Player Javin DeLaurier

[childress22]

I thought he looked fine minus the first-1/8-of-the-game-or so-jitters. He'll play 25 mpg easy.

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

I think there’s been a lot of focus on Bolden’s offseason development and whether he can ever take a leap, whereas there’s generally been little discussion on DeLaurier, who I think is potentially developing into a very effective college big. A great garbageman is exactly what we need out of his position, as usual. I see three obstacles to him being truly elite in this role:

1. Still jumpy on defense/highly foul prone: Usually improves with age/experience

2. Defensive rebounding: Last year he was 18.7% playing 28% of the team’s minutes. Duke will never be a good defensive rebounding team based on their defensive style. Only twice has Duke finished in the top 150 in this category since 2007 (interestingly, this was 2010 and 2015, when they were in the 120s in each case). Duke was bad at this last year, finishing #236 despite Bagley and Carter being 21.3% and 23.1%, respectively, both of which are good numbers. Some of that was likely the zone but a lot of it was likely Duke getting really poor defensive rebounding out of the 1-3 positions, which feels inexcusable given the athletes they had there. Even if Duke does much better at the 1-3 this year, and the combination of greater height and Tre Jones’ reputation as a good rebounder suggests they should, they’re going to need DeLaurier/Bolden and Zion to equal or come very close to what Bagley and Carter were doing last year here. So that 18.7% from DeLaurier needs to go up a few points unless Zion is a nationally elite defensive rebounder. And Bolden was only at 18.0%. BTW, in his time last year, DeLaurier was a nationally elite OFFENSIVE rebounder at 15%, which would have put him in the top 15 nationally had he played the minutes to qualify. Bolden was at 11.9% on offense, which is fine but not special for someone at his position/size.

3. FT shooting: 55% last year on only 38 attempts. But his form feels much worse than Bolden/Zion. He may be unplayable in foul situations.

I get that the advantages of Bolden are a bit harder to quantify using individual stats (shot altering ability due to standing reach, ability to hedge, etc). I’ll be interested to see the +/- for Bolden and the four freshmen versus DeLaurier and the four freshman.

 

[rome8180]

I said this in another thread, but I think Javin fits better in a switch-everything defensive scheme. I also think he fits better if we want to play uptempo at all. We SHOULD want to play uptempo, but we'll probably settle into a nationally average tempo like always (mostly due to bad defensive rebounding, inability to force turnovers, and poor transition defense).

 

[torontoduke]

His quickness is such an asset on D, which makes him one of the more effective players on a switch. As shav has said in his above post (and IIRC elsewhere in this thread), he must channel all of that energy more effectively on both ends of the floor.

 

[Slap the Floor]

He just needs to avoid foul trouble. I really don't give a fuck what he does offensively, as long as he's not turning it over, all he needs to do is dunk and put in offensive putbacks. The 4 freshman are more than talented enough to score and score efficiently even with a non-weapon like Javin out there. He's very valuable defensively and will help keep Zion fresh by keeping him off of defending 5's.

I want to see a lot of White and DeLaurier, both are very different but both can compliment the freshman very, very well.

 

[Whitefolk]

Javin has more missed dunk attempts than a McDonald's all American girl in the dunk contest. If he could have made half his missed dunk attempts last season he would have averaged 10 more points a game. I'd just like to see him become a really good weakside defender and up his rebounding numbers.

 

[LastHearth]

Casey Sanders also had the same problem with missed dunks, it seems some guys have great athleticism but horrible hand eye coordination.

 

[aiw]

As far as Casey Sanders is concerned, you can't dunk it if you don't catch it.

 

[rome8180]

Did Javin have more dunks or travels last year?

 

[torontoduke]

Horrific junior season debut. Must stop with the personal fouls.

However - don't give up on him yet, D-F.

 

[Slap the Floor]

Did Javin have more dunks or travels last year?

This being the last post in this thread until it was just bumped by @torontoduke is comedic gold considering Javin's vomit inducing walk in the Kentucky game.

 

[Pantone287]

Did he just start playing the game within the last few years or something? Nothing about his approach to receiving a basketball in his hands indicates that is an event that has ever happened before, or that he has any clue what to do with it next.

It honestly reminds me of playing pickup with idiots who think they're "athletes" because they played football or something but have no clue how to conduct themselves on a basketball court. Even that out-of-control, straight-legged, leaning-forward way he runs while (hopefully at least) dribbling is so straight out of 3rd-grade recess.

 

[torontoduke]

He just cannot gear down to make a clean catch then a basketball move. On D, he reaches a lot, I still like his motor and potential...but he must get under control.

 

[niveklaen]

I think that today's Javin is more like what we were hoping to see this year - hope that he keeps it up.

 

[torontoduke]

Nice to see him contribute in multiple areas

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

Relative to my own expectations, he's been my biggest disappointment. I really thought he'd end up playing 25-30mpg as an elite college 5 garbageman.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

I don't know how you improve someone's hands or hand-eye coordination. Duke should look into this with Javin, because if he were to somehow cut down his turnover rate from 32%, which is one of the worst numbers I've ever seen on any level of any sport, to something like 20%, his production would be objectively great for his role. Rebounding is great, shotblocking is fine, high steal rate is indicative of a big with good positioning and his hands everywhere, even his FT shooting has been good for a center this season. He has taken only dunks and layups besides one 3, which I assume was either a joke/dare or an end-of-half heave. There has to be a way to get his hands and hand-eye coordination better.

 

[torontoduke]

Martial arts for improvements in hand-eye coordination

 

[rome8180]

He also should tell the refs to stop calling him for fouls every time he's in the vicinity of a basketball.

Maybe Bolden's defensive positioning really is better, but it seems like Bolden gets away with a lot of physicality that Javin would be ejected from the game or just outright banned from the sport for.

 

[Topher]

The best thing for him might be to gain 20 pounds so refs will see him as a big lumbering oaf and less likely to call fouls every time he grazes someone else.