The first round of the NBA playoffs are coming to a close, but let’s take a look at the former Duke men’s basketball players who were not lucky to participate in the playoffs.

The worst team in the NBA was Orlando (20-62) and Josh McRoberts began the season with the Magic, but finished it with Charlotte (the second worst team at 21-61). He averaged just 3.9 points in 16.7 minutes with the Magic, but received more playing time with the Bobcats. McRoberts averaged 9.3 points and 7.2 rebounds in 30.8 minutes.

His teammate was Gerald Henderson, who averaged 15.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game with Charlotte. In the Bobcats second to last game (a win over the Knicks), Henderson scored 27 points and dished out five assists.

Kyrie drives against KSU via DukeBluePlanet

The Cleveland Cavaliers had a tough season (24-58), but it wasn’t because of Kyrie Irving. He averaged 22.5 points, 5.9 assists, and 3.7 rebounds, as he started all 59 games that he played. However, he committed 3.2 turnovers a game. Irving scored 30+ points 13 times this season.

New Orleans changed from the Hornets to the Pelicans, but the results were the same, another losing season (27-55). It was a rough rookie season for Austin Rivers, who did not play after March 6th due to a fractured right hand. In the games he did play, he averaged 6.2 points. He dished out 2.1 assists, but committed 1.2 turnovers. Rivers finally seemed to adjust to the professional level over his final month.

Lance Thomas was a Pelicans teammate and averaged 2.5 points in 59 games. His best game came in a March 12th loss. He scored 12 points on 3-of-4 shooting and hauled in five rebounds. Thomas was also cleared in an NCAA investigation where he spent nearly $100,000 on jewelry while he was still at Duke.

The Detroit Pistons finished their season at 29-53 and Kyle Singler had a solid rookie season. He averaged 8.8 points and four rebounds over 28 minutes a game. His best game came in a March 22nd loss, when he scored 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting. He also hauled in eight rebounds, five on the offensive side.

Nolan Smith drives against Michigan in NCAA Tournament. Courtesy of DukeBluePlanet

Corey Maggette played in just 18 games with the Pistons and the team is expected to part ways with him. He struggled with staying healthy and finding a spot in the lineup (he was the oldest player on a team trying to go younger).

Nolan Smith played in just 40 games for the 33-49 Portland Trailblazers. He averaged 2.8 points per game. His lone double-digit scoring game in the second half came in a February 2nd win versus Utah (13 points on 5-of-7 shooting).

Elton Brand mostly came off the bench for the 41-41 Dallas Mavericks. He averaged 7.2 points and six rebounds. Brand only scored in double-digits twice over his final 19 games.

My next update will be of the former Blue Devils who were playing in the NBA playoffs. How many will still be playing on teams that are still alive? We shall see.

Nolan Smith drives against Michigan in NCAA Tournament. Courtesy of DukeBluePlanet

Former Duke guard Nolan Smith was taken off the court in a stretcher with less than 50 seconds left in his summer league game for Portland on Tuesday night. He took a hard foul (an inadvertent elbow) to the head on a drive to the basket. He collapsed and everyone feared the worst.

Thankfully, he was released from the hospital late Tuesday night with a concussion, after CT scans came back normal and he had full mobility. And yes, he is back tweeting (@NdotSmitty).

He continues to deal with headaches and a sore neck and like all other sports, Smith will have to go through a series of tests to gain clearance from the NBA to return to basketball action. It is likely that he will miss the rest of the summer league season.

Even in his brief stint in the summer league, Smith impressed the Blazers and hopefully he can be a key cog for them next season.

Nolan Smith drives against Michigan in NCAA Tournament. Courtesy of DukeBluePlanet

Former Duke men’s basketball player Nolan Smith was taken out in a stretcher on Tuesday night after taking a foul to the side of the head with 42.9 seconds remaining in the Portland Trailblazers summer league game. He was taken to the hospital and it is expected that he has a concussion.

Details are a bit sketchy, but you can check out Ben Golliver’s article on SB Nation.

A Blazers spokesperson said he never lost consciousness and was eventually able to answer questions and move his arms and legs.

The remaining portion of the game was cancelled.

UPDATE: It’s being reported that Nolan was released from the hospital late Tuesday night after CT scans came back normal and he had full range of motion.

Check out more on the injury from Joe Freeman’s article for The Oregonian.

*Keep Nolan in your prayers*

The NBA All-Star Game is Sunday night with the festivities set to begin Friday night. I figured now was a good time to put together another former Duke players in the NBA update.

Dunleavy & Battier via Duke Blue Planet

Mike Dunleavy returned to the Milwaukee Bucks on January 20th and has played in 19 games since. He has played off the bench for the 13-19 Bucks. Dunleavy is averaging 10.6 points and 2.5 rebounds a game. He is shooting 45.8% from the field.

The worst team in the NBA, the Charlotte Bobcats had two former Blue Devils in their starting lineup. Their head coach believes that once they can get their entire lineup healthy and playing together, they will be a better team.

Corey Maggette returned to the Bobcats on February 10th and has played in six games since. His best game since returning came in a loss to the Philadelphia Sixers on February 13th. He scored 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting, hauled in two rebounds, and had three steals. Overall, Maggette is averaging 12.9 points and 4.8 rebounds for the 4-27 Bobcats.

Now that Maggette is back, Gerald Henderson has been out since February 1st due to a hamstring strain. He hopes to be back after the All-Star break. He was averaging 15 points and 4.4 rebounds a game.

» Continue reading “Blue Devils in the NBA Update”

Via Duke Blue Planet

As I mentioned in my preview of the NBA, Duke has the most players in the league at 16. Well, that total dropped to 15 on December 31st, when forward Lance Thomas was waived by the New Orleans Hornets.

Thomas played in two games prior to being waived and averaged 0.5 points. He has since re-joined the Developmental League and the Austin Toros. He has started ten games and is averaging 15 points and 8.6 rebounds a game. In his last game (yesterday), he scored 16 points and hauled in ten rebounds (eight on the offensive end).

There are two former Blue Devils who are injured and expected to miss 2-4 weeks.

Mike Dunleavy of the Milwaukee Bucks is out with a groin injury. Prior to the injury, he started the Bucks first three games. He was averaging 10.3 points per game, along with four assists and 4.3 rebounds.

Corey Maggette is out with a strained left hamstring after getting hurt last Wednesday. Prior to the injury, he started the Charlotte Bobcats’ first six games. He had two 20-point games, one in a blowout loss to Orlando on December 30th and a 21-point effort in a loss to Cleveland on January 3rd. Maggette was averaging 12.2 points per game and 6.2 rebounds.

Maggette’s teammate on the Bobcats, Gerald Henderson, has started all twelve of their games. However the Bobcats are just 2-10. He is averaging 13.4 points per game and 4.8 rebounds. His best game so far was a 24 point performance in their win over the NY Knicks on January 4th. He was 10-for-13 from the field with four steals.

flickr/Keith Allison

The Orlando Magic are 8-3, tied atop the Southeast Division with the Miami Heat. JJ Redick has played in all 11 games, averaging 12.2 points per game. He has scored in double-figures in all but four games, with his best game coming December 26th versus Houston. In the win, he went 8-for-12 from the floor (3-of-4 from three-point land) for 20 points.

Redick’s teammate, guard Chris Duhon, has started one of the Magic’s first 11 games (he has played in all of their games). He is averaging 3.3 points per game and 2.8 assists. His best game so far came December 29th versus New Jersey. He scored nine points on 3-of-6 shooting (3-of-4 from three-point land). Duhon also had four assists in the win.

» Continue reading “Blue Devils in the NBA Update”

Former Duke guard, NCAA Champion, and newest Portland Trailblazers guard Nolan Smith has debuted his new website this past week.

It is a pretty cool site with links to both his Facebook and Twitter sites. There are also links to his foundation with his sister (the Sydney and Nolan Smith Foundation) and the Deuce Brand (you really have to check out their watches).

There are pictures from his playing days at Duke and a good one of him on graduation day with teammates Kyle Singler and Casey Peters. You can also check out videos of Nolan like the one below:

Not sure how much Nolan will play this season with the Trailblazers, but I’m sure he’ll be Tweeting about every moment (follow him @NdotSmitty). They began the NBA season Monday night against the visiting Philadelphia Sixers.

As I noted yesterday, there are plenty of former Duke players speckled across the NBA. I only covered a few yesterday and today I will cover the rest.

The NBA season begins tomorrow (Christmas Day) and the preseason was shortened to just two games, so here is how the rest of the former Blue Devils did in those two games:

Grant Hill, who re-signed with the Phoenix Suns, played just one preseason game (their last one). He went just 2-for-8 from the field for eight points. He did play 26 minutes.

Dunleavy & Battier via Duke Blue Planet

Mike Dunleavy signed with the Milwaukee Bucks once the lockout was over. He started both of the Bucks preseason games (0-2) and averaged 14.5 points over an average of 27 minutes. He also shot 50% from the field while averaging three rebounds and 3.5 assists. He also did not commit a turnover.

Josh McRoberts signed with the LA Lakers once the lockout was over. In their two games, he came off the bench to go 2-for-2 from the field. He also hauled in three rebounds in about an average of 16.5 minutes.

Sheldon Williams, who just signed with the NJ Nets, may see more playing time with the foot injury to big man Brook Lopez. He started both of the Nets preseason games (0-2) and averaged four points in an average of 22.9 minutes. He shot 50% from the field and hauled in eight rebounds.

Dahntay Jones went just 2-for-11 in the Indiana Pacers’ two preseason games (0-2). That turns out to an average of three points in an average of 14 minutes.

Shane Battier, who just signed with the Miami Heat, did not play in the preseason due to a strained left quad.

It wasn’t just the veterans who had decent preseasons.

Cleveland Cavaliers press conference

The number 1 pick in this past NBA draft, Kyrie Irving, played well coming off the bench for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He averaged 16 points and 26 minutes in those two games. He did commit five turnovers in his first game (though he scored 21 points), but settled down and did not commit a turnover in his next game. He shot 34.6% while averaging four rebounds and three assists.

Fellow rookie, Nolan Smith, is competing for the backup point guard spot with the Portland Trailblazers. He only averaged nine minutes in their two games for an average of two points. He did however average 2.5 rebounds.

*Tune in Christmas Day to ABC, ESPN, and TNT as the NBA season kicks off with five games throughout the day and night.

Taken by Keith Allison at the Suns-Wizards game on 1/26/09

Now that the NBA lockout is over and the season is finally set to begin on Christmas Day, I can delve a bit into the former Duke players. Preseason games begin tonight. Opening Day for the NBA features five games: Boston @ NY at noon, Miami @ Dallas at 2pm, Chicago @ the Lakers at 5pm, Orlando @ OKC at 8pm, and finally the Clippers @ Golden State at 10:30pm.

I mentioned in an earlier post that Kyle Singler is staying in Spain rather than return to try out for the Detroit Pistons. However there has been a lot of movement regarding former Blue Devils.

Shane Battier began last season playing for the Houston Rockets, before being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies near the end of the season. He helped the Grizzlies in the playoffs (he played in 23 games). Battier was a free agent and signed with the defending Eastern Conference Champion Miami Heat. In his career, he is averaging 9.6 points per game, 4.7 rebounds, one block, and 1.1 steals per game. So far during training camp, Battier feels comfortable and thinks playing with the big three will give him some open looks.

Grant Hill chose to re-sign with the Phoenix Suns rather than sign elsewhere. He is set to begin his 17th NBA season. Hill agreed to a one year, $6.5 million contract. Over the last four seasons with the Suns, he has averaged 12.4 points per game.

Another free agent, Mike Dunleavy, has signed on with the Milwaukee Bucks, after spending the last five seasons with the Indiana Pacers (he was the third pick in the 2002 draft). Over his NBA career, he has averaged 14 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Dunleavy signed a two year, $7.5 million deal with the Bucks.

» Continue reading “Blue Devils in the NBA”

The Duke men’s basketball team played the Chinese National Team on Thursday night in Shanghai (or Thursday morning at 8am ET here in the US). It was the second game the two teams played in two days of the Friendship Series, but it was the first game that was televised (on ESPNU and ESPN3.com) and the first game at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Duke won game one and also took game two, 78-66. With the NBA in a lockout, former Blue Devil guard Nolan Smith, and Portland Trailblazers first round draft pick, tweeted live updates throughout the game through the Duke Blue Planet basketball twitter. He was very much into the game!

After not getting home until the wee hours of the morning, I decided I would just read the recap of the game when I awoke this morning. Instead, thunderstorms rolled through my area around the 8 o’clock hour, waking me up and leading me downstairs to the television. It was like an alarm clock, telling me I should watch Duke’s first LIVE game. The game kept my mind off the loud rumblings and wind howlings going on outside.

What I learned:

• China is a very physical team that switches up their defenses from man-to-man to zone.
• China is not a very good free-throw shooting team (though they get to the line a lot).
• Duke still takes a lot of LONG shots.
• Ryan Kelly may be the X-factor for Duke this season.
• Duke freshman Austin Rivers thinks score first, everything else second.
• When the Plumlee brothers are involved, this team is GOOD.

There were a lot of whistles in the first half (though it picked up again later in the second half), with China getting the bulk of the free-throw shots (though China isn’t a very good free-throw shooting team). The over 200 fans who accompanied Duke on their chartered flight booed every bad call and Coach K looked like he might blow (picture a bright red face and fumes escaping his nose and ears).

» Continue reading “Duke Takes Game 2 in Friendship Series”

The Duke men’s basketball team is FINALLY headed to China, with a few stops in between, for their Friendship Series. They were supposed to take off on Sunday, but rain and plane problems, led them to a take off at 1pm ET on Monday (on a smaller plane). The Blue Devils kept busy in the airport, many of them highlighting their time on Twitter.

Here are a few examples:

The Blue Devils have finally taken off from Raleigh, NC’s airport and are headed to their Around the World in 13 Days trip. It just may have taken a little longer to get off the ground.

Via Taylor Doherty