rome8180
Legend
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2012
- Messages
- 52,165
I don't think it was 2015 being so recent. I think it was who was returning and what was being added to that. Grayson Allen was coming off one of the best individual season in Duke guard history. Amile Jefferson was returning as a 5th year senior after having been a very solid defender and scorer for us 2013-2015. Matt Jones was a limited player, sure, but he was a good defender and shooter. Luke Kennard had shown promise his freshman year. Despite not being able to make open threes, he still had posted stellar efficiency (123 offensive rating) due to his ability to make shots inside the arc, draw FTs, and not turn the ball over.
A team of just those four with a single other competent player could have been a middle-of-the-pack ACC team. But then you were adding Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles, Marques Bolden, and Frank Jackson to the mix. Giles had been the #1 prospect in the class pre-injury and was supposed to be a Kevin Garnett type. I watched several of Tatum's high school games and was blown away. I remember in one, he pushed the ball in transition on every play and drew 20 FTs and made something like 19 of them.
But then Allen struggled to fit into his new role, Giles amounted to nothing, Tatum took several months to reach his potential, and Matt Jones' 3pt percentage fell from 41% to 34%. Only Amile and Luke really lived up to or surpassed expectations.
A team of just those four with a single other competent player could have been a middle-of-the-pack ACC team. But then you were adding Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles, Marques Bolden, and Frank Jackson to the mix. Giles had been the #1 prospect in the class pre-injury and was supposed to be a Kevin Garnett type. I watched several of Tatum's high school games and was blown away. I remember in one, he pushed the ball in transition on every play and drew 20 FTs and made something like 19 of them.
But then Allen struggled to fit into his new role, Giles amounted to nothing, Tatum took several months to reach his potential, and Matt Jones' 3pt percentage fell from 41% to 34%. Only Amile and Luke really lived up to or surpassed expectations.