|
I caught the quasi-open practice on Thursday afternoon.
Watzone of DBR
did a nice job in covering the general aspects of the practice, so I'll just
get into specifics. There were three 12 minute scrimmages after some
initial stretching and 2-on-2 drills that got everyone warmed up.
The White team in each case had a clear upper hand, with Shavlik
Randolph, Shelden Williams and JJ Redick playing on that squad in each of
the three scrimmages. Despite that size handicap, the Blue team was
competitive in the first two games, as Chris Collins kept his charges fired
up the entire time. The games were being called by ACC refs, and the calls
were very realistic.
The first game had Williams, Randolph, Redick, Lee Melchionni and Daniel
Ewing (with Dave McClure coming off the bench), while the Blue team featured
Sean Dockery, DeMarcus "Markie" Nelson, Reggie Love, Joe Pagliucca and
Patrick Johnson. In the early going, the defense was way ahead of the
offense for both teams. Both squads were aggressively playing passing lanes
and challenging drives to the basket, but to be honest both offenses made
some questionable decisions. Shav Randolph in particular did a fine job,
taking several charges over the course of the practice, simply by being in
the right place at the right time. He was certainly aided by too much
one-on-play with players trying to bull their way to the hoop.
Patrick Johnson actually scored over Shelden on a nice fadeaway jumper,
but Shel took it too him at the other end, scoring on face-ups. For the
Blue team, one could see the absolutely relentless nature of Nelson. He's
going to put a lot of pressure on defenses because he simply will not go
away and is very confident. In the early going, he drove hard to the basket
but couldn't quite finish, missed again on a drive, then missed a 15'
jumper, then missed on a stickback attempt. After being fouled on that
shot, he hit both free throws and it seemed to energize him. He nailed
back-to-back threes that single-handedly kept his team in the game.
However, the White team warmed up a bit, with Redick and Ewing hitting
threes after slow starts, Shelden scoring on a post-up and Redick sinking 2
game-clinching foul shots. This first game was by far the least impressive of the
three scrimmages. The players were still struggling between the
one-on-one methods from pick-up games and trying to incorporate what
Coach K was saying. K actually interrupted play only a few times, preferring
to take notes and see what they were doing at this point rather than doing a
lot of teaching today.
Game 2 featured Williams,
Randolph,
Redick, Nelson and Dockery for the White team and Johnson, McClure,
Melchionni, Ewing and Tom Novick for the Blue. JJ opened things up by
aggressively scoring on a drive. The reports that he's dropped some weight
are accurate, and he looks a little lighter on his feet as a result. Nelson
rebounded a missed shot by Shav, went up strong, scored and was fouled.
Dave McClure showed off a little hoop savvy by driving to the basket,
drawing his defender away, and then dishing to a cutting Johnson for an easy
score. Later in the game, he drove, stutter-stepped, and then sank a 15'
jumper.
The game proved to be a scoring duel between Redick and Melchionni.
Interestingly, sharpshooter JJ did most of his damage driving to the hoop.
He scored on 2 drives, a floater (a new weapon) and and 4 points from the
foul line. After getting hit in the throat, he recovered to nail a three
down the stretch that put his team up for good at 22-20, and then hit the
game-clinching free throws. Melchionni hit 3 three point bombs and a couple
of free throws. One could see how fired-up JJ was getting after a somewhat
sluggish start to the day.
Game three had a White lineup of Williams, Randolph, Redick, Nelson and
Ewing, while Blue featured Johnson, Love, McClure, Novick and Dockery. The
Blue team was outgunned from the start, though they stuck around for a few
minutes. Shav really warmed up, getting a three point play and a stickback.
Ewing
hit a couple of threes, Williams displayed his left-handed hook, and Nelson
continued to attack the basket. The play of the game came after Redick was
fouled attempting a three. He missed 2 of the 3 attempts, but Williams
grabbed the rebound and pitched it back to Redick. JJ spotted up from where
he got the ball and nailed a 23' jumper that turned the game into a runaway
for White, who won 39-14.
Some individual comments:
** Williams: Quietly dominating. He's added a lot more low-post
scoring moves to his arsenal, including a quicker turn-around jumper and
left & right handed hooks. He gave up one score, but was otherwise tough to
deal with on the defensive end. Avoided fouls, for the most part.
** Randolph: Very active, even if he didn't finish as well as he
could have. Still working on his touch around the basket, missing a few
tap-ins. Had one dunk on a beautiful Dockery feed. Excellent defense
throughout, though he did manage to pick up too many ticky-tack fouls. Best
shotblocker on the floor today, also best offensive rebounder.
**
Ewing:
Handled the ball a lot. Didn't penetrate a lot but did some nice passing,
feeding Williams on one play. Hit 4 threes, and could have taken a lot more
shots. Spent a lot of time guarding Dockery and did a nice job of
neutralizing his speed.
** Redick: Very good day overall. After a slow start, he hit every
big shot imaginable. His drives were surprisingly quick, and that floater
of his could help prevent him from committing charges. One nice play came
when he missed a three and Shav got the offensive board and passed it back
out to JJ. He could have taken a shot, but his defender was rushing towards
him, so he simply swung it over to Ewing, who nailed the three. He really
looks ready to go.
** Dockery: Sean didn't try to do too much, and hit a couple of
open threes. His stroke looked a lot smoother, but he didn't try to shoot
too much. There were occasions when he went a little too deep into the
defense without a plan, and it hurt him.
** Nelson: Scoring machine. If he doesn't average in double
figures this year, I will be shocked. That young man keeps coming at you
and he never gets tired. He will need to look for his teammates a little
more and exploit his matchups a little better. He should be able to find
his teammates whenever his man rushes up to take a charge. Most impressive
play was a block shot and rebound that triggered a break that he finished.
He will need how to bust through screens to play truly effective defense.
Markie is both quick and strong, a combo that will give Duke an advantage
over many foes.
** Melchionni: Shot the ball extremely well. If he can continue to
do this, he'll get minutes. Still a step slow on defense. A good utility
player who will offer another long-range threat.
** McClure: A fundamentally sound player who understands the
game well. He is very, very thin and this makes it difficult for him to play
down low. However, his on-court savvy is remarkable for such a young
player at both ends of the floor. He was able to feed Patrick Johnson
a few times for easy scores. He missed every three that he attempted,
but his 15' jumper was money.
** Love: Very active defensively and on the boards, but looked lost
at times in the offense. Threw the ball away a couple of times and
missed a few screening assignments. He did sink a 15' jumper, however.
His rebounding could really help the team.
** Johnson: A no-frills performance, just doing what he had to do.
Scored nicely on the feeds from McClure, but bungled a perfectly thrown pass
to him. If Shav & Shelden ever get in deep foul trouble simultaneously,
Johnson will be used for a minute or two as insurance.
Rob's Archive
|
