Reid Travis

[PatrickYates]

Reid Travis is 6-8 and 245lbs. And a very good player. But I have serious questions if he provides material support to Duke wrt defense and rebounding.
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I know that I am being repetitive. But I see way too much concern about Duke's offense, and discussions of how players we might add next year, will help Duke's offense.
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So, I'll say it again: IDGAF about what [insert player's name here] contributes to offense. We'll be fine on offense, as is.
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WHAT DOES THIS ADDITION CONTRIBUTE TO DEFENSE AND REBOUNDING? This is the only thing we need to worry about between now and November
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Rim protection and rebounding are, literally, the only real weaknesses. RJ essentially beat the U-19 USNT by his lonesome. Cam and TJ are both probably better at running a team than anyone on last year's team, and that is coming from a guy who stuck up for Duval as much as anyone. We have 3 guards/wings who are each likely to be better than all our guard/wing options from last year.
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But who defends the rim, and who gets rebounds? These are our only glaring weaknesses.

 

[nets on nets on nets]

Reid Travis is 6-8 and 245lbs. And a very good player. But I have serious questions if he provides material support to Duke wrt defense and rebounding.
.
I know that I am being repetitive. But I see way too much concern about Duke's offense, and discussions of how players we might add next year, will help Duke's offense.
.
So, I'll say it again: IDGAF about what [insert player's name here] contributes to offense. We'll be fine on offense, as is.
.
WHAT DOES THIS ADDITION CONTRIBUTE TO DEFENSE AND REBOUNDING? This is the only thing we need to worry about between now and November
.
Rim protection and rebounding are, literally, the only real weaknesses. RJ essentially beat the U-19 USNT by his lonesome. Cam and TJ are both probably better at running a team than anyone on last year's team, and that is coming from a guy who stuck up for Duval as much as anyone. We have 3 guards/wings who are each likely to be better than all our guard/wing options from last year.
.
But who defends the rim, and who gets rebounds? These are our only glaring weaknesses.

Bolden will defend the rim, he did a great job with rim protection in our zone. With a full 2 years under his belt, I think he can be a better rim protector than Carter was.
We will be a rebounding by committee team, Zion should gobble up a lot of boards as compared to a typical 4-man. Barrett is strong, will be a great rebounder for a wing, ditto for Cam, due to his length.

 

[christophero]

And White showed signs of being a very good rebounder. Dude is jacked. Pun intended.

 

[youknowit1]

Reid Travis is 6-8 and 245lbs. And a very good player. But I have serious questions if he provides material support to Duke wrt defense and rebounding.
.
I know that I am being repetitive. But I see way too much concern about Duke's offense, and discussions of how players we might add next year, will help Duke's offense.
.
So, I'll say it again: IDGAF about what [insert player's name here] contributes to offense. We'll be fine on offense, as is.
.
WHAT DOES THIS ADDITION CONTRIBUTE TO DEFENSE AND REBOUNDING? This is the only thing we need to worry about between now and November
.
Rim protection and rebounding are, literally, the only real weaknesses. RJ essentially beat the U-19 USNT by his lonesome. Cam and TJ are both probably better at running a team than anyone on last year's team, and that is coming from a guy who stuck up for Duval as much as anyone. We have 3 guards/wings who are each likely to be better than all our guard/wing options from last year.
.
But who defends the rim, and who gets rebounds? These are our only glaring weaknesses.

Agreed Reid Travis isn't a rim protector or a great defender. He would be a undersized 5. Better offensive player than defense

 

[nets on nets on nets]

And White showed signs of being a very good rebounder. Dude is jacked. Pun intended.

Yes we also can bring Javin and White off the bench, two solid rebounders.

It's obvious we won't have the offensive rebounding dominance that we had with Bagley/Carter. But I think we can definitely be just as good of a defensive rebounding team as the past team. Our PG SG SF, Tre RJ Cam, should be a much better rebounding tandem than what we had with Trevon Grayson and Gary.
Quite frankly, our guard rebounding this past year was terrible, they relied on Bagley/Carter way too much. We should be much better at guard rebounding next year.

 

[christophero]

If Cremo didn't want to come off the bench, I can't see a first team All Pac 12 player wanting to come off the bench. Unless Bolden leaves, then Reid would start in a small ball line up. He would be a nice addition, but I don't want to trade him for Bolden. I wouldn't complain about having both.

 

[pisgah101]

Shelden was 6'9 249 so...

 

[PatrickYates]

If Cremo didn't want to come off the bench, I can't see a first team All Pac 12 player wanting to come off the bench. Unless Bolden leaves, then Reid would start in a small ball line up. He would be a nice addition, but I don't want to trade him for Bolden. I wouldn't complain about having both.

I'm not sure Reid starts even if Bolden leaves. I think Javin might be a better fit as a small ball 5 than Reid. Javin was a problem on O last year because teams wanted to clog the paint vs Duke. This was exacerbated when he was on the court with Duval, or when Grayson and Trent were cold. Teams could lay off him to guard our bigs (which had bad habits of getting stagnant and not moving in the post to get open). Next year, I'm sure they'd lay off of Javin some. But Cam and TJ would get him a lot of shots at the rim.
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Because, again, O doesn't really matter next year. I think Jav would be a better, though not ideal, fit as a defender and rebounder. At worst, we'd truly be able to switch 2-5 on D, and 1-3 could all switch as well.

 

[christophero]

Yeah I actually thought that Javin would be another option at the 5 after I posted. And Travis would be an upgrade over White, who I like, as a backup forward.

 

[PatrickYates]

Shelden was 6'9 249 so...

And for his entire career the very best HS bigs went straight to the NBA. There were a lot of 6-9 bigs in college ball. Players taller than that tended to be way too skinny, way too fat, way too slow, or way too underskilled. Emeka Okafor, the most dominant big of that era, was 6-9 and 240ish. Hanstravel was 6-9 and 240sih. The other bigs at UNC on that title team in 2009 tended to fall into that 6-9 240ish range.
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Ayton, Bags, Carter, Azubuike, and Jackson would never have played a minute of college ball had they not been forced to do so. 10 years ago a 6-9 could dominate if he were good enough. That just isn't the case now. Plus, Shel was longer and better on D than Reid will ever hope of being.

 

[christophero]

Travis reminds me of Battier. Not saying he's as good of course.

 

[PatrickYates]

Yes we also can bring Javin and White off the bench, two solid rebounders.

It's obvious we won't have the offensive rebounding dominance that we had with Bagley/Carter. But I think we can definitely be just as good of a defensive rebounding team as the past team. Our PG SG SF, Tre RJ Cam, should be a much better rebounding tandem than what we had with Trevon Grayson and Gary.
Quite frankly, our guard rebounding this past year was terrible, they relied on Bagley/Carter way too much. We should be much better at guard rebounding next year.

Agreed. I think we'll be OK on rebounding. I THINK Cam and Zion will be plus rebounders. But I think those things. I'm not certain. Our ability to rebound, based on what we know, or at least reasonably suspect, isn't a strength. It might not be a weakness, but I doubt it will be a strength.
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The real concern is defense, especially rim protection. I harp about rim defense and rebounding, but those are essentially the same thing. A player who is a capable rim defender will be a solid rebounder. A big who can and will rebound will also be able to help defend the rim. You won't find many high level rebounders who are bad defenders, and vice versa. So really, it is the One thing we need, even though that one thing will manifest in two different areas of the stat sheet.

 

[PatrickYates]

Yeah I actually thought that Javin would be another option at the 5 after I posted. And Travis would be an upgrade over White, who I like, as a backup forward.

Overall, yes. Probably. Reid would be a huge upgrade on offense. But White will be another versatile defender who can guard 3-5, and possibly 2-5. So, the Jackhammer might be a better fit over him.

 

[nets on nets on nets]

I'm not sure of our scholarship situation, and I'm assuming a lot depends on if Robinson stays under scholarship or goes back to a preferred walk-on. Do we only have 1 or 2 left??
Reid Travis is talented of course, not sure he fits at all what we need. I'd say the #1 best asset to grab would be another shooter off the bench. The #2 best asset would be a true center, one that could backup Bolden 10-15 mpg.

Travis would really be pigeonholed into a backup for Zion, and I guess a backup 5 as well (though I don't see him being able to play Center). To me, Javin and Jack are fine backups for the 4, not to mention Cam can play some 4 as well. Javin and Jack give Duke a lot of lineup flexibility.

 

[pisgah101]

And for his entire career the very best HS bigs went straight to the NBA. There were a lot of 6-9 bigs in college ball. Players taller than that tended to be way too skinny, way too fat, way too slow, or way too underskilled. Emeka Okafor, the most dominant big of that era, was 6-9 and 240ish. Hanstravel was 6-9 and 240sih. The other bigs at UNC on that title team in 2009 tended to fall into that 6-9 240ish range.
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Ayton, Bags, Carter, Azubuike, and Jackson would never have played a minute of college ball had they not been forced to do so. 10 years ago a 6-9 could dominate if he were good enough. That just isn't the case now. Plus, Shel was longer and better on D than Reid will ever hope of being.

What please give me an example of one of these mythical big men that would of dominated shel back then. Dwight? That's it

 

[DiehardDukeFan4Life]

I'm not sure of our scholarship situation, and I'm assuming a lot depends on if Robinson stays under scholarship or goes back to a preferred walk-on. Do we only have 1 or 2 left??
Reid Travis is talented of course, not sure he fits at all what we need. I'd say the #1 best asset to grab would be another shooter off the bench. The #2 best asset would be a true center, one that could backup Bolden 10-15 mpg.

Travis would really be pigeonholed into a backup for Zion, and I guess a backup 5 as well (though I don't see him being able to play Center). To me, Javin and Jack are fine backups for the 4, not to mention Cam can play some 4 as well. Javin and Jack give Duke a lot of lineup flexibility.

Our returning scholarship players from last season’s team are
Javin DeLaurier
Jordan Goldwire
Alex O’Connell
Marques Bolden
Antonio Vrankovic
Jack White
Justin Robinson*

I put an asterisk next to Justin Robinson because he came in as a preferred walk-on and receives a scholarship when one is available.

As of now we have 4 freshmen coming in
Cameron Reddish
Zion Williamson
RJ Barrett
Tre Jones

So with including Justin Robinson as a scholarship player then we’ll have 11 scholarship players this season, so that leaves us with 2 available scholarships, if Justin Robinson becomes a preferred walk-on again next season then we’ll have 10 scholarship players and will have 3 available scholarships.

 

[dukiejay]

I remember when the same thing was said about Zoubek.

Other than being big and white, there's not a lot to compare between the two. Zoubek was a kid who was recruited nationally and called a "future star" by Howard Garfunkel. He just had bad feet. Unfortunately, those feet derailed any chance he had at a professional career, as well. Without the injuries, I feel pretty confident Brian would have been able to produce more much earlier on. Brian was a very skilled big man....we just never got to see it until the last six to eight weeks of his career.

I do think Vrank can help, though. Relying on him to be productive 20+ minutes/night is outside his pay grade, IMO.

 

[DukeRulesBasketball]

I do think Vrank can help, though. Relying on him to be productive 20+ minutes/night is outside his pay grade, IMO.

This. I think there are some people on here that think that Vrank can come in and contribute big time minutes. If we have to rely on Vrank to contribute large minutes, then we are in big trouble.

 

[PatrickYates]

What please give me an example of one of these mythical big men that would of dominated shel back then. Dwight? That's it

When he got to the NBA he sure wasn't as good there as he was at Duke. Nor was Hanstravel or Okafor. Those 3 guys are arguably the three most dominant bigs in CBB from 2000-2010. They were draped in glory and success in college. The best of them, Okafor, was a decent rotation guy in the NBA, Hanstravel was a journeyman backup, and Shel was a bust. That should tell you all you need to know about the level of big man comp in College during the height of the preps to pros era.

 

[PatrickYates]

Other than being big and white, there's not a lot to compare between the two. Zoubek was a kid who was recruited nationally and called a "future star" by Howard Garfunkel. He just had bad feet. Unfortunately, those feet derailed any chance he had at a professional career, as well. Without the injuries, I feel pretty confident Brian would have been able to produce more much earlier on. Brian was a very skilled big man....we just never got to see it until the last six to eight weeks of his career.

I do think Vrank can help, though. Relying on him to be productive 20+ minutes/night is outside his pay grade, IMO.

Garf said it, but the change away from air craft carriers in the post had already begun, but no one realized it. 25 years ago, a healthy Zoubs, like Oak, would have been a top 5 pick and high quality NBA starting C. But Zoubs, even a healthy zoubs, wasn't mobile enough for where the game was going. If he'd been healthy, Zoubs likely would have played 5ish years in the NBA, mostly as a backup. But a lot of Zoubs's ranking was based on Garf, who simply hadn't adjusted to changing trends. Zoubs as a HS recruit would have been exactly what Garf idealized for most of his career.

 

[pisgah101]

When he got to the NBA he sure wasn't as good there as he was at Duke. Nor was Hanstravel or Okafor. Those 3 guys are arguably the three most dominant bigs in CBB from 2000-2010. They were draped in glory and success in college. The best of them, Okafor, was a decent rotation guy in the NBA, Hanstravel was a journeyman backup, and Shel was a bust. That should tell you all you need to know about the level of big man comp in College during the height of the preps to pros era.

Ok. Still didn't answer my question. Why? Because you're wrong just admit it and move on

 

[Jakarii]

Reid has never even hinted at transfering. Some media saw him declare and talked about if he would transfer just based on other players transferring and fans have run with it which has turned it into Reid considering transferring. Fans getting their hopes up for nothing

 

[nets on nets on nets]

Garf said it, but the change away from air craft carriers in the post had already begun, but no one realized it. 25 years ago, a healthy Zoubs, like Oak, would have been a top 5 pick and high quality NBA starting C. But Zoubs, even a healthy zoubs, wasn't mobile enough for where the game was going. If he'd been healthy, Zoubs likely would have played 5ish years in the NBA, mostly as a backup. But a lot of Zoubs's ranking was based on Garf, who simply hadn't adjusted to changing trends. Zoubs as a HS recruit would have been exactly what Garf idealized for most of his career.

Woah! I agree that the NBA has shifted away from the slow big-man and now those guys are irrelevant. But Zoubs was never a first round pick in 1970 1980, anytime up until now. And also, Zoubs would have been drafted in 2010, the NBA had not shifted to small-ball yet, back-to-the-basket bigs still had a ton of value in 2010.

Dwight Howard was #2 in MVP voting in 2010, behind the King.

 

[SoCal_Dukie3]

Other than being big and white, there's not a lot to compare between the two. Zoubek was a kid who was recruited nationally and called a "future star" by Howard Garfunkel. He just had bad feet. Unfortunately, those feet derailed any chance he had at a professional career, as well. Without the injuries, I feel pretty confident Brian would have been able to produce more much earlier on. Brian was a very skilled big man....we just never got to see it until the last six to eight weeks of his career.

I do think Vrank can help, though. Relying on him to be productive 20+ minutes/night is outside his pay grade, IMO.

Recruiting wise? Yes, both big and white.

Bad feet or not? Zoubs offered little more than directing the screens and grabbing boards, two things Vrank is certainly capable of. Zoubs was not a rim protector, and either Plumlee (mostly Mason he was paired with at least until deeper into the tourney) was more of a rim protector.

 

[nets on nets on nets]

Vrank is white? I always thought he was Croatian?

 

[skysdad]

Vrank is white? I always thought he was Croatian?

LOL. I wish I had thought of that. OFC

 

[skysdad]

Recruiting wise? Yes, both big and white.

Bad feet or not? Zoubs offered little more than directing the screens and grabbing boards, two things Vrank is certainly capable of. Zoubs was not a rim protector, and either Plumlee (mostly Mason he was paired with at least until deeper into the tourney) was more of a rim protector.

I still miss Marshall. OFC

 

[Liftee]

With due respect, SoCal, I seem to recall Zoubek challenging Hayward on the next to last shot of the 2010 championship game. I mean he didn't remind anyone of Bill Russell, but he did learn something about positioning and he always put in the effort. I don't think Vrank is about to do any of that no matter how hard he tries. But again, he seems like a good guy and he may give a few good minutes against a physical team from time to time.

 

[PatrickYates]

Ok. Still didn't answer my question. Why? Because you're wrong just admit it and move on

Going back through every draft from 2002-2005 (kids that would otherwise have played against Shel). Bigs that didn't go to college during this era are: Dwight Howard, LeBron (who would have played PF in college). Andrew Bynum, Jonathan Bender, Kwame Brown, DeAngelo Collins, Leon Smith, Stoudemire, Kendrick Perkins, Travis Outlaw, Al Jefferson, Robert Swift, Josh Smith, Amir Johnson, CJ miles, James Lang.
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Some of those guys were flops in the pros, but they didn't go to college. Shel got a watered down version of competition in the post while he was in school.

 

[Mac9192]

Recruiting wise? Yes, both big and white.

Bad feet or not? Zoubs offered little more than directing the screens and grabbing boards, two things Vrank is certainly capable of. Zoubs was not a rim protector, and either Plumlee (mostly Mason he was paired with at least until deeper into the tourney) was more of a rim protector.

Mike Patrick was doing a Duke game back when Zoubek played. He gave the best line I've ever heard. It was something along the lines of "Zoubek is called for traveling so much, he gets called for it before he ever catches the ball!!!"

 

[PatrickYates]

With due respect, SoCal, I seem to recall Zoubek challenging Hayward on the next to last shot of the 2010 championship game. I mean he didn't remind anyone of Bill Russell, but he did learn something about positioning and he always put in the effort. I don't think Vrank is about to do any of that no matter how hard he tries. But again, he seems like a good guy and he may give a few good minutes against a physical team from time to time.

Also, Zoubs was 7-1 or something. His presence, in the packline, was a huge deterrent. He may not have blocked shots, but he got his money's worth on fouls. That alone deterred a lot of forays into the rim.

 

[pisgah101]

Going back through every draft from 2002-2005 (kids that would otherwise have played against Shel). Bigs that didn't go to college during this era are: Dwight Howard, LeBron (who would have played PF in college). Andrew Bynum, Jonathan Bender, Kwame Brown, DeAngelo Collins, Leon Smith, Stoudemire, Kendrick Perkins, Travis Outlaw, Al Jefferson, Robert Swift, Josh Smith, Amir Johnson, CJ miles, James Lang.
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Some of those guys were flops in the pros, but they didn't go to college. Shel got a watered down version of competition in the post while he was in school.

Lol so two guys Howard and Stoudamire that jump out at me. The likelihood that shel would of played against any isn't too high first of all. Secondly his junior and senior year he would of dominated any of them outside of Dwight for their freahman season. You seem to not get he was the fifth pick by ATL at that size so he was pretty darn good

 

[nets on nets on nets]

Also, Zoubs was 7-1 or something. His presence, in the packline, was a huge deterrent. He may not have blocked shots, but he got his money's worth on fouls. That alone deterred a lot of forays into the rim.

Vrank is also 7-1 though. But I agree, Zoubs only averaged 0.8 blocks per game his JR and SR seasons. He wasn't a shot blocker, but at least during the 2010 season, he altered a lot of shots, and was a great positional defender. His most notable alter is obviously against Hayward in the title game.

I don't see Vrank being able to replicate the interior defense that Zoubek provided, Vrank seemed to really struggle on post defense this past season in the games we would win by 40. But I still think he can be a big body who can eat space and grab rebounds. Vrank is a really good screen-setter too, a lot like Marshall was.

 

[Mac9192]

You guys are forgetting something though. Eight years ago, Duke wasn't getting almost whoever they wanted, so Zoubek was the option. Vrank may "only" be a 3 star, but in the role Zoubek played, could possibly do it, but doesn't get the chance to see because of the talent coming in.

Personally, I think he could.

 

[SoCal_Dukie3]

With due respect, SoCal, I seem to recall Zoubek challenging Hayward on the next to last shot of the 2010 championship game. I mean he didn't remind anyone of Bill Russell, but he did learn something about positioning and he always put in the effort. I don't think Vrank is about to do any of that no matter how hard he tries. But again, he seems like a good guy and he may give a few good minutes against a physical team from time to time.

Wow, one occurrence is the sample size?

 

[dukiejay]

Recruiting wise? Yes, both big and white.

Bad feet or not? Zoubs offered little more than directing the screens and grabbing boards, two things Vrank is certainly capable of. Zoubs was not a rim protector, and either Plumlee (mostly Mason he was paired with at least until deeper into the tourney) was more of a rim protector.

He was offensively skilled.....showed it some too that final year, and in flashes prior to that.

I don’t think the two are very comparable at all....besides, of course, being tall and white.

 

[christophero]

They also have the first letter of their last name ending in letters near the end of the alphabet. So there's that as well.

 

[dukiejay]

You guys are forgetting something though. Eight years ago, Duke wasn't getting almost whoever they wanted, so Zoubek was the option. Vrank may "only" be a 3 star, but in the role Zoubek played, could possibly do it, but doesn't get the chance to see because of the talent coming in.

Personally, I think he could.

Zoubek was still a high 4-star and low 5 by some services. His backups were a 4- and 5-star, as well.

And just because ‘we’ don’t get to see the chances in games certainly doesn’t mean Vrank isn’t getting them.

 

[pisgah101]

Zoubek was still a high 4-star and low 5 by some services. His backups were a 4- and 5-star, as well.

And just because ‘we’ don’t get to see the chances in games certainly doesn’t mean Vrank isn’t getting them.

Ahh yes practice reps are the same as game reps

 

[dukiejay]

Ahh yes practice reps are the same as game reps

They’re not, no. But the notion that game reps makes a player someone they’re not is equally as far-fetched. For example, I don’t think Javin becomes a reliable shooter playing 10 minutes/game more.

Besides, I do think Vrank can play a role. I just don’t think he could play the role Zoubek did for us, and certainly not as well.