analogue on the 91-92 team in terms of value / important was Laettner, not Hurley. And I'd add, as much as some like to harp on J-Will's missed FT against IU, reality is that the only reason we even had a chance to tie that game was that J-Will had just hit an incredibly clutch 3 through contact. As good as Boozer and Duleavy were, they were not Laettner and Hill. That 01-02 team had a ton of offensive talent in that starting 5. But, its frontcourt was a bit undersized, the squad struggled to rebound / defend the rim, and only had one truly high-level bench player (Daniel Ewing). In fact, what ultimately cost us against IU that year was rebounding; with IU beating us on the glass 46-29 and Jeffries finishing with a 24 & 15 statline. That's ultimately on Boozer / Dunleavy, not J-Will. If you actually look at the numbers, JWill actually led the team in defensive rebounds -- which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about our lack of frontcourt toughness that day. Anyone who watched that 01-02 team all season knew it was far more vulnerable than its headliner talent would suggest b/c of its lack of depth and softness inside.