Tag Archives: Chris Duhon

VOTE NOW: The Chronicle All-Decade Team

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Over the last two weeks, we’ve had our say at The Chronicle naming Duke’s All-Decade Teams. We started with an overall men’s basketball team and went everywhere from naming the  Top Villans, Top Individual Seasons, All-NBA Team, All-Disappointment Team, Duke Stories of the Decade (Part I, Part II), Top Clutch Performances, All-Shooters Team, All-Defensive Team, to the Best and Worst Hires of the Decade.

Now it’s your turn. Help us name The Chronicle’s All-Decade Team for Duke Men’s Basketball. On the poll below, select five names (or even add your own, if that suits your style). And if you see something ridiculous in the results, feel free to let everyone know with the comments.

Part IX: All-Defense Team

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This is the ninth in a series of Duke’s All-Decade teams, as named by various Chronicle writers, past and present. At the end of the series, you will be able to vote for your own All-Decade team, and your votes will determine The Sports Blog’s final choice. Stay tuned over the next two weeks for more All-Decade choices.

Boasting seven National Defensive players of the Year during the Mike Krzyzewski era—three in the past decade alone—Duke’s calling card has long been its floor-slapping, charge-taking defense. It would be remiss to complete such a slate of all-decade teams without honoring those whose contributions often fly under the radar statistically but are largely responsible for the Blue Devils’ current ten-year run, earning the highest winning percentage in their history.

Here’s the decade’s All-Defensive Team:

Shane Battier, 1997-2001

Even though Battier effectively split his defensive heroics between the 90’s and the 00’s, earning his third consecutive NABC Defensive Player of the Year honor in 2001 gets him a spot on this team. Also, he recently was honored with a spot on both the ACC 50th Anniversary and SI.com all-decade teams. At 6-foot-8, he could guard just as well on the perimeter as in the paint, emphasized by the 285 rebounds, 88 blocks and 82 steals he recorded in his senior year alone.

Chris Duhon, 2000-2004

While Duhon endured a bevy of harsh criticism throughout his career, he was undoubtedly Duke’s best pure perimeter defender of the early part of the decade. He averaged over two steals per game in three of his four seasons (only 1.9 in the fourth) and left as Duke’s all-time steals leader with 300. Duhon was a freshman during the Blue Devils’ most recent national title run in 2000-2001, and led the team at the end of the regular season with five-steal performances in two games against Maryland and one versus North Carolina. Continue reading →

Part IV: All-NBA Team

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This is the fourth in a series of Duke’s All-Decade teams, as named by various Chronicle writers, past and present. At the end of the series, you will be able to vote for your own All-Decade team, and your votes will determine The Sports Blog’s final choice. Stay tuned over the next two weeks for more All-Decade choices.

The apparent struggles of some of the most successful and highly drafted Blue Devils at the NBA level (see: Redick, J.J. and Williams, Shelden) have provided consistent fodder for Duke haters over the past decade, but the stats don’t always support these naysayers. In fact, at the start of the 2009 season, Duke had 14 players on NBA rosters, the most of any ACC team. With that in mind, The Chronicle presents Duke’s All-NBA team:

G: Luol Deng (2003-2004)

Many have speculated (and continue to do so) that Deng’s decision to leave Duke after one year led to Coach K’s apparent aversion to recruiting possible “one-and-done” players. Still, no one can argue that Deng hasn’t been as dazzling an offensive player at the NBA level as he was in his one season in Durham. Deng has averaged double-digit scoring outputs every year of his NBA career, including a career high 18.8 in the 2006-2007 campaign. Most tellingly, though, it was apparently Deng’s consistent production and potential (the guard is still only 24 years old) that allowed the Bulls to let another talented guard, Ben Gordon, leave during free agency this past offseason.

G: Shane Battier (1997-2001)

Battier doesn’t make this team for his statistics, but rather for his intangibles. Despite averaging more than 13 points per game during his Duke career, Battier has averaged just under 10 points per game during his NBA career and has averaged double-digit scoring totals only thrice. However, Battier was dubbed the “No-Stats All-Star” by the New York Times because his defensive prowess has just as much game-changing ability as a 40-point scoring performance. Battier’s defensive assignment is almost invariably his opponent’s best perimeter scorer, and in turn he has made a living shutting those players down. Just ask Kobe Bryant what its like to be guarded by this former Blue Devil and it will be clear why he deserves a spot on this team.

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Telling The Story: Scheyer As ACC Player of the Year?

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Two years ago, after Pittsburgh beat Duke on a last-second 3-pointer in Madison Square Garden, The Big Lead got on his soapbox and singled out Jon Scheyer, calling him “unquestionably, an awful college basketball player…. Offensively, after last night’s dreadful 1-for-10 shooting performance, one cannot begin to imagine the thought process that  Scheyer uses when he is in possession of the basketball.” A patently absurd statement in 2007, it rings even flatter almost exactly two years later, when the New York City media left the Garden singing Scheyer’s praises in their stories about Duke’s throttling of Gonzaga.

Sports Illustrated’s Luke Winn focused his attention on Scheyer — who scored 20 points and dished out eight assists to just two turnovers — calling the guard not just an All-American candidate, but the new frontrunner for the ACC Player of the Year.

Sounds crazy, at first. Jon Scheyer, ACC Player of the Year? Well, Scheyer is third in the league in scoring, buoyed by a 36-point outburst against Gardner-Webb Tuesday. Plus, there is no  dominant player as in years past, and if Duke does enough to win the conference, it seems likely that Scheyer, Kyle Singler or Nolan  Smith would nab the honors. Take it away, Mr. Winn:

It feels strange saying those things about the Duke senior who had, up until recently, always been thought of as a complementary player. I imagine a large number of non-Duke fans will begin drafting angry e-mails immediately after seeing “Scheyer” and “ACC Player of the Year” in the same sentence, and not even read the rest of this article. But in this case the numbers back up the argument.

Scheyer played his standard, tidy game against the Zags, scoring 20 points while dishing out eight assists against just two turnovers — and his season assist-to-turnover ratio actually went down. He entered the game with a 6.4-to-1 ratio, third-best in the nation (according to statsheet.com) and best amongst ACC players. His season splits are now 59 assists against 10 turnovers, decent numbers for someone who also leads the Blue Devils in scoring at 18.2 points per game, didn’t start playing point guard until the latter half of his junior season, and still isn’t called a point guard by his coach. “Jon’s just a really smart, good player,” said Mike Krzyzewski. “He doesn’t have a position.”

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Newest Blue Planet Video Promotes Uptempo Play

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Duke’s athletic department created Duke Blue Planet to promote the men’s basketball program and target recruits, and now, as head coach Mike Krzyzewski fights for highly-touted recruit John Wall, the Web site may just be as important as ever.

Wall is a 6-foot-4 point guard not only generally considered to be the best point guard in his class, but also projected to be the first overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, according to NBADraft.net. In the era of the 19-year-old age minimum in the NBA, Wall appears to be the prototypical “one-and-done” player. But though Wall may use just one year of his NCAA eligibility, the guard still needs to choose a college program. Duke is in the running, and the decision seems near. On April 23, Wall told Rivals.com, “I think I know where I want to go.”

So the timing of yesterday’s release of Duke Blue Planet’s newest video—“How We Hoop”—was either highly coincidental, or, carefully planned.

The video’s focus starts with Duke’s style of basketball: pushing the ball, scoring but knowing how to do it right and playing in a system with a lot of freedom.

But then, suddenly, Krzyzewski stops talking about his program, and starts talking about the NBA.

“If you come from a man-to-man program, you’re going to have a little bit of an advantage in the pros,” he says.
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Duhon Doesn’t Believe In Obama’s Hoops

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Former Blue Devil and New York Knicks point guard Chris Duhon has had a very good year. He’s balled with Barack Obama, who, if you haven’t heard, became the 44th President of the United States today. Also, he now plays in the point-guard happy system of Mike D’Antoni! So he’s got that going for him, too.

Duhon got the call to play with Obama from the President’s body man and, now, personal assistant, former Dukie Reggie Love. They played at Chicago’s East Bank Club–Alison Bales was there, too–and while Duhon was impressed with the man himself, he isn’t too hopeful about the lefty’s future in basketball, the New York Post reports today:

Though Duhon wasn’t exactly effusive about Obama’s basketball skills, saying, “I don’t think he has a best move,” it still was “an honor” to meet the “normal” man and not the candidate.

“It was good to just meet Barack Obama,” Duhon said. “I’m very proud of him. He’s been through a lot, and to finally be in the position he’s in, I’m very happy for him.”

What an awfully political answer. Duhon must have learned something in his run with the leader of the free world.