Player Derryck Thornton

[rome8180]

I think he wants to win and wants to be a leader from the PG position. His teammates probably don't really respect him when he orders them around because they recognize that he's semi-retarded. It's not like when Kobe, Jordan, or even Tyus Jones yells at you. They've backed it up by not doing something terrible every other possession (well, if we ignore the old man version of Kobe).

 

[rhfarmer]

18 year old Kobe was a bit of a disaster at times, too.

 

[childress22]

I think he wants to win and wants to be a leader from the PG position. His teammates probably don't really respect him when he orders them around because they recognize that he's semi-retarded. It's not like when Kobe, Jordan, or even Tyus Jones yells at you. They've backed it up by not doing something terrible every other possession (well, if we ignore the old man version of Kobe).

If Tyus Jones yelled at a player for something that player did on the defensive end, I think that player is certainly entitled to a "STFU, Tyus."

 

[bdotling]

Tyus wouldn't yell, he'd just come back and hit a 3 to make up for it

 

[best4heisman]

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.

He has a really low basketball IQ, so I'm not sure you can say that he has all the tools of an NBA PG. Maybe that can be developed, but damn. Not sure when we last had a guard who was this bad of a decision maker.

He'll be a great college guard in a couple years, I'm confident of that much.

 

[Pantone287]

True - I mean physical tools. Like, if you were playing with him in a video game, all of his attributes would be super high... he just hasn't quite figured out when to press A and when to press B, etc.

 

[bdotling]

His "Awareness" attributes would be single digits

 

[rome8180]

I really think it's attributable to bad coaching. I mean, I watched his high school games. It felt like he was just allowed to "play through his mistakes" in a non-constructive way. Granted, some guys never develop the BB IQ. But he doesn't seem like a dumb guy overall, listening to and reading interviews with him.

 

[bdotling]

Joking and hatred aside, his dad does seem to be a pretty sharp guy so you think that might translate over to him eventually

 

[childress22]

I mean, Nolan's on-court IQ as a freshman was pretty rough, too, and by the time he was a junior, he was quite poised. I think the problems are likely nerves, lack of self-confidence, overthinking, or something else that'll improve as his relative experience vis-a-vis his competitors increases.

 

[torontoduke]

Indeed. I liked the comments he made last summer/fall about the process of his son's development, as opposed to setting unrealistic expectations about DT's basketball career (which most parents seem to do). Struck me as a thoughtful guy.

Joking and hatred aside, his dad does seem to be a pretty sharp guy so you think that might translate over to him eventually

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

Not bad today on offense.

 

[bdotling]

I mean, Nolan's on-court IQ as a freshman was pretty rough, too, and by the time he was a junior, he was quite poised. I think the problems are likely nerves, lack of self-confidence, overthinking, or something else that'll improve as his relative experience vis-a-vis his competitors increases.

We must have different memories of past players. I would tend to think Thornton's problems appear to arise from a lack of awareness and focus, not thinking vs overthinking. Those turnovers at the start of the second half were just bone headed. He wasn't trying to force anything just wasn't paying attention. I think he's the type of player who would benefit from studying lots and lots of game film. He doesn't really play like he is scared to make mistakes the way Jeter or some other past freshman have.

 

[childress22]

I agree on today's back-to-back TOs; he's had other moments this year, though, in the half court, where he looked like he was trying to remember which thing he was supposed to do, rather than playing naturally and instinctively. I think that the last three games or so, he's been better at trusting his instincts.

 

[DukeNukem05]

Not bad today on offense.

Particularly if you ignore the 30 seconds of playing where he handed the ball to NCSU 3x in a row.

 

[Thain]

Not bad today on offense.

Particularly if you ignore the 30 seconds of playing where he handed the ball to NCSU 3x in a row.

He just wanted to keep it interested.

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

Not bad today on offense.

Particularly if you ignore the 30 seconds of playing where he handed the ball to NCSU 3x in a row.

Ha. Well yes, excluding that stretch. I thought he generally looked more in control and didn't force shots .

 

[aiw]

First 15 minutes defense on Cat was astounding. The best one one one defense played at Duke in a long while. He got screwed with his second foul, I thought. At the half, he was completely exhausted. As the rest of the team went to the locker room, he went back to the bench and took a drink and just stood there. No one else was around. He was completely exhausted and I think that, plus the late terrible foul call, caused us to shift to that horrible zone that kept State in the game. His dumb passes could be chalked up to fatigue, but considering he's done that a million times this year, maybe he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt.

 

[rome8180]

I don't think he should have been yanked after his two turnovers. Granted, they were awful and hurt us on offense. But he was the only guy we had capable of defending Barber. As soon as Thornton came out, Barber torched Matt Jones over and over. We were lucky that we kept hitting threes on the other end to stay ahead.

 

[deepdarkblue]

Yeah, I thought early in that that intense m2m might best be saved for the second half. But then again, our zone is so terrible what else can you do?