If yesterday was his first full practice, and they’re still not sure if he’s gonna play (as of yesterday), that makes him at least somewhat less of a concern. Feels like they’re gonna need a few games back to remember how to play together. These guys don’t have a lot of game reps to fall back on. Don’t think they’ve had much of Lively, Flip, Roach, Whitehead all together at the same time.
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I was watching UNC Duke and noted Proctor looked like a kangaroo. I had no idea he was an Aussie until today, really embodying the spirit of the Outback. Love it
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We shall see. Virginia Tech at JPJ was just getting Cattoor back after about the same absence and Cattoor had no shortage of reps with his teammates and for his coach, so it should’ve been as close to seamless a reintegration as possible, but clearly they did struggle some (though that could’ve just been UVA’s excellence and the JPJ environment as well).
Anyways, I never rule anything out with Duke, they most always seem to bring their best to our matchups. I think it’s going to be a battle either way.
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Also Whitehead has been not great when he has played, I assume because he hasn’t been fully healthy yet? He shoots the 3 ball fine, but doesn’t otherwise look like the high usage wing they want him to be, with his rough 2pt shooting and lack of free throws.
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Yeah, he’s not lighting it up for sure, but doesn’t seem to have been healthy or healthy for long enough to get comfortable. We shall see if he does in time for the March run.
Fwiw, Vecenie’s bit on his play leading up to the most recent injury:
And indeed, it’s worth noting that things had been looking up for Whitehead. He has scored in double figures in six of his last eight games, averaging 11 points and shooting 41.5 percent from 3. However, where Whitehead has truly struggled this year is in putting any pressure whatsoever on the rim. At Montverde, he was aggressive and attack-oriented. He’d try to tear down the rim with powerful straight line drives to the basket. But so far at Duke, he’s shooting just 45.5 percent at the rim in half-court settings — per Synergy — and he’s rarely even getting there. Again, that’s why scouts want to preach patience with Whitehead. He’s just playing a very different brand of basketball stylistically from what we’ve seen at lower levels.
And just to close the loop, the lineup of Flip, Lively, Roach, and Whitehead has only played 28 possessions of about 1600 total.
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Two GREATs right there! You gotta pay, Fresh!
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That’s on the LRA expense account right?
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At practice. Isaac Traudt’s shot. Wow. Unlimited range
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Watching him in person for the Blue-White scrimmage before the season started was eye opening. He was definitively the best shooter on the team, even better than Armaan and I-Mac which is saying something for a guy who’s 6’9.
I know some wanted him to play this year and there’s a good amount of validity to that argument, but for the sake of not circling back to that for the umpteenth time I’ll just say I think we’re gonna be reeaaalll happy with him in our rotation next year.
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What kind of threes was he making? Were they spot ups? Coming around screens? Or off the dribble?
Any thoughts on Dante?
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I don’t remember any off the dribble, think it was mostly flaring to the perimeter after setting a screen. It’s been a while though so maybe I’m mistaken. But his jumper is about as pretty as you’ll see from a big man, and like Fresh said his range is deep. Another thing that stood out was while held his own as a shot blocker and on ball defender in certain situations, he fouled a ton and got away with some contact that could have been called in a normal game. I think the physicality of the ACC would’ve been a difficult adjustment for him this year and potentially limited his minutes if he couldn’t stay out of foul trouble. All a what if scenario at the end of the day of course.
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All of you can by buying one of Singletary’s shirts he just posted up on twitter.
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Looks like Whitehead is playing. He’ll either drop 20 or be a complete non factor
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Fast fast and real confident. But he is small ha
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I saw couple step backs from well off the arc. Against the starters. Jay Willy was going nuts!
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Should I assume he was playing Flip on the scout team?
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