First off, glad someone else started this thread, I wanted to yesterday but decided to let someone else do it cause I KNOW HOW MIKEY HATES DUKIE THREADS! LOL
Seriously, guys, to much of a good thing is just to much, it isn't good. This snagging Bolton IMO sets up a real problem for the dukies, it was going to be a challenge before Bolten but now building team chemistry is going to be harder. Right off the bat jeter needs to get his bags packed and start looking for himself a program he can play for because this getting Bolden just deminished him to deep deep bench at duke. Duke is now on the verge of re-branding itself as transfer U, they have already lost their one & only PG from that team and Jeter and Delaurier just lost huge PT. Neither committed to duke to sit the bench but unless serous injury hits the starters those 2 fellas are dealt out of the 2017 season.
K is going to cut his rotation down to his core 8 guys, K does not like to go deep in to his bench unless he is forced to, he believe his players play in to a games rythem, that playing to many players hurts the game rythem. Kinda of the opposite approach that Roy employs but we have seen many posters that do not like Roy playing such a deep bench, it is a trade off. But even Roy cuts down his rotation later season and in the post season. When K top grades down to his core 7or 8 several talented players will find little to no playing time. Those talented guys sitting on the bench did not commit to duke to sit on the bench guys.
Go back to the Fab 5, the original we can win it all with freshmen, yeah they were 5 talented guys but really, the Fab 5 was a Fab 3 with 2 other pretty good freshmen, those 3 dominated things. And the mix that the Fab 5 had was 2 nearly unstoppable big men and a very long and talented PG. They had the big strong guys that would out physical you on both ends in Webber and the long finess power forward that would shoot over you from distance if need be.
Look what duke has, no dominating big man inside the paint, Bolden is not bad but he isn't a game changer, not as a freshman. Actually jefferson may be more effective than Bolden because of his experience and defends pretty hard, could this make Bolden next years version of jeter?
Now you have Giles, forget about the knee issues, just from a him being 100% aspect, he is a scorer, he is some what in that Brandan Wright mold in that defense is not his area of speciality, he is on the slight build side for a power forward, he used to be able to get up really well but how much of that remains is TBD. But the main point is he is not Ochafor, Bolden is not Ochafor, they don't have an Ochafor, that big strong physical guy that out muscles opponents, they are finess guys. Tatum is the player folks, he is the Jamal Murry, he is the Winslow, he is the guy that should be the feature attraction but he really is not the jump shooter that say Parker was, he is more of a long wing that loves to drive & finish. Jackson is a heck of a talent but he is not a PG, he wil play a lot of PG and he isn't a great shooter either, he is a drive and finish type of guys as well. They have a lot of guys that are slasher types in that front and back court but not a ton of shooting and they just do not have a PG. Allen had the green light to shoot any time he wanted last season and was able to shoot himself in to a hot streak, he wil not be able to do that next season because the ball is going to have to end up with Tatum or Giles most often. Duke's best shooters will come off the bench in Kennard and Jones and both will see reduced PT, one may see extremely reduced PT, likely the sr Jones.
While yes, there is a lot of talent there, it is not balanced, they don't have a PG, their one & only PG just transferred out of the program so they have 2 guards playing the point. You guys know how important PG play is in the late season and in the post season. They won their last natty with 3 freshmen leading the way and one of those was a very quick and solid ball hander PG in Jones. They had the big physically strong center that could carve out his own space and finish in Ochafor, they don't have anything like that for next season, and they had the physically strong and yet solid ball handle wing that was also a outside shooting threat in Winslow and maybe Tatum can do some of that but very different than Winslow was physically. Giles, at his best is a silky smooth elevate over his defender mid range guy, kinda Brice like, recall brice as a freshman? he should be better than Brice was as a freshman but lets not assume he is NCAA 1st team either.
They have really talented individual players but as freshmen I don't see how it fits together right and this creates fertile ground of chemistry problems. Duke had chemistry problems last season, you don't see transfers and there not be chemistry problems guys. Jeter would be a fool to stay and Delaurier may be as well at this point.
But there could well be an even larger problem loomning for the dukies...
