Agree 100%, everyone has been evaluating play from the first game and I haven't seen much mention of Amile. There is such high expectations of him this year, not necessarily statistically, but I hope he really drives the energy of the team. I was just commenting that he actually didn't play very well. In a whole, our post play was pretty poor other than Bolden. I expect this friday to be different.
***EXHIBITION GAME - DUKE VS. VIRGINIA STATE***
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Amile needs to take the 15 footer. We know he can be an effective slasher. If he won't take the open short jump shot, it allows the defense to play off of him. I watched the entire game and I thought he was very active, just not much at the offensive end.
What I meant was that Amile and Matt are seniors that provide things that don't necessarily show up in the box score and if their minutes are down then we are really good. Amile is different than Matt - I was just trying to point to a guy who I think does things similar to what Matt does (defense, hustle plays, extra pass, ....). I think Amile is the MVP of this team (don't read that as most talented player) and I think Matt is solidly in the top 5. I would love to see both of them lose minutes to younger/more talented guys because I think it means were are freaky good.
All I'm saying is that I believe that some are grossly under valuing what Matt and Amile are bringing to the table. Would we have won a championship a couple years ago without a Quinn Cook or Matt Jones or Amile Jefferson? 2/3 are still playing for us. Quinn wasn't drafted and is doing everything he can to stick on an NBA roster. Again it is not always about the 5 biggest ceilings getting the most time, it's the combination of guys that bring the most complete package.
I am of the opinion that 5 one and done's will never win a championship. It takes a nice mix of young and seasoned to get through the grind, to keep pushing forward and to be a complete team come March.
I am of the opinion that 5 one and done's will never win a championship. It takes a nice mix of young and seasoned to get through the grind, to keep pushing forward and to be a complete team come March.
Only got to see a couple minutes of the game (family visiting), but I'm pumped for the season.
OFC
OFC
I get what you're saying, but where Matt gives the qualities you listed, he is also an adept 3 point shooter, especially when healthy and when he's not the main focus of the defense.
And even though he didn't show much on offense against VSU, Amile is actually a very crafty secondary interior scorer. He works well off of other post post players and he plays the high low well. He's also going to be bringing the ball up some as a point forward to allow our perimeter scorers to operate unimpeded.
So if the guys who have better physical talents can also bring those qualities, then damn yeah just give us the trophy now. But the chances of that happening is highly unlikely. But I do love your optimism.
I see you. I think the post suffered because Amile was not active on O and we had trouble feeding Marques in spots to score. I don't expect Chase, Javin or Vrank to offer much in the way of post scoring this season, so to call the post play poor is to say a fat guy is slow. It is what it is. Amile, Marques and hopefully Harry will be who attributes most of our paints in the lane. Three guys responsible for clean up and occasionally actually getting feeds from the perimeter or drives will be more than enough with the scoring power on our perimeter.
If the team looks rusty now I'm perfectly fine with that. Championships will be won in March and April; in the past we've criticized the team for peaking too early. If this team looks off early but shows clear and obvious profession over the course of the year I'm okay with that. As others have mentioned, two of their best players were out and they still romped.
My "way too early" all healthy starting lineup would be Frank, Grayson, Jayson, Amile and Harry. My rotation would also include Luke, Matt and Marques. Chase and Javin would likely appear more early in the year as our guys are regaining health but would only play spot minutes later in the year unless their was foul trouble or a unique set of circumstances. My starting 5 may also change if players are showing that they play better with a certain combo of players.
I agree with Show, but I feel like he won't. I would think that our lineup would be Grayson, Matt, Jayson, Amile, and Marques. I think it changes when Giles is back healthy and Amile moves to the center spot, but I think that Kennard will have that Scheyer-like 6th man role this season which others have touched on. In the end it will be dictated by results, so I don't care one bit if I'm wrong as long as we are winning, haha.
I am with you on that, although I do think a healthy Matt does start the year out over him. I think Luke will be starting at some point and more importantly he'll be playing a ton of minutes (more than Matt and Frank) each game. But he's too good to keep off the floor.
I personally think frank and Luke are just too good to keep off the floor. Don't like Matt or Grayson running and guarding point. Need frank to get through his growing pains early in the season similar to the 15 team. I think Luke and or frank need to be on the court vs good teams. They have the best handle and ability to beat pressure, and frank may be only one able to guard a good pg. You know Grayson is going to get his minutes and Matt imho would back up the 2-3.
Ultimately that's our best option IMO as well. Right now Luke is our best point guard. I think we'll see Frank and Matt acting in that role as well in November and December and from there we should be transitioning to Luke and Frank exclusively. Grayson is best on weak side attacks and spot ups. Jayson can create his own shot better than everyone else on the team so the shots at that spot are taken care of. The biggest thing will be passing IQ and that will come with experience. Not every team will press and that part can be solved as well.
In terms of defense, you don't have to play PG to guard PG and with the size we have on the perimeter, those parts can interchange. We are really set up this season to cover all bases.
Yeah I mean I think Matt starts the season but Luke is going to play the most minutes and be the best option. I also said that I think Luke will eventually start, not sure where we missed each other there.
We're on same page, I just put frank in the same category as our opinion of Luke.
Ahh gotcha. I think it will take frank a little bit to be as consistent as I think Luke will be this year. Frank is an exceptional talent though and will play a ton all year. Playing him with someone steady like Matt might be helpful for his development.
Agree frank will have some growing pains at point, but playing with Matt I think he'll have to do too much. With Luke Grayson and Tatum on the wings he won't have to be the creator all the time.
Right but that will still be the case even when he's with Matt- Tatum and one of Luke or Grayson will most likely be on the floor also.
I'll be back Friday, @dukiehokie you have my word!
Dropping the ball as usual Matt? Haha...I guess you should get a pass with the Cubs winning it all...