Matt is at his best giving his opinions and answering questions from people who look upon him as an authority. He’s fitting in very well at MGoBlog. He’s wrong sometimes, but he puts thought into his opinions and backs them up. He adds a lot as long as he doesn’t interact much with people who disagree with him.
The craziest thing about comparing the two players is that Coleman will still be playing in college when Duncan Robinson will be a starter in his 3rd NBA season.
Meh I don’t think he thought Duncan was a high major caliber player based on his comments. Role player “at best” is not what Duncan was. He was a starter caliber player every year. so I think he both underrated Duncan and overrated JCL.
To me it was never his disrespect for Duncan but he actually thought he was more qualified than the Michigan staff. In hindsight, stating the demise of the team and their accomplishments made him look very much an amateur. As for Duncan, he just didn’t see it because the only data he had was “hear say” from the ratings and the net. JB had real people with real evaluatIons supporting his decision. As for Duncan, he put in the time and is looking at an 8 figure salary. Great story!
He’s doing a good job over there. Matt also emphasizes athleticism, major shoe company grassroots results, and measurables (wingspan, height). Duncan didn’t check any of those boxes, but he was/is great anyways.
Role player doesn’t mean bench guy, a lot of starters are just role players. Duncan was a 16% usage guy at Michigan, that is a role player.
I agree, but the mention of “at best” and then through out the thread he implied he thought Duncan was unlikely to reach even the level of being a very good role player like Duncan was for Michigan.
You simply don’t sacrifice A talent of Coleman’s caliber for the likes of a player that is going to be 7-8th man off the bench.
^an exact quote. Duncan was 4th, 6th, and 5th in MPG in his 3 years at Michigan. There is no way he would have predicted that based on what he was saying. Actually he may ahve said that and then said the teams themselves would have been not good, which we know they were quite good.
I think he thought Duncan was a Division 3 level player and never really left any room otherwise. And he similarly considered Beilein to be a Division 3 recruiter.
He can’t let it go
Bigggg Paul George “that was a bad shot” vibes
Honestly he was right about the Celtics hunting him. That’s probably a good strategy for them. And they may be a bit better with Herro, he’s really good. But they’re a good team with Duncan as well
Whether or not he’s “right” (and the Celtics, who are favored, are still down 2-1 after Duncan dropped 6 3s on them in game 2), does anyone have the slightest doubt that Matt read the thread this morning and is, at least in part, responding through this criticism? He’s a smart guy, but like everyone, including smart guys, he gets things wrong, and he simply will not back down and admit error. Duncan Robinson, who Matt said would, at best, be a role player in college, is an NBA starter on a team in the Eastern Conference finals, and is going to make 8 figures a year on his next contract. Jalen Coleman-Lands, who Matt heralded as a talent you don’t turn down for a guy like DR, is on his third college team and is never going to sniff the NBA. There’s no spinning that. Me, I say I was wrong and move on—there’s no sin in being mistaken in an evaluation. Matt won’t do that. And that, as one of the previous posters described, is kind of sad.
I couldn’t have predicted that either, but I do remember when we played Maryland, Duncan nailed a bunch of threes, and Dickie V. proclaimed he was an NBA player. The play-by-play guy said, “You think so?” And Dickie V. said, “A guy who can shoot like that? Absolutely.”
Yep. He brought up a million kids he thought Michigan “should be recruiting,” and almost none of them turned out to be very good (leaving aside the issue of whether they were a good fit). Had really negative stuff to say about DJ Wilson, Duncan, wasn’t really in favor of recruiting Mo Wagner, etc. And my favorite take was how the GSW would never win a championship due to their style of play. No one is right all the time to be sure, but he had a super condescending attitude toward anyone who disagreed with him, and he really did seem to think he was smarter than John Beilein.
I saw a stat the other day that Duncan’s make percentage on catch and shoot threes in 2019-2020 was the best ever (46.2%, minimum of 500 attempts) - higher than anything Steph Curry or Klay Thompson have ever done.
It’s his first playoff series ever. I’d say on the whole, he’s played well, and his team is two wins away from the NBA Finals. Find me a rookie other than say Michael Jordan who didn’t struggle from time to time in his first playoff series. I agree, “sad” aptly describes it.
Man, Michigan basketball would be a completely different world if they took the advice of a certain recruiting “expert” over the years. Me, I have been pretty happy that I got to attend a final four watching Moe “waste of a scholarship” Wagner lead the way with Duncan “7th to 8th man” Robinson helping bring us there. Pshhh, what do I know?! I may be discounting the impact Jalen Coleman-Lands would have made on this year’s team! Depaul apparently just has it that good…
Probably time to move this conversation on.
Yes. Let’s drop this silliness. Everyone lost their minds in that thread. It’s funny to look back on but we don’t need to re debate it all. Just enjoy Duncan in the playoffs.
Iggy chatter…
