Mason Plumlee and Duke's Big-Man Arrested Development - SCACCHoops.com

Mason Plumlee and Duke's Big-Man Arrested Development

by WebMaster

Posted: 4/11/2012 10:28:12 AM


The happiness surrounding Mason Plumlee's decision to stay at Duke was quickly followed by the eventual  can of worms, otherwise known as Duke's big-man development, being opened up yet again.  This time it appears to be David Gaines, Plumlee's high school coach who apparently didn't think the decision to stay at Duke was a good one for his development, who breathed new life into an old discussion.

"Last year I told him he shouldn’t go, (but) in my opinion he should go now. I disagree with how (Duke) is using him as a screen-setter, shot blocker and rebounder. . If they are not going to develop him more as a total player, I think he should go to the NBA and learn that as a pro," Gaines said.

And apparently Perky Plumlee, Mason's father as well as Mason himself had some concerns about his development as well.

On Twitter the Raleigh News & Observer's Jack Daily tweeted about Perky Plumlee's concerns about how Mason has been used and both were apparently curious about how Mike Krzyzewski and his coaching staff planed on using Mason for the coming season.

Perky Plumlee indicated that Krzyzewski and Mason had a heart to heart to discuss those concerns and that apparently the staff has pledged to support Mason's goals.

I can only imagine those goals include a more prominent role as a scorer and offensive weapon, but I wasn't there and can only speculate about what the plans are until I see the team in action.

But the overall vibe coming from the decision is that Mason Plumlee, his father and former coach are all of the same opinion shared by many others that Duke is either unable or unwilling to develop big men.

I think there is some truth in what the perception tells people but the facts aren't necessarily there to support that perception, at least in my opinion.

I was reminded by a reader the other day that Duke hasn't really had a true center since Mike Gminski and that was before Krzyzewski's time. Since then Krzyzewski has preferred to go after more versatile power forwards than traditional back to the basket post players.

Think Christian Laettner, Josh McRoberts, Shavlik Randolph, granted not of the same quality, but in terms of what they brought or were expected to bring, none were true centers or back to the basket post players.

The best back to the basket players were all power forwards: Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer and Shelden Williams. The fact is the issues is less about Krzyzewski or his staff's ability to develop post talent as it is his proclivity for getting big guys who are versatile and can play multiple positions.

But it isn't like Duke hasn't gone after guys or landed guys who were seen as that true back to the basket type player. Some of those guys just haven't been interested in Duke all that much. Duke has missed out on some guys too whether centers or big power forwards.

Duke missed on Adonal Foyle back in the day and they've more recently missed on guys like Greg Monroe, Patrick Patterson and Mitch McGary. And that to me, that inability to sign some of their high priority big-man targets has been the impetus for the theory that Duke can't develop big guys.

The blame has fallen on Krzyzewski's inability to recruit those guys and to an extent there is some truth just based on the kind of players he likes to recruit and the system he runs. But blame has also fallen on the coaching staff for what is perceived as their inability to develop big men.

In my opinion, however, the coaching staff has done a fair to very good job of developing the big men that they actually get into the program. Who has Duke gotten and developed? How about guys like Eric Meek, Ala Abdelnaby, Greg Newton, Casey Sanders, Matt Christensen, Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek.

These guys weren't super talented guys coming out of high school in most cases. They were guys that were either good or projects that had to be molded. And if you look at each player's career you will see these were guys that over time became very useful big men on, in most cases, good to very good teams.

Again they may not have been double-double guys but Duke may not win the National Title in 2001 without Casey Sanders play down the stretch and they certainly the title in 2010 wouldn't have come without the play of Zoubek and Thomas.

None of those guys started their careers as stars and in some cases few ended them that way, in fact it happens rarely. Most of those big men who have been good enough to be stars out of the gate haven't been interested or just didn't end up at Duke.

So the fault isn't in the coaching; from my perspective it is the inability to get those elite big-men to come to Duke to being with. The players that have come, usually end up reaching their potential, which may not have been very high to begin with, or they've exceeded it.

Guys like Elton Brand, Carlos, Boozer, and Shelden Williams don't come along all that often, or at least they haven't come to Duke that often.  

To me, Krzyzewski's motion offense  seems to rely more on guards and skilled wing men. He can certainly integrated skilled bigs, but it is a system where those bigs have to have a particular skill set that involves being able to shoot and dribble: think Ryan Kelly or Laettner again.

The cases when you get a Williams, Boozer or Brand is when you see Duke have that inside scoring presence that makes them more of a dynamic team. But they have still won and won titles without those kind of guys and as I said, those kind of guys don't come to Duke that often.

Still the perception remains that Duke can't or won't develop its bigs. In the case of Mason Plumlee it is hard to argue he hasn't developed seeing as his scoring, and rebounding have all improved in his three years.

Most are expecting him to continue to improve on those numbers and if Perky Plumlee's break down of the conversation between Mason and Krzyzewski is accurate, I would expect him to have a potential All-ACC season as a senior with a bigger role offensively.

Perhaps there is room for an argument that his development has been slowed by this inability to develop their big men or that his growth hasn't occurred fast enough. There is no way to tell and the easiest solution is simply to blame Steve Wojciechowski who had coached the big until this year when Jeff Capel apparently took over.

Still some think that a guard can't coach a big man and thus no big man will want to play for Duke because of that. My thought is that it is less about who the coach is and more about the system that the Blue Devils elect to run.

It requires to have the big men set screens and rebounds, but what program wants a big man who can't set screens and rebound? If the big man is good enough and talented enough then they will be a more integral part of that system at Duke, and history has proven that.

Maybe recruits like Mitch McGary or Tony Parker don't like the idea of doing that kind of big-man work but no matter where they go, they still will be required to set screens and rebound.

So in Mason Plumlee's senior campaign I would expect him to be a bigger part of the offense since his offensive skill set has gotten better. He has developed more consistent go-to post moves and should continue that development as a senior.

By that progression it is hard to justify that he hasn't developed during his time and that he can't continue to develop as a senior. But I guarantee when the 2012-2013 season is over, Mason Plumlee will be a better big man for staying.

I also guarantee that he will still be setting screens and rebounding because that is one thing all big men are required to do, or so I was always led to believe until recently.

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