Elitest is as Elitest does. From Duke to Atlanta.

[Diesel]

Elitest is as Elitest does. From Duke to Atlanta.

by Diesel

In thinking about Danny Ferry, his name is irrevocably tied to Duke University. In fact, you can't say Danny Ferry without thinking about his time at Duke. While those in Cleveland may curse his name twice, those not tied to the Cavaliers see something else. What we see is "the Duke way". Nobody forgets that Ferry was Coach K's first prodigy. He was the Coach K rendition of Larry Bird. In fact, that Danny Ferry - Larry Bird relation was so highly thought of when Ferry left Duke that poor Wayne Embry gave the Clippers Ron Harper, two first round picks, and a second round pick for the kid who would not play for the Clippers. Maybe it was Ferry the elitist who felt that he could not slum it with bottom dwelling Los Angeles. Maybe it was his Duke University education that taught him that it should always be his way or no way at all. If that were the case, it would also explain how he left the negotiation table while Lebron James was in the middle of deciding to resign. The story is told that Ferry couldn't have the coach of his choice, so just like he did in LA, he took his ball and his bat and he left the table. Not even "King James" is important enough for him to compromise his position.

If it were truly a Duke thing, then the person who helped harness this awareness was Coach Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K). Recently, in reading a bit of a fall out from Coach K and Jalen Rose, I ran across this quote, "We were very successful against them and, to be quite frank with you, we recruited Chris Webber. I didn't recruit Jalen Rose because we had Grant Hill and I'm happy with that. We didn't look at the other, Juwan Howard [because] we knew he wasn't going to come to Duke. The other two kids we didn't think were the caliber that could play as well as Thomas Hill and Brian Davis and Billy McCaffery. They're good kids. They were good kids. They had a heck of a run but, they didn't leave anything, they didn't establish anything there. The guys that I had established something that Jay Williams continued to do 10 years later -- the standards of what it meant to be a Duke basketball player." This statement of caliber and standards of being a Duke player is exactly why Duke players are considered elitist among the public.

Maybe it wasn't just a Duke thing but remember, Ferry grew up around the game. His father was a famed NBA player and GM and also was a player for the Hawks at one time. If ever there was a person who deserved to be an elitist in the NBA, it has to be Ferry. I can just imagine that he would tag alone with Dad and every now and then he would hear how his father talked about the talent and to see how his Dad got deals done and would be able to pick his dad's brain about his favorite players. At the age of 11, he watched his dad assemble an NBA champion in 1978. He saw the pieces come together, enjoyed the magic of a playoff run and celebrated the Game 7 NBA Finals road victory over Seattle. “We stayed up and watched the game,” Danny says. “I remember that vividly. I remember the parade.” It's no wonder that when coming to the league as an assistant, he managed to get in on one of the best systematic coaching staff in the league and he quickly raised himself from being a player to be one of the top assistants in that system. Guys like Pete Babcock would tell you that going from player or scout to GM is a jump that takes at least Fifteen years. Ferry did it in less than five years. It's hard not to be an elitist when you have always had things to go your way.

So with this elitist upbringing, where does that leave his current franchise, the Hawks? Well if you read my last blog, you would know that I believe Ferry is testing a theory. That theory is that he can confront the pampered, elitist players in the NBA with a team filled with hard working players with something to prove. In actuality, Ferry intends to go to war against the elitist of this league with blue collared determination! That is a brilliancy! Who better to know how to defeat the elite than an elitist. As you look at your 2012-2013 Atlanta Hawks, you see none of the trappings of the super wealthy players who have always had things to go their way. You know the ones who always can cry and get a call, who generally expect to win without playing the game? Some are in Miami, Some in Brooklyn, Some are in LA, Some have even found their way to Houston. These are the elitist teams that Ferry has prepared his team to face. On his team, there are no max players, nor are their any big threes. However, what you do have is a team that will fight, work hard, and bring a hard hat and a lunch box to every game.

We should attack the pampered elite teams of today with hardworking, hard hat teams. Is this how the elite think? Well, when you look at Coach K at Duke, consider the teams he put on the floor. Very few of his teams that remind you of what you may see in Kentucky or Louisville. Instead, you see teams that have guys who will probably never be pros, but they believe that they will. The strange part about that is that Coach K has 4 NCAA Championships, 11 Final Fours, 12 ACC regular season titles, and 13 ACC Tournament championships. In the words of Jefferson Teague, "the shit works". That's what every Hawks fan is hoping about Ferry. They are hoping that his answer to elitist in the NBA leads Atlanta to it's first NBA championship. Everything after that is just the Elitist doing as Elitist do.

[ViperXX79]

There's beating a dead horse and then there's Diesel...

tl;dr

Edited July 22, 2013 by ViperXX79

[Buzzard]

Elitest is as Elitest does. From Duke to Atlanta.

by Diesel

We should attack the pampered elite teams of today with hardworking, hard hat teams. Is this how the elite think? Well, when you look at Coach K at Duke, consider the teams he put on the floor. Very few of his teams that remind you of what you may see in Kentucky or Louisville. Instead, you see teams that have guys who will probably never be pros, but they believe that they will. The strange part about that is that Coach K has 4 NCAA Championships, 11 Final Fours, 12 ACC regular season titles, and 13 ACC Tournament championships. In the words of Jefferson Teague, "the shit works". That's what every Hawks fan is hoping about Ferry. They are hoping that his answer to elitist in the NBA leads Atlanta to it's first NBA championship. Everything after that is just the Elitist doing as Elitist do.

All I needed to read was this last part. Great positive post Diesel.

[AHF]

Interesting take. On Duke, I would say they have elite talent over the years to go with the elite coaching. They always have the McD's but they have repped some impressive pro talent as well:Kyrie IrvingJJ ReddickGrant HillChristian LaettnerElton Brandas one hypothetical Dukie lineup. Plenty of other lottery and NBA draft picks as well.Coach K beats you with elite talent and elite coaching.

[IllestPamfilis]

Christian Laettner was one of my favorite Hawks. He also drank a 5th of vodka before most games. *rips a shart*

[Diesel]

Interesting take. On Duke, I would say they have elite talent over the years to go with the elite coaching. They always have the McD's but they have repped some impressive pro talent as well:Kyrie IrvingJJ ReddickGrant HillChristian LaettnerElton Brandas one hypothetical Dukie lineup. Plenty of other lottery and NBA draft picks as well.Coach K beats you with elite talent and elite coaching.

Duke has had more misses (NBA wise) than Hits. Ferry leading the pack.

[Diesel]

There's beating a dead horse and then there's Diesel...

tl;dr

I like it when people don't read the post and then make a dumb comment.

[Admin]

Interesting take. On Duke, I would say they have elite talent over the years to go with the elite coaching. They always have the McD's but they have repped some impressive pro talent as well:Kyrie IrvingJJ ReddickGrant HillChristian LaettnerElton Brandas one hypothetical Dukie lineup. Plenty of other lottery and NBA draft picks as well.Coach K beats you with elite talent and elite coaching.

And last second turnaround FT line jumpers...

[AHF]

And last second turnaround FT line jumpers...

You are dead to me.

[jy23]

The thing about duke is that everything is always in the best interest of the long term stability of the program. We may never have a starting five or recruiting class that you look at and say man those guys are beasts but we will also never be completely out of contention bc of the way coach k sets us up. Our last championship was a complete surprise to me and I'm sure most other duke fans as well, but with coach k and the program he's established you just never know. We will probably never have a starting 5 like Kentucky had a couple of years ago when they won the chip but we will also never have a fall off like Kentucky did the next year either. And that's no disrespect to Kentucky bc they're a great program just different ways of doing things. Now I don't know how far that will get us in the NBA but to me it's the best way to go in college.

[NJHAWK]

Duke has also had the benefit of alot of their star players hanging around all 4 years and basically having a team of men vs boys. I understand its great that these kids love the program, coach, stay in school and graduate but its also a competitve advantage.

[NJHAWK]

And last second turnaround FT line jumpers...

and undefeated teams that got burnt trying to point shave.

[Admin]

and undefeated teams that got burnt trying to point shave.

LOL I was just giving AHF grief for Laettner's buzzer beater to shock AHF's team Kentucky in the championship game.

[Admin]

Duke has also had the benefit of alot of their star players hanging around all 4 years and basically having a team of men vs boys. I understand its great that these kids love the program, coach, stay in school and graduate but its also a competitve advantage.

They also tend to be more intelligent people than most other teams as well since Duke doesn't let just anyone in, even if they're star basketball players. Still gotta be smart and make the grades on your own there.

[OrlandoHawk]

Duke has had more misses (NBA wise) than Hits. Ferry leading the pack.

Name a school with more hits than misses...Duke hardly ever has "stars" like other elite programs due to the coach and system. I can argue that Laettner or Reddick were the biggest names to come from Duke.

[Admin]

Name a school with more hits than misses...Duke hardly ever has "stars" like other elite programs due to the coach and system. I can argue that Laettner or Reddick were the biggest names to come from Duke.

Grant Hill is the best IMO to come from Duke. But Duke are limited to using athletes who can actually get into the school vs say a team like Memphis in the Callipari years who could load up on star athletes who can barely spell their own names.

[NJHAWK]

They also tend to be more intelligent people than most other teams as well since Duke doesn't let just anyone in, even if they're star basketball players. Still gotta be smart and make the grades on your own there.

How smart could Laettner really have been? How about that Parks kid, seemed dumb as a box of rocks. I think the key componet to getting into Duke has alot more to do with the elitism Diesel spoke of and $$$$$.

[kerrypack]

coach k started with good college players (who were system players) who he coached to great success. (jay bilas was on one of those teams) Then he started getting elite recruits who also were good system players. coach k is an incredible recruiter as well as being a great coach. i hate his guts btw. He has a mix of players who are great college players but limited in the pros and guys who should be future nba stars. jay, elton, hill, irving

many of his players are well below the standards for duke admission, like most schools. we should avoid reverse racism.

but yeah, ferry was always a bit of an elitist. I don't know if most of the other white guys at duke are like that, but I remember a duke friend of mine telling me about running into ferry hitting golf balls when ferry was just graduating. that is uncommon for a basketball player these days..

[Diesel]

Name a school with more hits than misses...Duke hardly ever has "stars" like other elite programs due to the coach and system. I can argue that Laettner or Reddick were the biggest names to come from Duke.

Let me qualify my previous statement. When I said that they had more hits than Misses, what I mean is that Duke (to me) has the ability to take a player who has dominated for 4 yrs and when he goes pro, he's nothing special. The rule for me is that if a player spends less time at Duke, he will be more successful in the league. Here's some of those examples of players who spent more time at Duke, got great accolades and didn't live up to it as a pro.

1. Ferry

2. Laettner

3. Hurley.

4. Shelden

5. Reddick.

6. Battier

7. Duhon

These guys were college player of the year material but as pros, nothing much.

Let's look at some misses:

Jhonnie Dawkins

Cherokee Parks

Roshown McLeod (this)

Ala Abdalnabby

Brian Davis

Antonio Lang (this)

Trajan Langdon (this)

William Avery

Daniel Ewing

Shavlik Randolph

Now, let's talk about the good guys:

Brand, Hill, Maggette, Boozer, Deng irving. These guys lived up to the hype. But none of them stayed past their 2nd year.

There's more and there's more coming. But the program doesn't run a pro anything so these guys are lost when they are thrown into a pro system.

Edited July 23, 2013 by Diesel

[OrlandoHawk]

I kind of understand your point but same could be said for any school. Usually the one or two year players are your "blue chip" prospects that typically aren't going to school for any purpose other than making it to the next level or those from less fortunate families who want to take care of home asap. This isn't football where you run a collegiate spread offense or a pro style, every coach has some semblance of sets that are run in the NBA.