Open Letter To Derryck Thornton & Chase Jeter

[gunslingerdick]

I started a fan club for "Bail Out" Dawkins and was one of his biggest supporters. The kid left Duke with mental problems. I remember very vividly that K forced him to take the redshirt. No doubt that he was distraught because of his sister's death, but the extent of his mental problems go far beyond his sister's death. Sad stuff....

Look, I like bashing K as much as the next guy. But unless you lost a sibling at the age of 18, then I'm not sure you're qualified to determine the extent of the anguish that Dawkins suffered. And I also don't think it's fair to make the assertion that K beat Dawkins down in the wake of his sister's death. It was probably a situation that K had never been faced with and he might have done some things wrong. But I won't put that on him.

In regards to the way he got Dawkins to come early, I believe K manipulated the situation.

 

[dadecodevil]

Cane, Quinn Cook and Nolan Smith came in with their regular classes. Big difference. Thornton and "Bail-Out" Dawkins sacrificed their final year in high school to bail K out. K forced Alex "Can't Miss" Murphy to redshirt. Murphy redshirts and then transfers. Murphy was the first 5-star recruit ever to be redshirted. Now, everyone knows Thornton is not going to start next year. Frank Jackson is a stud! It would be one thing if Thornton would have joined Duke in his regular class, but K convinced him to come in one year early to in order to convince Ingram to sign-on.

Bottom line, something does not compute when you consider the list of Duke transfers as follows below. I may have missed some.There was one kid that transferred to a school out west a few years ago that I know is missing from the list.

The situation speaks for itself. Look at this list of Duke transfers. K also has a lot of redshirts.

McCaffery
Beard
Burgess
Thompson
Sweet
Boykin
Boateng
Chappelle
King
E. Williams
Czyz
Murphy
Gbinije
Suliamon

Playing for K isn't easy. Some kids are not built for his approach. I played small school ball for a coach with a similar style, but with different issues. I quit. Life goes on. Some kids do not want to play for a drill sergeant. I get that too. Thornton's issue is his dad, he doesn't like how DT was used this year and couldn't come up with anything positive to say about his son after we got the win in Chapel Hill. That's not K's fault. we need Thornton next year, Jackson isn't a point guard and will not run our offense, if anything he will be competing with Kennard for minutes.

 

[HeelFan58]

Playing for K isn't easy. Some kids are not built for his approach. I played small school ball for a coach with a similar style, but with different issues. I quit. Life goes on. Some kids do not want to play for a drill sergeant. I get that too. Thornton's issue is his dad, he doesn't like how DT was used this year and couldn't come up with anything positive to say about his son after we got the win in Chapel Hill. That's not K's fault. we need Thornton next year, Jackson isn't a point guard and will not run our offense, if anything he will be competing with Kennard for minutes.

Not interested in other parts of this thread , but Jackson is listed as a PG by 247 , Rivals and Scout.

 

[DevilBlue]

I will openly admit Duke has had a high number of transfers. GSD I think listed most if not all of them. Honestly, most of them I feel are a product of Ks system. He likes to put his best 5 on the court and generally goes 3 deep on the bench. There are exceptions, but not many. Is this a bad system...no. Does is mean that there may be players who aren't ready year 1 they way people may have hyped them to be and when they aren't quite ready for college level they get frustrated and walk sure. In a game where any year you can lose 40+ percent to guys leaving early K has started going much harder for larger classes and you compete. I don't think anyone here has an issue with playing the best player at a position. Now I get Roy before him Dean, did tend to reward upperclassmen as well as go deeper on the bench. I also remember that not everyone was happy with this system and felt they may have missed on a few guys who might have come but wanted to start right away. Theres nothing wrong with this system as obviously both ran HOF careers around it. What I don't get is this idea that K "promised" anyone then just screwed him over. I don't doubt that K said "this is where we see you in our system" and there are guys who weren't ready the way the plan was. Happens all the time that recruiting sites hype guys or guys are rated high on long term potential but it goes to their heads. If this is just UNC fans sounding off on their board...cool its a UNC board. I just ask does anyone have more than just "I think this happened"

Also for the record, I agree with GSD on Dawkins. Kid was insanely upset after as he should be. K has said he really relaxed and gave him a lot of space and Dawkins and his father have said it might not have helped but they also said there was no "right way" to handle it. That K made it clear he supported Dawkins 100%. Clearly a very emotional and complex situation that can just go wrong in so many ways not matter how you handle it.

 

[gunslingerdick]

. Some kids do not want to play for a drill sergeant. .

Or a narcissistic asshole.

 

[Steat]

Look, I like bashing K as much as the next guy. But unless you lost a sibling at the age of 18, then I'm not sure you're qualified to determine the extent of the anguish that Dawkins suffered. And I also don't think it's fair to make the assertion that K beat Dawkins down in the wake of his sister's death. It was probably a situation that K had never been faced with and he might have done some things wrong. But I won't put that on him.

In regards to the way he got Dawkins to come early, I believe K manipulated the situation.

Gun, I lost a sibling when my mom had a still born child when I was 14 years old. Does that qualify? Could disclose some other tragic things that have happen in my family but what's the point? Please be careful about butting into conversations not involving you. I'll leave it at that.

 

[gunslingerdick]

Gun, I lost a sibling when my mom had a still born child when I was 14 years old. Does that quality? Could disclose some other tragic things that have happen in my family but what's the point? Please be careful about butting into conversations not involving you. I'll leave it at that.

I'm sorry that happened to your family. But I'm still not sure you're capable of making a judgement on how badly Dawkins losing his sister effected him. Secondly, you're attempting to demonize K for his handling of a very difficult situation when frankly, you have no idea how that went down.

Lastly, I'll remind you that this is a message board. And anything posted here involves me if I want it to.

 

[Steat]

I'm sorry that happened to your family. But I'm still not sure you're capable of making a judgement on how badly Dawkins losing his sister effected him. Secondly, you're attempting to demonize K for his handling of a very difficult situation when frankly, you have no idea how that went down.

Lastly, I'll remind you that this is a message board. And anything posted here involves me if I want it to.

I will continue to demonize K until he retires. I'm a mean man....

 

[DevilBlue]

I will continue to demonize K until he retires. I'm a mean man....

Are you saying you will stop when he retires?

 

[Ozheelfan]

Are you saying you will stop when he retires?

Good point.
We should never stop.

 

[Steat]

Are you saying you will stop when he retires?

Let me see.

Okay, I think I will go with that great quote by Scarlett O'Hara in the final scene of the greatest movie ever "Gone With The Wind".... Rhett Butler told Scarlett that he was leaving her and Scarlett said " What will I do and where will I go"?.....Rhett Butler said.."Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn ".......and Scarlett shot back....

"I'll think about that tomorrow"

 

[32TheEnigma]

The sad part is both would have really thrived in Roy's system. Jeter would have better footwork and balance in the post by now and had Thornton come out when he was supposed to in 2016 he would be coming in next season as an understudy to JB and would be looking to take the torch from him after 2017. Guys need to start looking at the long term plan, as opposed to coming in for a season. Under K, if that first season doesn't work out, you are essentially going to be a role player from then on.

 

[DevilBlue]

The sad part is both would have really thrived in Roy's system. Jeter would have better footwork and balance in the post by now and had Thornton come out when he was supposed to in 2016 he would be coming in next season as an understudy to JB and would be looking to take the torch from him after 2017. Guys need to start looking at the long term plan, as opposed to coming in for a season. Under K, if that first season doesn't work out, you are essentially going to be a role player from then on.

Nolan Smith, Quinn Cook....neither of them were role players by the time they finished. Some people stick around and do the same, some stick around and get better, some go other places. Its how it works. Are you implying Jeter would have come in and taken minutes from Hicks, Meeks, or BJ?