Draft Express Content wrote:Defensively, Scheyer’s savvy and anticipation help him make an impact on the college level, but aren’t as advantageous from a NBA perspective. Already showing a lack of lateral quickness against lesser competition, Scheyer doesn’t project as a good defender on the next level. Showing excellent fundamentals, a high effort level, and outstanding awareness in the passing lanes, the young guard’s lack of physical strength and foot speed will likely make him a target in isolation situations and force his teammates to compensate for his shortcomings should he make it to the NBA.

It is hard to discount the basketball IQ and winning mentality Scheyer has displayed during his time at Duke, but his poor shooting percentage, lack of physical tools, and defensive ability will require him to have a big senior season to cement himself as an NBA prospect

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Jon-Scheyer-1043/

This all = Draft Express placing Jon on one of its latest mock NBA Draft lists.


From Sports Illustrated senior writer Luke Winn, after Scheyer scored 20 points, handed out 8 assists, grabbed 5 boards and picked off 3 balls in Duke's drubbing of then-#15 Gonzaga on Saturday:

1. Jon Scheyer is an All-America candidate ... and the new front-runner in the ACC Player of the Year race. It feels strange saying those things about the Duke senior who had, up until recently, always been thought of as a complementary player. I imagine a large number of non-Duke fans will begin drafting angry e-mails immediately after seeing "Scheyer" and "ACC Player of the Year" in the same sentence, and not even read the rest of this article. But in this case the numbers back up the argument.

Scheyer is the steadying influence at the point that Duke had long lacked, and he has legitimate offensive skills to go with his risk-free style as a distributor. After scoring 36 points (on 11-of-13 shooting) in the previous game against Gardner-Webb, his offensive rating of 147.9 coming into Saturday was -- just like his assist-to- turnover ratio -- ranked third-best in the nation. Kentucky point guard John Wall, the current leader in the national player of the year race, has similar per-game averages to Scheyer in points and assists, but Wall's offensive rating is significantly lower, at 115.2, and his assist-to-turnover ratio is just 1.6. Scheyer is no John Wall, but of the two, the Blue Devils' senior is the more efficient floor general.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/luke_winn/12/19/duke.gonzaga/index.html?xid=cnnbin

Scheyer is no doubt a player in the national player of the year race now, and sports "experts" (if you want to call them that) are starting to take notice.

It's about time others do, too.

He could very well be the ACC POY, but that doesn't change his draft prospects, which is what you attempted to debate.

What I "attempted" to debate was that the door has been starting to open on Scheyer's draft prospects, and -- as evidenced by the current success he's having and Draft Express's latest mock draft -- I accomplished that.

Some here mocked me for even believing Scheyer had a chance earlier in the season -- not just for the Draft but for believing he would win any type of national award as well.

It comes down to blind hate -- and, for some, stupidity. Jon Scheyer, on the college level, is the real deal, and, outside of rare greats like Wall, you won't find many better.

Draft Express's latest mock draft -- I accomplished that.

I guess the opinion of the people at DraftExpress.com only counts when it fits YOUR argument.

It comes down to blind hate -- and, for some, stupidity. Jon Scheyer, on the college level, is the real deal, and, outside of rare greats like Wall, you won't find many better

.

It has nothing to do with hate and everything to do with reality. Early in the season, Singler was your "Flavor of the Month". Now, because of a couple of good games, you have switched to Scheyer.Let the season play out and let the competition stiffen before crowning anybody the POY. If you do that, you won't look so stupid.

Btw, there are plenty of players who are putting up numbers which would make them viable candidates for the POY. Harangody comes to mind, Damion James is having a nice year,etc....... Hell, I would vote for Nolan Smith over Scheyer simply because his on ball defense is so much better than what Scheyer can do.

Wiat until these guys get a few ROAD games under their belts before giving them a crown.

I am not crowning Scheyer POY (and, BTW, I've been praising Scheyer's underrated game for four years, and not just "after a couple good games"); I am simply pointing out that the "passing over" many here keep giving him is absurd, and shows ignorance. I've seen everything from Scheyer couldn't sniff the NBA (complete BS) to Scheyer is garbage (pure stupidity).

Don't put words in my mouth. That makes you, well, you. And also stupid, since we're calling names.

Also, I haven't backed off of my Singler sentiments. Everyone has a preseason NPOTY pick early on, and mine was Singler. I had legitimate claim with that assumption, too. He's had a few games recently where he has struggled, however, and isn't quite looking like the NPOTY any longer. That's OK. He's still a strong candidate for All-American (Singler, though he played very poorly against both UConn and Gonzaga, is still averaging almost 16 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists per outing, and put up 28 in a very tough road environment against Wisconsin), and he's playing nowhere near where he's capable of being.

I've seen everything from Scheyer couldn't sniff the NBA

This is opinion. That doesn't make it right, nor does it wrong or BS.My guess is that the talent evaluators know exactly why Scheyer is not a great NBA prospect. It is foolish to think otherwise.

and he's playing nowhere near where he's capable of being.

Again , that is your opinion. For the record, I think Singler is a helluva player. But, you still have to let the season play out, especially the conference games. Familiarity and true road games force the cream to rise to the top. Let's wait and see who rises.

He's a Jew.

After scoring 19 points and adding a career-high 11 assists in Duke's win over Pennsylvania on New Year's Eve, the unathletic and, according to some here, garbage Blue Devil senior Jon Scheyer is averaging 18.6 PPG, 6.4 APG, 3.8 RPG, 1.1 SPG and shooting 43.6% from beyond the arc.

In Duke's current five-game winning streak, Scheyer is averaging over 22 points, 8 assists and shooting 50 percent from three, making 4 long-balls a contest.

Scheyer's 5.5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio leads the NCAA and his 6.4 APG average is sixth in all of D-I college basketball. He has led the Blue Devils in assists in all 12 of Duke's outings.

If those aren't the numbers of a potential first team All-American and a kid with a good chance of making an NBA roster one day then I don't know what would be.

And as I've stated before, Scheyer is scoring above and dishing out more assists than his season averages in games against ranked opponents.

I want to jump along on this with you rec and sing Scheyer's praise, but his performance against Villanova last year was too tough to forget.

He is a great player in Cameron no doubt, but I haven't seen him light teams up on the road like he has at home.

If those aren't the numbers of a potential first team All-American and a kid with a good chance of making an NBA roster one day then I don't know what would be.

College numbers have very little to do with making an NBA roster. In fact, they mean almost nothing.

Jon Scheyer update.

31 PTS, 4 ASSTS, 3 REBS and 10-of-19 shooting (4-of-9 3PT) from the field and 7-of-7 from the stripe against Iowa State on Wednesday night. Over his last seven games, the kid who can't do much at all is averaging over 24 a game and leading the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (for the season) -- and leading Duke to seven straight victories.

He didnt look so good against some quality competition. 3-13 beyond the arc? The Dukies lose at Ga Tech!!

He may not have shot well, but Jon still scored 25 points on just 13 shots and dished out 6 assists and grabbed 2 rebounds, along with committing only one turnover.

Not bad on a day when you literally looked awful at times (in terms of outside shooting). Pretty damn solid when you look at it that way. What Jon showed today was his tremendous driving ability and craftiness with the ball. His passing was superb as well.

He was getting no help today in the midst of Tech's stifling pressure D. Duke's offensive positioning today sucked. Not to mention, Jon was getting grabbed all day long. But it's over.

Jon was getting grabbed all day long.

I think Jon was bailed out by the officials more than a few times. Especially the phantom 3-shot foul right before half.

Here are Jon's averages through 15 games:

PPG 20.0
APG 6.1
RPG 3.6
SPG 1.2

And the nation's leading assist-to-turnover ratio at 5.2:1.

Shooting:

FG% .458
3P% .407
FT% .910

Over the last seven games, Scheyer is averaging 25 PTS, 7.2 ASSTS and 3.2 REBS, while drilling 28-of-62 three-pointers (45.2%).

Jon has now scored over 20 points in seven different games this season, including two games in which he has knotted at least 30. He's now just 350 points removed from 2,000 from his career at Duke. To put this sort of accomplishment into perspective, Grant Hill and Shane Battier, who both played in Durham for four years, never reached this milestone. Only nine Blue Devils ever have. The territory Jon is starting to enter during his senior season in blue is frighteningly good. Two-thousand point scorers at Duke include college basketball legends such as J.J. Redick, Johnny Dawkins, Christian Laettner, Gene Banks, Jim Spanarkel and Jason Williams. Fine company indeed.

At this pace, if 13-2 Duke plays 20 more games, Scheyer will have to average 17.5 points per to reach 2,000.

Is Singler still a favorite for the National POY award?

Early on, you said there was no doubt that Singler deserved to be mentioned in this conversation. Have you now changed the focus of your campaign?


Some food for thought.

In the only true road games duke has played. Wisconsin and GT, Scheyer has not had stellar shooting nights.

He is a combined 10/26(38.46%) from the field and 3/16 (18.75%)from behind the arc.

prescott wrote:In the only true road games duke has played. Wisconsin and GT, Scheyer has not had stellar shooting nights.

He is a combined 10/26(38.46%) from the field and 3/16 (18.75%)from behind the arc.

First off, why can't you capitalize Duke? Please enlighten us.

Secondly, in those two Duke road games you mentioned, Wisconsin and Georgia Tech, Jon is averaging 17.5 points and 5 assists, while committing only two turnovers in 78 minutes of action. In four games against ranked opponents this season, Jon's numbers average out to 21.5 points, 6.3 assists and 3.5 steals per game. His shooting percentage in those games is .403. When taking into consideration the amount of difficult shots Jon makes and takes each game, whether it be rifling into the key for a crafty underhand scoop bank shot off the glass or a stop and pop triple with a defender in his eye or a crucial runner in the final minutes, that's not such a bad percentage. Scheyer almost never takes unnecessary risks -- that's part of what makes him such an efficient offensive player -- but he does make many difficult plays due to his deft ability to finish around the tin.

Also, because Duke is so thin in the backcourt this season, Scheyer is asked to play 38 plus minutes a game, every game. Ultimately, playing that many minutes on a team with not much backcourt help will not only necessitate a player like Scheyer to shoot more shots but also increase his chances of finding tired arms late in games -- and, obviously, because that player is asked to score more, he's also going to have more opportunities to miss. For the most part, this hasn't bothered Scheyer, as he's shooting 45% from the field overall and over 40% from three on the season. He's a very well conditioned athlete.

Bottom line, players are going to have bad shooting nights now and then. It's a fact. Knowing Scheyer, though, I'd bet the house that he'll finish the season with more good nights than bad ones. And that's all you can ask for.

At the end of the day, 25 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds, along with 1 turnover, is just about as good a game as one can have against a ranked opponent, in their gym. That's what Jon did against Tech.

necessitate a player like Scheyer to shoot more shots but also increase his chances of finding tired arms late in games -- and, obviously, because that player is asked to score more

It also begs the question--- Why not give Dawkins some run??
It is also a two-sided coin. Because Scheyer handles the ball so much and plays so many minutes he is likely to have inflated numbers as far as ppg because he gets the garbage free throws at the end of games.

is just about as good a game as one can have against a ranked opponent, in their gym.

I'm sorry, but giving him a pass on a 3/13 effort isn't acceptable.

I'm not sure GT would be ranked after losing to Georgia.

The Andre Dawkins situation is tricky. At least right now. Early in the year, even in tightly contested, tough affairs against UConn and Wisconsin, Andre was earning upwards of 20 minutes a night. He played 22 alone in that game against the Badgers. And he played well. In Madison, Andre hit four threes for 12 points, all four of which came in the second half to help Duke back into the game.

Sadly, however, near the end of Duke's fall semester, Andre's sister was killed in a car crash on her way to her brother's game against St. John's. Despite the fact that Andre has played some significant minutes against Gonzaga and some other less than significant teams since his sister's death, I don't think it's unfair to say that Andre's progression from early season has slowed a bit, and thus his minutes as well. He missed a lot of practice and prep time in the latter part of December and into January due to travel, make-up of exams that he had to rearrange for later dates after his sister's passing, etc. So far, Andre's transition into college basketball, let alone the grueling task that is ACC basketball, has been a little more trying than most.

He's a great player, and Coach K knows this. Otherwise, Coach K wouldn't have accepted Andre's suggestion to come play for Duke a year early, at the age of 17. But Andre obviously is battling through some things right now and needs some time to grow into his role on the team.

That's my opinion anyway.

He is battling depression apparently. Understandable. The Duke family will embrace him and do all it can to help him with the grieving process. I hope he can find some solace in those that love him and will not blame himself or the circumstance for his sister's passing.

I hadn't heard depression anywhere, but, if true, yeah, I could see why.

There is no doubt his emotional well-being has been affected by the loss of his sister, let alone his play in a recreational sport. I take basketball and high stakes college athletics as serious as the next guy, but, when comparing them to a family death, they mean nothing.

As for your last part, swami, I hope so too. That'd be tough.