Deng vs. Pachulia

[shug94]

Bulls F Deng debuts for British national team

August 9, 2007

Special to PA SportsTicker

PAU, France (Ticker) -- Luol Deng's long-awaited debut for the British national team came in subdued surroundings in a match closed to the public Thursday, with Great Britain losing, 65-63, to Georgia in the first of two warmup internationals between the teams ahead of their respective Eurobasket qualifying games.

Deng finished as the leading scorer for Great Britain with 19 points and Nate Reinking added 15, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter as the Brits attempted to haul themselves back from a seven-point deficit.

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Deng, who was cleared to play for his adopted country last October, found his introduction to senior international competition a tough one. Double- and triple-teamed whenever he drove, he shot 5-of-12 overall and connected on 2-of-7 attempts from the arc.

Great Britain coach Chris Finch commented afterward that the different spacing in the European game is something with which Deng will have to become accustomed. The 22-year-old was notably frustrated after the game, which was a scrappy, ill-tempered affair watched by only a few members of the public.

There were a few typical highlights from Deng, however. A first-half swoop to the basket off a pass from Reinking deserved a wider audience, as did a second-half drive past two defenders that almost resulted in his first dunk for his country.

The other talking point of the match concerned another NBA player, Zaza Pachulia of Atlanta, who was ejected in the third quarter for striking Great Britain backup center Eric Boateng, whose reaction also earned an ejection.

Manuchar Markoishvili led Georgia with 17 points, picking up the slack after the ejection of Pachulia, whose 12 points were instrumental in Georgia retaking the lead after the sides went to intermission tied at 32-32.

Pachulia wins!

[Swatguy]

Zaza getting a little chippy. I like that. I believe it bodes well for the Hawks. Zaza, Lo and Shelden will be sharpening Horford and Smith in training camp for sure.

[coachx]

We need ZaZa to be a tough guy this year. He no lonnger has to worry about foul trouble. With our improved depth he will no longer be needed 35 mpg.

[ncthompson11]

Wasnt Eric Boateng recruited by duke before he transfered to Arizona State?

[thesheedera]

Did you know that Wojo's their big man coach?

Eric was just another of the recent highly rated and sought after big men prospects to come to dook and disappear. He transfered after his freshman season. All you ever heard about that year was how thin their frontcourt was despite the fact that a McDonalds All American 4 star big man was rotting on the bench waiting for a chance to play. BUt the talking heads spouted on and on about "overachieving". How do you overachieve with all american big men riding pine?

Some of the most recent big men success stories among guys who committed to or went to Dook:

McRoberts - McDonalds guy - #1 PF in his class and potential lottery pick coming out of highschool. He ends up the #37 pick in the next year's draft. Huge disappointment, looked emotionally drained and weak spirited, rumors that K destroyed his confidence. Or was it just that Wojo can't develop big men despite his awesome career as a college center?...wait...of yeah, he was a 5 foot nothing pg.

Boateng - McDonalds AA - #3 C in his class, transfers to AZ St cause he couldn't get any run.

Shav - McD - #1 player in his hs class until senior year injury, still a potential lottery pick according to some, ended up #6 PF in class, gets misused at dook, over fed and had his confidence destroyed by how he was treated. The strained relationship he and his family ad with K was very public. He ends up undrafted but signed with the 76ers.

Michael Thompson - McD - #5 C in his class, couldn't get any run, transferred to Northwestern.

Kris Humphries - McD - #5 PF in his class (18 overall) committed to dook but he saw the light and all of the sudden he switched to Minnesota. Smart play.

And a few from the old school:

Chris Burgess - McD - #1 player in his class, transferred to Utah, had a very nasty relationship with K - his father calling K out as "dishonest" to reporters.

Billy McAffrey - McD - transferred to Vandy

Joey Beard - McD - transferred to Boston University

So why do young big men still commit there? I have no idea.

[mudderfudder77]

Quote:

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Or was it just that Wojo can't develop big men despite his awesome career as a college center?...wait...of yeah, he was a 5 foot nothing pg.

---

John Wooden did a pretty good job coaching big men, and he was all of 5'10".

It's stupid to think you have to be a big man to coach big men.

[Dsinner]

Ever hear of Laettner, Deng, Battier, Williams, Brand, Boozer, Ferry? There have been even more NBA PF's from Duke. That argument is always a fun one to make for you TarSmells but doesn't really hold water. Not anymore.

All of these players you mention, what have they done since transfering or leaving Duke?? Shlav was undrafted you say? Really, so Duke turned him from a potential lottery pick to undrafted? Wow that school blows. Get off the Duke hate Sheed.

[atlien]

The only player I like from Duke - Brand - hates Duke with a passion.

I'm impartial on the whole tobacco road rivalry (Kansas fan here), but it just really seems like Duke has a long history of players with douche-like qualities.

On the whole, UNC players own Duke players in the Pros, no argument there.

Just an outside opinion...

[Packfill]

Quote:

---

Did you know that Wojo's their big man coach?

Eric was just another of the recent highly rated and sought after big men prospects to come to dook and disappear. He transfered after his freshman season. All you ever heard about that year was how thin their frontcourt was despite the fact that a McDonalds All American 4 star big man was rotting on the bench waiting for a chance to play. BUt the talking heads spouted on and on about "overachieving". How do you overachieve with all american big men riding pine?

Some of the most recent big men success stories among guys who committed to or went to Dook:

McRoberts - McDonalds guy - #1 PF in his class and potential lottery pick coming out of highschool. He ends up the #37 pick in the next year's draft. Huge disappointment, looked emotionally drained and weak spirited, rumors that K destroyed his confidence. Or was it just that Wojo can't develop big men despite his awesome career as a college center?...wait...of yeah, he was a 5 foot nothing pg.

Boateng - McDonalds AA - #3 C in his class, transfers to AZ St cause he couldn't get any run.

Shav - McD - #1 player in his hs class until senior year injury, still a potential lottery pick according to some, ended up #6 PF in class, gets misused at dook, over fed and had his confidence destroyed by how he was treated. The strained relationship he and his family ad with K was very public. He ends up undrafted but signed with the 76ers.

Michael Thompson - McD - #5 C in his class, couldn't get any run, transferred to Northwestern.

Kris Humphries - McD - #5 PF in his class (18 overall) committed to dook but he saw the light and all of the sudden he switched to Minnesota. Smart play.

And a few from the old school:

Chris Burgess - McD - #1 player in his class, transferred to Utah, had a very nasty relationship with K - his father calling K out as "dishonest" to reporters.

Billy McAffrey - McD - transferred to Vandy

Joey Beard - McD - transferred to Boston University

So why do young big men still commit there? I have no idea.

---

I don't have a dog in the UNC/Duke fight, so this is just a question - who is the last UNC post player to make it big in the pros? Jamison? Wallace? I don't think May has established himself yet.

[Packfill]

Quote:

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On the whole, UNC players own Duke players in the Pros, no argument there.

---

Is this really true anymore?

UNC still has some really good older professionals like VC, Jamison and Rasheed, but the younger guys (Marvin, May, Felton, McCants, etc.) haven't reached that level while Dukies like Boozer and Deng are emerging as some of the NBA's best.

Granted the coaching turnover at UNC in recent years is certaintly a contributing factor to this.

[thesheedera]

Clearly I'm biased and those of you that take my post too seriously need to know that I kind of half believe these things about dook. I think there's a trace of truth in it, but I don't think it's gospel. I know a lot of it is just fan talk, but I don't think it's complete bullshot either, you know?

And I don't think there's a problem with dook producing NBA players like there once was. My points were about K producing COLLEGE big men. Great college big men aren't always going to be great NBA players. But the highest recruited HS players should be college stars for the most part, at least a good percentage of them. Shelden's the only guy since Boozer that lived up to his expectations, and he did it in spite of K running the Redickcentric offense. Which is one of the reasons I like Shelden. Had he been the guy that those teas ran through they would ave won championships, and JJ still would have been a star. JJ should have been getting kickouts from Shelden, rather than Shelden relegated to cleaning up JJ's trash.

K has basically abandoned the inside game since Boozer left in favor of betting all his chips on perimeter scoring and pressure defense. That has had an effect on how highly rated big men have performed for him over the last few years.

Some of the big men that have gone through Durham lately have been misused, underused, and ignored. Not Shelden, but certainly some others. It's frustrating for me because almost all of them were recruited by UNC and chose dook. So there's jealousy but there's also a part of me that just feels bad for the players. Some of these guys SHOULD be or have been stars in college...but did their talent just disappear all of the sudden? If not, was there something wrong with each of them that kept them held back? If that's the case, is K a bad recruiter that can't spot the overrated ones, or what?

And about Wojo, well, Wojo's no Wooden for crying out loud. No, you don't have to be tall to coach big men. No, I'd have no problem sending my big man son (if I had one) to a short guy like Wooden or Roy Williams. But Wojo?!?! Come on!

Take my comments with a big grain of salt. I hate dook but I respect dook. It's fun for me to point out their faults, and soemtimes it's fun for me to argue negative things about them that I know are stretches.

[Dsinner]

Quote:

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The only player I like from Duke - Brand - hates Duke with a passion.

I'm impartial on the whole tobacco road rivalry (Kansas fan here), but it just really seems like Duke has a long history of players with douche-like qualities.

On the whole, UNC players own Duke players in the Pros, no argument there.

Just an outside opinion...

---

Overall I would agree, but doesn't that just give the edge to the Duke program and coaches? They do more with less.

But as one poster pointed out UNC seems to be loosing that edge in the pro's. It's possible that right now Duke has more productive players in the NBA than does UNC. Just a guess.

[ncthompson11]

Kyle Singler is going to be the next big thing at duke. Just watch. Hes going to have the freshman impact that Laettner and Redick had and will surprise many people by the end of his college career.

[thesheedera]

"More with less"...they're ALWAYS loaded with McDonald's all americans, moreso over the last 10 ears than the Heels I believ (if not it's definitely close). Dook's teams are NOT overachievers. Many of their players have underachieved, especially the big men.

[thesheedera]

How will he surprise anyone? He's the best player at his position in his class. He's a 5 star recruit with every skill in the game, and he's going to play for arguably the best coach in the game. He SHOULD dominate, right?

[ncthompson11]

he should dominate but many people I have heard think he is going to be a bust and a non factor his first year. This all falls into the category for the assumption that duke big men dont develop well, the hatred of duke, and a person said on another board because he is white he doesnt have the tenacity or will power to be a star.

[thesheedera]

From what I understand he's a gamer and he fits the Coach K profile perfectly. Not really a big man, more of a wing, nice stroke, all the fundamentals you could ever need.

If he wins the coveted "coach's pet" distinction (J Williams, Battier, Redick, etc.) he'll be a huge college star. If he doesn't mesh well with K he could be a huge disappointment.

My guess is that they'll mesh well and K will create in him a gunslinging long range bomber/playmaker. He'll be a matchup nightmare by stretching the floor and having the skills to kill you when you over pressure him on the wing. If he can handle the defensive responsibilities K demands he should be just fine.

[Dsinner]

Their recruiting classes are always pretty even. They are two of the top basketball schools in the nation. But you must admit that you're wrong in thinking big men don't succeed at Duke. That's just an absurd assumption made with your baby-blue colored glasses on .

[thesheedera]

Quote:

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But you must admit that you're wrong in thinking big men don't succeed at Duke.

---

Like any school, in the long run some pan out and some don't. Recently, however, more of their top big men prospects are either coming up very short of expectations or they're getting the heck out of town. Big men haven't been the focal point of the offense since Boozer left, despite the fact that they've had some of the very best talent available to them.

Whether you think that's fanspeak is a matter of opinion. But I don't see how anyone can deny, dook fan or not, that K's current philosophy is so much more focused on perimter shooting than on establishing an inside game, to pair with their always constant lock down defense.

That has nothing to do with which team I like, that's just simple observation from watching more than a dozen of their games every season.