JoeyB

With Jay Williams out for the season and perhaps finished for his brief NBA career, Duke has another former athlete with a disappointing pro career. Grant Hill is going to miss another season with another foot injury. The list of Blue Devils with great potential and little payoff is deep.

Bobby Hurley--also a traffic accident victim
Trajan Langdon
William Avery
Cherokee Parks


Can anyone come up with a strong case for a solid NBA player who played for Duke???

goddfather40

I know this may be hard to believe, but wasn't former Blue Devil Danny Ferry the first Duke player to EVER win an NBA title when he did it with the Spurs this year?

If so, then that is hard evidence of the how the NBA has treated Duke alumni.


Correction: Actually a guy named Jeff Mullins won an NBA with the Warriors in '75, so Ferry is the second Duke NBA champion.

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sixate

There's nothing wrong with Elton Brand..... Well, he is stuck playing for the Clippers at the moment.

GunslingerCold

Duke players have definately had problems in the nba. But I think people over look that most of Dukes stars get drafted early on and go to teams that are really bad. People expect them to turn franchises around and when it doesnt happen people think theyre not living up to their potential. Jay Williams got stuck on an awful Bulls team, Brands on the Clippers, Battier is on the Grizzlies. It is no surprise they dont win championships when there on those teams.

The_Dude

i hate duke.

thank god kansas gave 'em a good dose of ass-whopping durin the championship.

didnt jay williams leave as a jr?

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Reacharound

Carlos Boozer is decent, though he will never win a championship, I think part of the Duke players problems is that they are overrated, and drafted higher, then have to deal with more pressure. Also being drafted high means you are on a crappier team.

livingitup101

Laettner is another example of a guy who had a stellar NCAA career and has just bounced around the NBA. He may have been an all-star once or twice, but he's been on 4-5 teams.

Andrew

Tim Duncan was drafted #1 and won two. Jordan was #3.

For another Duke player, Grant Hill.

sweeze

hmm... overrated, dunleavy? no way

MSUPete

I hate the Dukies as much as the next guy but Battier hasn't been that horrible. He has potential to be a solid player. I just can't wait for Duke to come to the Breslin this year. We'll shut Dukie V. up.

Andrew

MSU rocks. No question about that. Turns out good pros, too.

Even though I do hate Duke, I like Coach K. Seems like a good guy.

Kurant

I dunno how Duncan and Jordan fit in with Duke, since one os from the Tarheels the other from Wake Forest. =/

DHS

Yes... but he graduated Duke a year early, he didn't just leave early before graduating like most...

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BigGov

Yea, Mateen Cleeves is just DOMINATING! (Sorry, too easy not to go for.)

The thing with Dukies, they just have bad luck. They have some nice young players in the NBA (Battier, Brand, etc.) but they're all stuck on horrid teams.

XcaliberZ

GS Warriors fan here, and I must say, Dunleavy was such a waste of a #3 pick. If only we had gotten Yao... :'(

BigGov

If you're judging rookies by only one year where they get limited playing time because of the coach, sure, yea, he was a waste.

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Rowlf

I think the problem with the Dukies is that they are just coached so damn well in college, and are taken to a level above what they're really capable of.

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Per Djoos (#44)

Dukies may dominate in college year in and year out, but they just don't have the killer instinct and selfish attitude that it takes to dominate in the pros. Coming from a team system, they don't have the ability to take over individually like you need in the pros.

BigGov

So you're saying all Europeans are horrible? Because Europeans are coached on a team system. But (here comes the name butchering) Stoyachovich, Nowitski, Sabonis, and Ginobli (if misspellings hurt, I think I would have just killed poor #16) have done very well. Other team players do very well also, Kidd, Garnett, Yao, and of course, David Robinson.

And could you elaborate on this 'killer instinct' and 'selfish attitude'? Because the only players I could think this really refers to are players like Allen Iverson and Antwan Walker. And those two aren't exactly the group someone wants to be in.

GunslingerCold

I think that being in a group with AI wouldnt be that bad. I dont know about needing a selfish attitude more than just wanting the ball when the games on the line but all great players of any sport have the killer instinct. Jordan was a great example of it in that he would make shots that put other teams away. Not just buzzer beaters but starting runs to put games out of reach and also stopping other teams from getting back in games by always being able to respond whenever they got anything going.

forseti-6

I think you have a really good point here. Duke plays such a team oriented game that it really is hard to get a good idea of how good a player is. I think the fact that Duke tries to recruit players that would end up fitting into the 'team' prevents some of the possible nba talent from going to duke.

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Kurant

The difference between Jordan and AI is Michael made EVERYONE around him better. Look how terrible Pippen is. AI doesn't do that. He can't do that. He's just not that type of player.

AI is probably the most exciting and prolific scorer in the game. I love his go-go-go attitude, he hustles on every play, he plays injured, he plays sick. He does it all. He isn't a team player, but, I enjoy watching him. He's exciting, and just one hell of a player.

There isn't one new Euro-player that's proven anything to me, cept Gionobli. However, It's quite obvious Nowitzki can't play defense. When he can't score he still cant stop anyone. Like Rome and Kornheiser say, he's only as good as he is because he's 7 foot tall.

pmb145

Brand and Hill are probably the two best players from Duke. I think people forget just how good Hill was. His Injury might end his career but I will never forget how awesome he was to watch.

Also, I think it is way to early to give up on Dunleavy. He is lighting it up in the summer leagues.

Mondak

I love watching Duke players fail. I have to say that I wish they would fail more in college.

Couch K is a douche. I hate him and I don't think he prepares his kids to play in the NBA in any way. I don't know why recruits keep going there.

sportsrule101

Coach K. prepares them for life. So when they don't pan out as most players do. They can still live a normal life with a good job. The recruits will continue to come, till they start to lose year in and year out

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JoeyB

I don't think anyone has forgotten how good Hill was, but the key is......it's how he good he WAS. He's now better known for his disappointing career with Orlando. He hasn't had a healthy season since he left Detroit and if I remember correctly, he was injured in his final season with the Pistons.

As for Dunleavy, nobody is giving up on him or Maggette or Brand or any of those players. Right now, none of them have established themselves as marquee players. Brand is close--but when you list the great NBA players, his name is rarely mentioned.

No question, Coach K runs a relatively clean program and is generally successful...I just haven't seen any sign of that success in the National....Basketball....Association.

Brian Fellows

It's crazy to see how many have come to the NBA with such high expectations to come in and have such little success.

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edmos1

if the statement is that all these great NCAA players from Duke suck, is it true that Coach K has an amazing program?