So I went to the gym last night intending to hoop for a little while when I stumbled on a pickup game featuring a few past and present Duke players. On one team were incoming Duke recruits Nolan Smith and Taylor King, along with Jon Scheyer and Jay Williams. The other team featured Greg Paulus, Lance Thomas, Gerald Henderson, and Chris Carrawell. They thought I was another kid watching in awe. Only if they’d known The Scrapper was noting their every movement so he could share this undercover reporting with the entire Scrapper Nation. Here are a few observations:
1) Paulus is constantly moving his mouth, mostly just talking junk . When Jay Williams bobbled a bullet pass from Nolan Smith, Paulus told Williams “you should really try to look at the ball if you want to catch it.” Then whenever he made a shot he said “you can’t give me that,” “Yes sir,”
“gametime,” or “leave me open again *************.” When the other team was getting a lot of points in transition, Paulus barked at Lance (or LT as Paulus affectionately calls him), Gerald, and Carrawell, and ordered them not to take quick jump shots. It actually really impressed me. I love the fact that he feels confident enough to be talking that much smack. And if he’s willing to be that vocal in a pickup game, I think he’ll be ready to take his leadership to the next level as the floor general and captain of the team next year.2) What made Jay Williams unstoppable when he was at Duke was his devastating combination of speed and strength. He’s lost a step or two because of his motorcycle accident, but he’s still very strong. Jay Williams was backing down Paulus and scoring on him at will. Paulus yelled something like “in your eye” after he made a jumpshot and you should have seen Jay
Will just rush the ball down the court, lower his shoulder, and take it right at Paulus. If you’re wondering about Williams, he was cut by the Nets on October 22, 2006 and waived by the Austin Toros of the NBDL on December 30, 2006 due to injury. If he can get a little more speed back, I think he can be a productive player in the NBA. He’s just so gosh darn strong.3) John Scheyer’s scrimmage last night reminded me a lot of the Jon Scheyer we saw last season. The first game Scheyer probably went 0 for 11, bricking all his 3's and playing without any confidence. He started the second game by dribbling down the court and pulling up. He swished it and he did the same thing the next 2 possessions. He was on fire the whole game.
Similarly, Scheyer had some ridiculous games last year including a 25 point game against Miami and a 26 point game against UNC. But he also had 11 games where he failed to reach double digits including a 7 point performance in Duke’s NCCA tournament loss to VCU. If yesterday’s scrimmage is any indication, Scheyer is still in development and needs to work on bringing consistency and confidence with him every time he steps onto the court.
4) Gerald Henderson is going to be a stud. He was scoring at will yesterday. All he had to do was get airborne and then he could just hang in the air and lay it in when the player trying to match up with him fell to the ground. He is a special, gifted athlete. If Gerald develops a reliable jump shot this season, which I fully expect he will, he could be a top 5 pick in next year’s draft. He’s THAT good. I think this guy is going to be a perennial all-star and one of the most dynamic shooting guard/small forwards in the league. If Duke is going to make any noise this season, Gerald Henderson is going to have to have a tremendous year.5) In the words of Jay Bilas, Lance Thomas has “a tremendous motor.” He was zipping up and down the court but what I was looking for was if he could be effective in the post. Although he had a couple of highlight reel dunks, for the most part he was bobbling entry passes and
making turnovers dribbling the ball in the post when he should have just been going up strong. Lance is a 3, and with Zoubek out for the moment, he becomes Duke's featured post presence. If yesterday’s scrimmage was a sign of things to come, Duke’s Achilles heal this season is going to be their post play. Duke has guards and forwards galore but we don’t have a dynamic Brand- or Boozer-like post presence. ( Zoubek is too big and slow while Lance is too small and fast). A Zoubek/Lance hybrid (with a jumpshot) is what Duke needs to cook up.6) Taylor King isn’t bashful. It seemed like every time the kid got his hands on the rock he was throwing up 3’s. And I’ll tell you what, he’s a sniper. He was making everything. The only real knock on King is his athleticism. He was looking out of shape but if he can continue to nail that jumper, he might end up becoming a real contributor next season. King could turn out to be the best player from this year’s recruiting class because of his attitude, the kid’s a gunslinger.
7) Chris Carrawell has become a large man. And when I say large, I mean he’s suffering from intense abdominal obesity (can’t call him a fat ***, the guy’s a legend).
Outlook
Even without Demarcus Nelson fracturing his wrist and Brian Zoubek likewise breaking his foot, Duke isn’t looking especially good next year. One thing has become crystal clear, if Duke is going to have success next season, Coach K is going to have to depart from his preferred playing style. With a plethora of athletic wing players, Duke is going to have to try to push the ball and go up and down the court if they want to maximize their potential. Think about this, Duke could start Greg Paulus, Jon Scheyer, Gerald Henderson, Kyle Singler, and Lance Thomas and bring Demarcus Nelson (he should be a starter once he’s a 100%), Nolan Smith, Taylor King, Marty Pocius, Dave McClure, and Brian Zoubek off the bench. Duke will go a legitimate 11 deep next season and needs to take advantage of this deep pool of talent by pressing, running, and gunning. It could be beautiful. Coach K could even learn how to work the run and gun to perfection from Mike D’Antoni this summer. But if Coach K chooses to have a 6 or 7 man rotation as he has in the past and play a half court game, Duke could go .500 in the ACC and face another first round exit from the NCAA tournament.
68 comments:
I agree with regards to Duke's playing style next year. In the past, Duke's been able to have such a short bench and play a tight rotation because they've had a dominant post presence (I'll take last year as an anomaly but before that it was Sheldon, Battier, Boozer, Brand, etc...) The quality of other bench players has never been to the level that it is this year. I can't think of a deeper Duke team. Coach K has to take advantage of the fact that he was able to recruit so many skilled players to come play at Duke. Now he has to maximize this advantage, numbers, by running the heck out of other teams. I don't know where Zoubek fits in (I think he could be used situationally and coming in off the bench) but I definetly agree that we need to tire out our opponents because we'll be sorely overmatched in a half-court playing style and will be dominated in the post.
If Lance doesn't become a beast this year we're gonna suck.
I really don't know where Brian Zoubek fits in with this team. Any improvements he made in the off-season are sure to be diminished by the broken foot. He's going to just slow everyone else down.
Look, even though he's slow we HAVE to play him. If we don't have him out there who's going to guard the other team's center? Lance? Singler? Taylor King?
i have a hard time believing anything will change this year in terms of the size of the rotation. it feels like every year we say "this year, were gonna run ten deep" but it always boils down to like eight at most, probably seven. that said, i hope youre right. maybe if we have a large rotation, the players wont all be too exhausted by the end of the season.
Scrapper,
if everyone was "scoring at will", what does that say for Duke's defense this year?
Duke's defense this year has the potential to be BETTER THAN IT HAS EVER BEEN. We can press full court and play intense man to man defense the whole game and not have to worry about getting tired.
I agree. If Coach K plays everyone enough then all of our players would be fresh and our defense would be stifling.
From how I had seen Zoubek play earlier in the summer, he looked to be a solid post player. He had gotten away from the habit of dribbling in the post and was nailing a baby hook shot. I think (hope) he might end up being a surprise. I do, however, agree that Duke will need to play more up tempo.
Every part of the team sets up well for up tempo except for Paulus. You need a guard who can push tempo and Paulus is ANYTHING BUT that.
Nice to see honest and insightful comments - must be dukies!
Greg might have dev. confidence at Steve Nash's camp, but I wasn't hearing too much defense, again.
I am very interested in what Nolan did at point! Scrapper?
Anyone know if G and LT gained some size?
Nolan, King, Jay Will, and Scheyer were playing together so Nolan didn't really get a chance to handle the ball too much. Either Jay Will or Scheyer brought the ball up the court. Nolan seems to be a Ben Gordan type combo guard. A good Duke comparison here is he's like a combination of Sean Dockery and Daniel Ewing. I think he'll be able to contribute immediately.
Gerald looked a little bigger but Lance hasn't added too much to his frame. This is the same thing we did to Shavlik and McRoberts, they were both 3's that we bulked up (and those two experiments didn't work out so well).
I say we bench Paulus and go with a starting lineup of Nolan, Gerald, Demarcus, Singler, and Lance. NOW THAT WOULD BE NASTY. Paulus can be a good role player coming off the bench along with Scheyer, Marty, King, etc...
Ironic your name is Rudy. Paulus turned down being the quarterback at Notre Dame so he could come off the BENCH for us? There is NO WAY Coach K ever benches Paulus.
thanks for the additional insights! Good to hear about Nolan. We'll see about LT bc he claims he wants to be more assertive offensively. Hopefully his frame can handle the ACC.
What if we did start Nolan, Gerald, Demarcus, Singler, and Lance? I think that's a super athletic group that would be menacing in transition. And if we're forced to play a half court game we could have Paulus, Scheyer, Gerald, Demarcus or Lance, and Zoubek in the game.
I think the starting lineup has to be Paulus, Scheyer, Gerald, Singler, and Zoubek. Coach K loves Paulus and Scheyer and the reality is that Coach isn't going to go fast. Demarcus, King, Nolan, etc... will come off the bench.
One thing for certain, Singler WILL start b4 AAC action. He just brings everyone up a level, and K loves seeing that.
Interesting line up, may be helpful against some teams, but tough against bigs like UNC and MD.
Who is going to guard Hansborough?
Lance? Zoubek? Singler? King?
i agree with rudy. maybe paulus will start at the beginning of the season, but if nolan keeps owning him (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuykAJopZMA&mode=related&search=), it will be apparant that not only is paulus a second rate point guard, but he is not the best point guard on he team
Nolan dunked on Paulus!
Nolan can really get up. I didn't realize he was THAT athletic. We all know that Paulus will be the starting point guard going into the season. And I find it hard to believe that Coach K would bench Paulus under ANY circumstance. But what if he decided to play Nolan and Paulus together? With Gerald at the 3, Singler at 4, and Lance at the 5. That lineup could be something special. And you'd have DEMARCUS and SCHEYER coming off the bench. If we do that, WE COULD WIN IT ALL!
I think Greg and John sharing point helped create that dual combo guard line up, as Greg and John can both shoot. It really sets Nolan up for success, bc he's been raved as a true combo guard since 10th grade.
Yeah I think G can guard Hansborough, lol..sorry couldnt help myself.
Dear Michael,
Do you know who Eric Maynor is? The guy who burned Paulus every single possession last year in the tournament? Watch that video Dan posted. Nolan was breaking down Paulus just as bad as Maynor was. We go no where if the opposing team's point guard can take it to the hoop whenever he wants.
Sadly we all know who Eric is, he also burned Jon at the Pan Am trials.
We've GOT to put Nolan or DeMarkie on ball pressure D.
Let's hope we get Elliot Williams who should be able to fill DeMarkie's spot next year.
Scheyer and Paulus are both garbage. Our backcourt should be Nolan and Gerald.
LMAO..easy killer. I'm most curious about that team chemistry thing, and (to earlier points) if K will in fact go deep in rotation.
GO DUKE!
We had some serious chemistry issues last year. That's for sure. I think at the end of the year we are all going to realize that McRoberts leaving is the best thing that could ever happen to Duke. When you struggle putting it together, maybe losing your best player is just the recipe for success a la the Ewing theory. We could surprise people next year.
Outstanding work Scrapper- please keep these pieces coming as we can't all be on campus to get this kind of info first hand.
The Scrapper has made a solid argument for us running this year. The problem? Coach K is as stubborn as they get. He doesn't know how to run, just like he doesn't know how to play zone.
Scrapper,
I've been a fan since the early posts (although my favorite was actually the NBA Finals Preview by the other guy) and I love all the videos you post. This post was awesome and I wish I could read more insider info like this about my favorite teams.
Great job Scrapper. Keep up the good work. Also great job DBR for picking this up. Essential read for all Duke fans.
John,
Why are you ripping on Coach K? I think Coach K will have us play whatever style maximizes our chances of winning. Do you think Coach K wants us to lose?
Because Coach K is the reason we lost the tournament last year. I can't count how many times that 4 corners offense in the last five minutes of the game cost us a win. The only person that lost us that VCU game last year is Coach K.
I'm a Duke fan but that is so true.
Shutup. Paulus' defense and Scheyer's shooting is what costed us that game. Coach K is an unbelievable coach to even have us make the tournament with the players we had after JJ ad Sheldon left.
The fact is Coach K is going to keep Paulus in the game and IS going to play a slow, drag it out half court game with a 6 or 7 man bench. Then you're going to play Carolina and Tywon's going to run you into the ground while Tyler demolishes Lance or Zoubek. GO HEELS. DUCK FOOK!
And you're reading an article about a Duke pickup game. Sounds like your scared.
Dear ignorant Carolina Fan,
Nolan Smith is quicker and much more athletic than Tywon. The question should be how is Tywon going to stop Nolan. And if you look back to last year's Duke-UNC game, you will remember just how effective Zoubek was against Hansborough. He was blocking Hansborough and taking it to him on the offensive end. Carolina's going down.
A Bold Prediction:
GERALD HENDERSON-NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
if gerald henderson can be all-acc that'll be good enough...
Nolan is a dunking machine
Eric Maynor is going to be a lottery pick
No he's not. Paulus makes everyone look good.
Can everyone stop taking shots at Paulus? Sure he might not be the quickest guard in the country but the guy is a 40% 3-point shooter and one of the best shooters in America. He also has all the intangibles and is a true leader (regardless of the sport).
Someone wrote an article about how Coach K was better suited to be an AD. He's become such a cultural icon that I think it's hindering him from putting his full effort towards Duke basketball. If we don't have a legitimate 9,10, or 11 man rotation this year I think Coach K will have proved to all of us that he isn't able to change his ways to do what is best for our team.
This is the lineup:
Paulus
Smith
Scheyer
Gerald
Demarcus
Ultimate small ball! Demarcus can play big and I read an article about how Kevin Love got in foul trouble and another member of his AAU team (NOLAN SMITH) shut down the other team's post player while he was out.
Anyone know if Paulus talks a lot of trash during real games?
From my understanding, Greg is ultra focussed on K and spreding his ideas to the team (no trash talking). I really think he was boosting his own confidence. I still think he''ll be needed for his passing is excellent, as are his 3s.
I really like how Scrapper has shown all sides of the truth. Nice job sir!
I look forward to Nolan, but not so sure about faster than Lawson, that kid's weakness is decision making, not speed (fast guy). But Zoubeck did hold hansborough down, and Tyler respected him. Should be fun this year if Zoubeck understands the game better.
K: well...i'll be humble here bc I;ve never won a D1 game. I guess he wants them to grow into whatever team they could be, but motion offense has got to be tough for underclassman to adopt out of high school. thoughts??
While I agree that this year's team is deep, perhaps the 2nd deepest in my memory, I don't think K will change his ways. We will still wind up with a 6 or 7 man team. BTW, the deepest team, and the only year I can recall K shifting to a 10-man rotation, was 1998. The reason: Simple -- he wanted to play his prior year's starters who had seniority (Langdon, Carawell, Price, McLeod, Wojo, Chappell, etc), but had such a superior class of freshmen whom he couldn't ignore (Brand, Avery, Battier, Burgess). And that, my friends, is the only formula for getting K to play a deep bench. So, yes, it could happen. But, the 3 incoming freshmen had better be head and shoulders above our existing guys.
"And that, my friends, is the only formula for getting K to play a deep bench."
Yes, sir, I believe you might be on to something.
If that is the case then. We have Scheyer, Paulus, Nelson, McClure, Henderson, and Thomas who would all get serious minutes based on last year. If only one of the others (Zoubek or Pocius) can earn some minutes, and maybe 2 of these new kids are really good, then we could get back to a 9-man rotation, which for Coach K, is about as deep as it gets.
Chris Carrawell a legend? Ok. If you say so.
Have fun with Brian Zoubek as your only post thread. Not only is he terrible but if he gets injured again during the season welcome to the NIT.
Oh, and please have Greg Paulus talk that smack to Greivis Vasquez this year. Please.
Chris Carrawell was ACC player of the year his senior season. That makes him a legend to me.
NIT or NCAA this year?
We're going to the final four baby!
Where are all you haters coming from? Did you guys link from somewhere other than Duke Basketball Report?
Man and I thought us Md fans were slightly delusional. Did you even watch your team play last season? Paulus and Scheyer might be the weakest backcourt defensively in ACC history. Good luck with that..
"Paulus and Scheyer might be the weakest backcourt defensively in ACC history."
That might be the most inaccurate statement in the history of speech. Who the hell is going to guard Nolan and Gerald when they get in? Singler and King? Demarcus?
What has Maryland done lately besides become a perennial NIT team?
Nothing. Maryland sucks. Grievas sucks, and Gary Williams sucks for letting his hometown superstar (KEVIN DURANT) get away from him.
How lame are you guys? Maryland fans reading AND posting on an article about a Duke pickup game. Get a life.
Your likely starting center, and only player taller than 6'8'' is Brian Zoubek! That is hysterical.
Remember when Dickie V was hyping Paulus as "The New Age Bob Cousy?" Haha, how's that workin out for you?
Dear Maryland fans,
Your not our rivals. We don't care about you. At all. Maryland is like Clemson to us. We're the Yankees of college basketball. Who are you?
Coack K is going to turn Singler into a post man - If he does I'm going to stop watching Duke bball.
Run the floor PLEASE
duke aint nuthin with out jj redick
why is everyone going off on coach k? he is the best coach in college ball! if this comments were posted by duke fans,thats messed up! stand up for your team!!!!!!!!!
Duke is rockin it this year.They are a lot better than i thought they would be.OH yeah hansbrough has nothin on Duke this year!and why are people who dont like Duke posting comments on this site,thats dumb,find somewhere else to post your comments!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.FIELD_MESSAGE_ercositvar.com/
Man, really want to know how can you be that smart, lol...great read, thanks.
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