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Player Derryck Thornton

I'm okay with freshman Derrick Thornton being our 4th best guard on the roster when the the 3rd best is posting a 125.5 rating on 18% usage. Did anyone believe he'd be better than Allen, Jones, or Kennard?
 
It's not that he's not as good as the others. It's that he is so, so much worse but has a usage as high as the others.
 
I apologize for how bullish I was on him. He's a goddamned disaster.

He can either accept a reduced role as a spot minutes backup shooter the next two seasons, or should probably transfer.
 
I would like him to transfer but we have nobody else unless Kennard figures it out
 
We can all see that he's playing poorly, and it seems to be in his head a bit now too -- he looks hesitant at times. But there's no point in exaggerating his badness. He played rather well in our three biggest wins to date (VCU, GTown, IU), and those games serve as proof that he can be a real contributor in meaningful games. Luke and Brandon had their own terrible stretches; here's hoping Derryck's ends soon.
 
In fairness to Derryck, his numbers are remarkably similar to Sheed's from last year:
DT:
ORtg: 102.8
Usage: 19.7 (finally decreasing)
Assist Rate: 18.9
TO Rate: 20.3
TS: 49.4%

Sheed:
ORtg: 104.1
Usage: 21.6 (gross)
Assist Rate: 16.0
TO Rate: 18.9
TS: 52.6%

On the upside, DT's numbers are pretty damn close to those of a guy who was generally thought to be good at basketball by the majority of our fans. On the downside, the last time a Duke guard played this poorly he got kicked off the team.
 
Jeez. The guy's young even for a normal college freshman, received no decent coaching until he got to college, and basically didn't get to campus until classes started. He's obviously struggled, but he also obviously has a lot of talent - there aren't a lot of PGs with the raw tools of 1) elite lateral quickness on defense, 2) 40% 3PT shooter, and 3) ability to break blow by defenders off the dribble and create for others.

He's obviously had a rough time during this last-minute triage year, but everything he struggles with is mental and coachable. Doesn't mean his career is a lost cause.
 
Probably his best game since that early season tournament. Aside from that terrible shot at the end of the first half, he was mostly awesome.
 


The spin on this:

Allen has a big head, doesn't accept criticism.

Thornton doesn't know his place, thinks he should tell others how to play basketball.

Scheyer sees these chemistry problems all the time in practice, hence the calm reaction.

Huge problems for Duke basketball.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Apparently it was about Grayson picking up the 5th foul.

I have not read any comments from the staff about this issue, nor would I expect anything other than "it is a nothing issue"
 
I'm guessing Thornton thought he could say something to Grayson about the fifth foul and Grayson basically said:

(1) you're one to talk about decision making
(2) bitch I just dropped 27
(3) I didn't foul anybody
(4) you are a freshman and not a very good one. Shut the hell up.

And then Jon distracted them with his handsome face.
 
NCCUknow said:
I'm guessing Thornton thought he could say something to Grayson about the fifth foul and Grayson basically said:

(1) you're one to talk about decision making
(2) bitch I just dropped 27
(3) I didn't foul anybody
(4) you are a freshman and not a very good one. Shut the hell up.

And then Jon distracted them with his handsome face.
Click to expand...
yeah that pretty much how I read it too. except with (2) I thought he said 'what the fuck do you know about good decision making with your shot at the end of the 1st half?!?'
 
That probably would have been the nicest thing Laettner ever said to Hurley. I don't see the big deal.
 
Yeah if I were annoyed and disagreed with a refs call and my teammate is yapping at me for being an idiot I would tell him to gtfo too in the moment
 
His bad is so bad, but his good is so good. I feel like it's not outside of the realm of possibility that he's a really good basketball player next year. Again, all of his bad is mental/fixable, and he has a really rare combination of strengths. He has all of the individual gifts/skills/tools of a starting NBA PG, he just hasn't figured out how to collectively use them correctly consistently yet.

Also, hopefully he's not a prick of a teammate.
 
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