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Bolden trending for Duke

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The moment someone compares college basketball (and not having a PG) to an NBA team without a PG.......SMFH.

Lol. Basketball is basketball. The teams with the better players who perform best in pressure moments will normally win -- regardless of the exact position makeup. That's the point. We saw that with the two Duke NC teams in 2001 and 2010, which had far less depth and more glaring holes, and we saw that last year with a Nova team that basically only had one player over 6'7 who was any good -- and yet defeated clearly bigger KU and UNC squads. Even that 38-1 UK team made it that far starting a guy (Andrew Harrison) who was certainly no more of a true PG than Frank, and Wisconsin nearly won a national title with a PG (Bronson Koening) who was averaging all of 2.5 assists that year and a roster that was otherwise devoid of any other real playmaking guards (in view of Jackon's health at the time).

But, if you want to ignore all the positives, go for it. Duke has so many guys who can create offense for themselves and others that I just don't think DT's departure is going to make that much of a difference if guys stay healthy. And, in fact, I think the major reason DT is leaving is that he pretty much could see that, even if he won the PG spot (which was far from certain), his role was not going to expand much from last year after Grayson elected to return -- as K's likely plan would have nonetheless been to hand the ball over to Grayson, Tatum, and Giles to create most of the offense. In fact, IMO, defense is really the only area where I think DT will be missed -- b/c I do worry if we have someone who matches up well with smaller, lightning quick guys. K builds his teams to accentuate the strengths of his best players. And, in an offense designed to highlight the playmaking at the 2-4 spots, Jackson may actually fit better offensively b/c he's an indisputably better shooter who can do a better job spacing the floor than Thornton.
 
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Lol. Basketball is basketball. The teams with the better players who perform best in pressure moments will normally win -- regardless of the exact position makeup. That's the point. We saw that with the two Duke NC teams in 2001 and 2010, which had far less depth and more glaring holes, and we saw that last year with a Nova team that basically only had one player over 6'7 who was any good -- and yet defeated clearly bigger KU and UNC squads. Even that 38-1 UK team made it that far starting a guy (Andrew Harrison) who was certainly no more of a true PG than Frank, and Wisconsin nearly won a national title with a PG (Bronson Koening) who was averaging all of 2.5 assists that year and a roster that was otherwise devoid of any other real playmaking guards (in view of Jackon's health at the time).

But, if you want to ignore all the positives, go for it. Duke has so many guys who can create offense for themselves and others that I just don't think DT's departure is going to make that much of a difference if guys stay healthy. And, in fact, I think the major reason DT is leaving is that he pretty much could see that, even if he won the PG spot (which was far from certain), his role was not going to expand much from last year after Grayson elected to return -- as K's likely plan would have nonetheless been to hand the ball over to Grayson, Tatum, and Giles to create most of the offense. In fact, IMO, defense is really the only area where I think DT will be missed -- b/c I do worry if we have someone who matches up well with smaller, lightning quick guys. K builds his teams to accentuate the strengths of his best players. And, in an offense designed to highlight the playmaking at the 2-4 spots, Jackson may actually fit better offensively b/c he's an indisputably better shooter who can do a better job spacing the floor than Thornton.

And again, I stopped reading after the first sentence. Basketball is basketball? Save yourself the keystrokes man.
 
Lol. Basketball is basketball. The teams with the better players who perform best in pressure moments will normally win -- regardless of the exact position makeup. That's the point. We saw that with the two Duke NC teams in 2001 and 2010, which had far less depth and more glaring holes, and we saw that last year with a Nova team that basically only had one player over 6'7 who was any good -- and yet defeated clearly bigger KU and UNC squads. Even that 38-1 UK team made it that far starting a guy (Andrew Harrison) who was certainly no more of a true PG than Frank, and Wisconsin nearly won a national title with a PG (Bronson Koening) who was averaging all of 2.5 assists that year and a roster that was otherwise devoid of any other real playmaking guards (in view of Jackon's health at the time).

But, if you want to ignore all the positives, go for it. Duke has so many guys who can create offense for themselves and others that I just don't think DT's departure is going to make that much of a difference if guys stay healthy. And, in fact, I think the major reason DT is leaving is that he pretty much could see that, even if he won the PG spot (which was far from certain), his role was not going to expand much from last year after Grayson elected to return -- as K's likely plan would have nonetheless been to hand the ball over to Grayson, Tatum, and Giles to create most of the offense. In fact, IMO, defense is really the only area where I think DT will be missed -- b/c I do worry if we have someone who matches up well with smaller, lightning quick guys. K builds his teams to accentuate the strengths of his best players. And, in an offense designed to highlight the playmaking at the 2-4 spots, Jackson may actually fit better offensively b/c he's an indisputably better shooter who can do a better job spacing the floor than Thornton.
Absolutely great point about how the point guard position may be used in next season's offense. I agree that a lot of the playmaking will be through Grayson, Tatum, and hopefully a healthy Giles. If that is the case, the Thornton we saw this year would significantly hurt the spacing and flow of the offense. I also agree that we will miss his perimeter defense though.
 
With all due respect, perhaps our definitions of capable are different. Regardless I'm done with this topic and will let the season play out. I stand by my thought that DT will be missed at some points this year.

Just like you're defending that you're not saying Grayson and Luke aren't good players, no one has said DT or any point guard will not be missed at points.

And that "at points" is what's key in your statement. Sure there will be one or two games where Duke has more turnovers than they've had all season, but the body of work is all I care about.

Anyway at this point in the spring the topic is a dead horse and I'm with you, we've beaten it beyond death.
 
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If you think Duke is going to have a problem because they don't have a "pure pg", you simply haven't been watching them play. Grayson arguably was more of a pg for us last year than DT. Stop making it seem like DT is going to be sorely missed. I've held back from bashing the kid bc he doesn't deserve that, but he wasn't good this year. I don't see where he would have been THAT good this coming year. He actually was one of the worst pg's to start for Duke statistically. Would it be nice to have him? Sure. Are we going to fall in this hole where we sit back and say "My god where is DT when we need him"? Nope. Frank is going to be our PG. If you've paid any attention to Duke basketball, you would know K never defines positions. Frank will be a pg for us in the sense of running plays. So what the hell are you arguing about Crank? I'm sorry man. I just don't get it. Frank will be more of a pg for us than DT was this year. There I said it. I didn't want to poke at DT, but there it is. He left bc he knew Frank would start over his ass. Plain as that. Next topic.
 
Does anyone know a timeline on Bolden's announcement?

No clue. Thought it'd be this week. There had been talk that he'd pull a Brandon Knight and basically just show up at a campus, but I seriously doubt that.

At this point, I think most people are out of the loop and his parents are driving this bus at this juncture.
 
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No clue. Thought it'd be this week. There had been talk that he'd pull a Brandon Knight and basically just show up at a campus, but I seriously doubt that.

At this point, I think most people are out of the loop and his parents are driving this bus at this juncture.

Well hopefully mom stays the course and likes Duke still..... Mom knows best!
 
The moment someone compares college basketball (and not having a PG) to an NBA team without a PG.......SMFH.

The moment someone over exaggerates a generic basketball reference (not a direct comparison) that also has collegiate comparisons (e.g., Duke 2010), to say nothing of basketball evolution and a lack of historical perspective, and doesn't have the integrity to directly address arguments but instead takes a pot shot ... that's typically a sign that person has his mind made up and doesn't want to be confused with particularities.

Such "SMFH" references, like this above, is also known as ad hominem (there's the educational reference of the day). On the street it's typically described with two words consisting of 3 and 4 letters respectively.

It has no value in discussions.

OFC
 
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And again, I stopped reading after the first sentence. Basketball is basketball? Save yourself the keystrokes man.

Clearly. What aah555 argued is almost as dumb as thinking that someone 6'9 could ever play PG. Impossible. Not happening. Fuhgettaboutit. Back to your regularly scheduled program.
 
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Such "SMFH" references, like this above, is also known as ad hominem (there's the educational reference of the day). On the street it's typically described with two words consisting of 3 and 4 letters respectively.

It has no value in discussions.

OFC
Agree completely. It annoys me when quality contributors are subjected to this bullcrap. Make your point, and don't be a dick. It's not hard.
 
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This morning I rewatched the end of our comeback win in CH this season. DT forced TWO airballs out of Berry in the last 2 minutes or so. If Berry lights us up next season, scoring 28 of his team's total points in our 107-59 victory, that's a specific situation where we'll really miss Derryck.
 
This morning I rewatched the end of our comeback win in CH this season. DT forced TWO airballs out of Berry in the last 2 minutes or so. If Berry lights us up next season, scoring 28 of his team's total points in our 107-59 victory, that's a specific situation where we'll really miss Derryck.

Are u being serious? Lol

Edit** nevermind missed the score prediction part somehow lol
 
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Yeah, the Thornton talk is tiresome. He's moved on. Duke has moved on. We should move on. Best of luck to him. This might sound bad, but unless we play his team down the road sometime I doubt I'll think of him much at all. It's not like he's some unforgettable player.
 
Let's quit whining about DT and steer the thread back to Bolden. This $hit is goin third grade now.

Yes. Not necessarily back to Bolden because the OT convo ITT has been fun and amusing. But please get off the DT talk. He is dead to Duke basketball. Wish him well, but he is no longer a part of the team. Which is his decision / loss.
 
So going back to Bolden, what is everyone's gut reaction of where he's going to go? I keep reading mixed things. Would love to have him here but if we don't get him, I think we will still be a damn tough team to beat!
 
Yeah, the Thornton talk is tiresome. He's moved on. Duke has moved on. We should move on. Best of luck to him. This might sound bad, but unless we play his team down the road sometime I doubt I'll think of him much at all. It's not like he's some unforgettable player.

Yea, I agree, but supposedly he was compared to MJ. I must have missed it LOL.

Bolden team holding out for Lee; it actually makes sense since he wants to be a starter and a focal point of the offense.
 
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