Posted by BlueSeats:

I didn't see the game, but looking at the clips from last night, it's true GS played no D, but I really like the way Duhon leads players to the rim with his passes. It's very promising for what he may be able to do after he really gets to know where players like the ball.

I keep hearing how Marbury is twice the player Duhon is, but I never found Marbury to be a good playmaker. The only player he's shown good on-court chemistry with since KVH (who he had traded) is Lee. Never with Jamal, Zach, Curry, Nate, Balkman, Ariza, TT. Marbury was never ahead of the offense, his style was always to lull both teams to sleep with dribbling, then catch them off guard. He could never run a motion offense, you need to be able to think 4 or 5 moves in advance and Marbury could never think more than one move at a time. His entire arsenal consisted of two one-move plays: pick n' roll, or drive n' dish.

Once upon a time Marbury was certainly a better scorer than Duhon, but he stifled the offense in the process. His offensive arsenal was even less diverse than his playmaking: dribble around at the top of the key until your opponent (an own team) grows bored and then drive down the right side of the lane for a layup or foul. At this stage ofthegame, when he's no longer allowed to dribble to his hearts content, and is no longer fast or has lift, I'm not even sure he's a better scorer than Duhon.

These last few years he's also suffered knee and ankle injuries, and that's at reduced minutes, so I'd expect him to be far less durable than Duhon with the rigors of this sytem and extended minutes.

Defensively Duhon is much more consistent. Under LB Marbury would play D every once in a while, but doing so burned his knees out by February '06 and we haven't seen much D since.

Leadership and coachability are incomparable as Duhon shows a lot and Marbury is negative. Marbury actually leads teams into the gutter.

Great promise shown by Duhon. At this stage of their careers Duhon is a better, more versatile and durable PG in every facet I can imagine.

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by TMS:

in the 2.5 seasons Derek Harper was a NY Knick he averaged 12 & 5 as a fulltime starter... Duhon's already putting up 11 & 8 while learning a new system & he doesn't have the added luxury of having a guy like Patrick Ewing to dump the ball down to in the low post.

The luxuries that Duhon does enjoy, far outweigh any that Harper had under Riley's walk it up offense. 12 & 5 in that system would be comparable to 20 & 10 in D'Antoni's crazy system. Duhon also doesn't have to worry about playing tough nose defense for 18-20 seconds a possession on the other end.

Posted by fishmike:

Harper was Chauncy Billups.. only better at everything.

Posted by VDesai:

I don't think Jeffries has enough skill, but I'm perfectly fine with giving him a chance. Perfectly fine with giving Curry a chance too. Either they prove themselves, play up to a tradable level or just flame out again, but there's enough upside to give them a chance.

Posted by crzymdups:

Posted by fishmike:

Harper was Chauncy Billups.. only better at everything.

you're way underrating Billups. I'm sorry, Harper was very good and I loved him, but Billups is a far superior playmaker.

i agree, the Derek Harper we had those 2 years in NY was nowhere near the PG Billups is now.