Krzyzewski's Starting Five

Each week, Jason King of ESPN writes a column entitled “King’s Court” and at the end of the column, he contributes this:

The Starting Five

Each week, I'll pick the top five players -- and three reserves -- to play for a high-profile coach. Disagree with my selections? Let me hear about it. Note: Current players were not considered.

It was only a matter of time before he got to him, and this week he did:

Duke's All-Mike Krzyzewski team

Starters

G: Jay Williams -- Won NCAA title in 2001 and the Wooden Award in 2002
G: Johnny Dawkins -- Duke's second all-time leading scorer was national POY in 1987
F: Shane Battier -- Swept the national player of the year awards after winning 2001 title
F: Danny Ferry -- 1989 national player of the year owns single-game mark for points (58)
F: Christian Laettner -- All-American is the only player to start in four straight Final Fours

Bench

G/F: Grant Hill -- Two-time All-American and two-time NCAA champion
G: J.J. Redick -- School's all-time leading scorer; one of 13 players to have jersey retired
F: Shelden Williams -- Duke's career leader in blocks and rebounds

Looking at this, I can’t outright disagree. But there are some things worth noting.

I sent this to my friend, James (a UNC fan) and asked his opinion and this was his response:

"I think Hill needs to start over Ferry. I know Ferry was very good (I saw him a lot), but Hill was simply a better player. And there is no way I’d pick Shelden Williams. I’d have Brand or even Boozer over Williams. And how can you not have Hurley on the bench?"

I also cannot outright disagree with James. I was only ages 4-8 when Danny Ferry was at DUKE but I will say this: whenever my brother and I would play video games and there was an option for us to pick a number in anything- I’d always pick number 35 because Ferry wore 35. He was obviously doing enough right that a 4-8 year old was picking up on it. But, Grant Hill did win two National Championships at DUKE. Two. That’s gotta be something. You can’t lose with either of these two though, regardless of the rotation.

Any Coach that has had enough good players that J.J. Redick (as a collegiate player) is coming off the bench? That’s just… wow. Full disclosure: J.J. Redick is, and more likely than not always will be, my favorite player to put on a uniform. But, that isn’t without reason. The guy was unstoppable. I saw him drop 41 points on Texas in East Rutherford, NJ like it was nothing. He hit everything, including nine threes that day. Did I mention that it was a #1 (DUKE) vs. #2 (Texas) matchup? The guy was a maniac. When J.J. took off his DUKE uniform for the last time, he did so as the leading scorer in DUKE history, the leading scorer in ACC history, the leading scorer in ACC Tournament History, the national career leader in three- pointers made and the nation’s second best free throw shooter ever. He won the Rupp Award (twice), the AP National Player of the Year Award, the Wooden Award, the Naismith College Player of the Year Award, the NABC Player of the Year Award and the Oscar Robertson Trophy. I suppose it’s fine that J.J. starts on Krzyzewski’s bench but I’d be willing to bet he comes in before the first media timeout.

Now: Shelden Williams. James makes a good point that he’d take Brand or even Boozer over Shelden Williams and in some ways, I agree; in others, I think Shelden deserves to be there. Brand and Boozer only stayed in Durham for two and three years respectively so you have to wonder- had they stayed (this is more geared toward Brand than Boozer, probably), would Shelden still have those records? The way Elton Brand played? I doubt it. But, in Shelden Williams’ defense, like J.J. Redick, he is one of 13 players to have his jersey retired and Shelden Williams had to do something J.J. Redick didn’t have to: he had to play second-fiddle to J.J. Redick. Shelden Williams not only did this, he found a way to carve out his own piece of history. He was a two-time NABC Defensive Player of the Year and was only the third player in NCAA history to score 1500 points, grab 1000 rebounds, block 350 shots, and pick up 150 steals. That’s nothing to scoff at. (What is something to wonder though is how- with the offensive machine that Redick was and the defensive machine that Williams was- this team never won a National Title.) If you’re looking at accomplishments and accolades alone, I’d go Shelden Williams too. But, to agree with James, using the call-it-like-I-see-it-test… I’m taking Elton Brand all day.

The rest is pretty straight forward. You know you’re taking Laettner, you know you’re taking Battier, you know you’re taking Jason Williams (note: I know it’s Jay now but to me, especially when referring to him in that #22 DUKE uniform- it’s Jason) and you know you’re taking Dawkins. The scary part though, as James notes: no Hurley? NO HURLEY? The all-time assists leader? The 1992 Final Four MVP? The two-time National Champion? Who would I put him over? I don’t know. I just don’t know. But I do know that having had a roster of players so good that they don’t put J.J. Redick as one of your top-five and they don’t put Bobby Hurley as one of your top-eight… well that’s a luxury that most just cannot afford.

No wonder that guy is still Kounting.