Player DJ Steward

[Devilsforlife]

Very thankful we got those last two titles in 2010 and 2015, when the sport was still enjoyable and I was fairly young and deeply invested in it. I'd rather have those than hypothetical titles in 2025 and 2030 instead.

 

[aiw]

Am I the only one just disgusted with the current path of college basketball? This portal is awful, kids leaving to become not even 2nd round draft picks. Feels like the sport will be dead in about 2-3 years at this rate

10-15 years ago, I would have been pissed, but these kids owe us nothing and I hope they all succeed.

 

[aiw]

Updated OAD list @DurhamSon

1. Zion - King.
2. Tyus - Stones.
3. Winslow - We don't win the title without his lockdown D and 40% 3 pt shooting. Came up huge especially in the Houston regional.
4. Irving - Only getting 11 games out of him will always anger me. Ranked this high due to how elite he was pre-injury.
5. Bagley - I know his defense was awful and his fit questionable, but I enjoyed him a lot. He could rack up those 30 point, 20 rebound statlines.
6. Ingram - He and the 2016 team were fun. No real complaints.
7. Carter - Anchor on the inside. If only he hadn't choked that layup against Kansas.
8. Tatum - Fun player, but his team decidedly wasn't.
9. Carey - THE BIG HOSS!
10. Rivers - The Shot
11. Barrett - Disappointment relative to expectations, but he did have some monster games.
12. Stanley - I enjoyed his ridiculous athleticism.
13. Okafor - Was never a fan of Oakball, though this might be a bit low for him.
14. Parker - He played no defense and 2014 was a disgusting mess, so I don't have many good memories.
15. Trent Jr. - Great shooter who was the missing piece from the 2019 team.
16. Reddish - I was expecting a 38-40% 3 point shooter who could dribble the basketball. Those 3s against FSU and UCF were memorable at least.
17. Duval - Mistake prone player who couldn't shoot, part of the clusterfuck the PG position has been in the non-Jones seasons.
18. Giles - Destroyed by injuries, shame. Always played hard and seemed like a good guy, but one of our least impactful OADs.
19. Frank Jackson - I still forget he played for Duke sometimes.
20. Steward - Leaving to almost certainly go undrafted after a decent at best freshman season on a 13-11 team. Bye.
21. Jalen - Trash.

Maggette and Deng

I started this list with Kyrie, as to me that was the beginning of the OAD era at Duke. I'd probably put Deng at 8th and Maggette at 12th if I were to include them as well.

Serious question, but what year were you born? Deng is probably number 2 or 3 and Maggette was only limited by his coach and the dominance of the team.

 

[Devilsforlife]

Updated OAD list @DurhamSon

1. Zion - King.
2. Tyus - Stones.
3. Winslow - We don't win the title without his lockdown D and 40% 3 pt shooting. Came up huge especially in the Houston regional.
4. Irving - Only getting 11 games out of him will always anger me. Ranked this high due to how elite he was pre-injury.
5. Bagley - I know his defense was awful and his fit questionable, but I enjoyed him a lot. He could rack up those 30 point, 20 rebound statlines.
6. Ingram - He and the 2016 team were fun. No real complaints.
7. Carter - Anchor on the inside. If only he hadn't choked that layup against Kansas.
8. Tatum - Fun player, but his team decidedly wasn't.
9. Carey - THE BIG HOSS!
10. Rivers - The Shot
11. Barrett - Disappointment relative to expectations, but he did have some monster games.
12. Stanley - I enjoyed his ridiculous athleticism.
13. Okafor - Was never a fan of Oakball, though this might be a bit low for him.
14. Parker - He played no defense and 2014 was a disgusting mess, so I don't have many good memories.
15. Trent Jr. - Great shooter who was the missing piece from the 2019 team.
16. Reddish - I was expecting a 38-40% 3 point shooter who could dribble the basketball. Those 3s against FSU and UCF were memorable at least.
17. Duval - Mistake prone player who couldn't shoot, part of the clusterfuck the PG position has been in the non-Jones seasons.
18. Giles - Destroyed by injuries, shame. Always played hard and seemed like a good guy, but one of our least impactful OADs.
19. Frank Jackson - I still forget he played for Duke sometimes.
20. Steward - Leaving to almost certainly go undrafted after a decent at best freshman season on a 13-11 team. Bye.
21. Jalen - Trash.

Maggette and Deng

I started this list with Kyrie, as to me that was the beginning of the OAD era at Duke. I'd probably put Deng at 8th and Maggette at 12th if I were to include them as well.

Serious question, but what year were you born? Deng is probably number 2 or 3 and Maggette was only limited by his coach and the dominance of the team.

1990. Started watching in the late 90s. Guess its recency bias.

 

[aiw]

Of the OADs, the 4 best players were Zion, Irving, Maggette and Deng. I think my list would be:

1. Zion
2. Deng
3. Tyus
4. Irving
5. Maggette

 

[childress22]

Steward would be in my top half of OADs, toward the middle. I liked watching him, even on this team. I still feel like he'll have a tough time making it on the next level.

On the one hand, he's similar enough to Ewing and Nolan as a player but considerably worse at everything at this point, and those guys had NBA careers that lasted like 2 years.

On the other hand, I don't actually think his odds of success in the pros necessarily increase with more time in college. People always like to imagine "potential upside" in younger players.

Edit: to clarify, I meant top half for likability. I don't actually think he was better than half of our OADs.

 

[aiw]

The Man from Sudan, Deng-erous

These are Deng's nicknames per basketball reference

They also say he is getting paid $5 mil/year through next year

 

[Devilsforlife]

I need to re-watch some games from 99 and 04.

 

[DurhamSon]

I've posted on here before that in my mind, there's been two major inflections since the game started to change:

2015: The first year of multi-OAD. Before this year we still thought Tyus was a three year guy, Winslow for two, etc

2017: Kennard declaring after two. After that happened, I knew we'd never have another great senior, let alone a retired jersey, ever again

This feels like the third, and final:

2021: If you start and can chew gum while managing not to fall on your ass, you're gone. If you came in as a 5* recruit and managed not to look unplayable, you're gone. If you came in as a 4* backup, if you aren't projected to start in year 2 at 30 minutes a game, you're gone.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Does the GLeague have enough spots for all these guys? They can simply expand all over the map, since attendance and TV don’t matter, right? It might actually be great to see GLeague games in middle school gyms in Nova Scotia and Cayman Islands, once they have 500 teams.

 

[DurhamSon]

The year is 2045. The NBA has 48 teams, and each of those have 2-3 minor league affiliates. Any player over 5'10 who can touch the rim on a single bounce is getting paid a minimum $500,000 salary. Coach Kihei Clark has just led UVA to a championship, led by NPOY Hyman Mortimer Goldman, a freshman guard from Yeshiva High School. Clark cries as he recalls his own NPOY super senior year, where it is acknowledged as consensus by fans of CBB that he was the most athletic player to grace the hardwood ever since.

 

[aiw]

It's always nice to have the next Jewish Jordan on the radar

 

[rome8180]

I don't really watch baseball. College baseball is irrelevant, right? If we basically create the NBA equivalent of the minor leagues, I assume CBB would be viewed in the same way. I know plenty of people who go watch Durham Bulls or Greensboro Grasshoppers games as a mildly amusing activity. Maybe the G League could achieve the same.

 

[deepdarkblue]

Does the GLeague have enough spots for all these guys? They can simply expand all over the map, since attendance and TV don’t matter, right? It might actually be great to see GLeague games in middle school gyms in Nova Scotia and Cayman Islands, once they have 500 teams.

They could stream them for free on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook. Hundreds of people around the world would watch.

 

[ChibCU]

I see a lot of activity on this thread. Did we just land a new guard named DJ Steward? Which incoming class is he going to be?

 

[childress22]

Odds of DJ having a better career than Kenny Boynton?

 

[Inveigle]

I kept waiting on DJ to turn the corner but I never figured he'd just disappear around the corner.

 

[CK86]

I watched the fewest Duke games of any season in my life this year. I could not tell you who this player was.

 

[aiw]

DJ Steward

 

[childress22]

It could get real awkward at some point late in the second round when deputy commissioner Mark Tatum announces "D.J. Stewar---"