Each year, over 35 million people travel to the deserts of Las Vegas with fantastic hopes of luck and fortune. Many of these travelers are eager casino-goers, excited to test their luck on the tables, stuff their stomachs at plentiful buffets, and possibly take in a show or two. This past summer, management from the Denver Nuggets headed to Nevada hoping to strike gold of their own in a small basketball gym in the shadows of the famous and fanciful Las Vegas strip.
The Nuggets headed to Vegas in need of a reliable defender who could guard the perimeter, attack the basket and hit an open jumper. Fortunately for them, lady luck delivered Dahntay Jones. The former 2003 first-round draft pick has had an up-and-down journey throughout his NBA career, but his resiliency, defensive tenacity and explosiveness stood out at the NBA Summer League in Vegas.
Just ten months removed from a short stint in the NBA Development League, the 6’6” guard is now a starter for one of the premier teams in the Western Conference. Averaging just less than 20 minutes per game, Jones has started all but two games for the Nuggets midway through this NBA season. Jones’ physicality and defensive determination have proven to be an invaluable spark for the Nuggets.
The former Blue Devil is consistently lauded for his ability to set the tone defensively for Denver. Said Nuggets head coach George Karl, “Everybody knows that Dahntay’s our 15- to 20-minute defensive angry guy that we’re going to sic on somebody most nights. Everybody seems to be excited about it. There’s a defensive focus early in the games that we have not had in the past.”
The New Jersey native embraces his role as the team’s defensive specialist, a familiar mentality for the two-time All-ACC Defensive Team honoree. “My role is to be defensive minded. Defense is something I take pride in.” Dahntay’s defensive intensity and stunning athleticism have helped the Nuggets into first place in the Northwest Division.
On the offensive end, Jones has chipped in 6.1 PPG while shooting over 45 percent from the field and converting multiple highlight-reel dunks. The former NCAA All-American has scored in double-digits in over a quarter of his games, but is more focused on defense and the intangibles. “You have to have somebody do some intangibles — cut, rebound, defend, not worry about where my next shot’s coming from,” said Jones. “Those are things I naturally do.” Enhancing Denver’s offensive attack with his explosive drives and his unselfishness, the Nuggets’ guard has left his mark on an offense already loaded with the talents of Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Nene and Kenyon Martin.
The combination of Dahntay’s dogged defense and overall determination has inspired his talented teammates. “Having a low-maintenance offensive player with the starters is a good thing,” Karl said of his starting guard. “There’s a courage to him that players like to play with. He’s not afraid of anybody, anything, any assignment.” As Duke fans know, Jones has always brought an attitude and an edge on the court. During his senior year, the former number 30 stated, “I’m not going to back down on any play,” he said. “I’ll fight for everything. I’m not going to get pushed around.” Matching up against opposing teams’ best players, such as Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and Manu Ginobili, Jones shows no fear, an infectious mentality that has rubbed off on the team with the third-best record in the Western Conference.
Dahntay Jones’ ten-month journey from the NBA Development League to his nightly starting role in a Nuggets jersey is certainly an inspiring tale of dedication, hard work, and resourcefulness. With his resolute attitude and defensive dexterity now earning recognition at the highest level, Jones has proven to be a valuable contributor on one of the league’s top teams. It goes to show that sometimes, even in Vegas, you can create your own luck.
On Monday mornings a delivery truck turns off of W. Chapel Hill Street and into the Emily K Center parking lot. The driver unloads his cargo: a case of Fuji apples, another of Golden Delicious, one of NC Gala apples, and another of Red Washington Delicious. But he’s not done, he returns to his truck for the rest: 40 pounds of bananas, a case of pears, and another of oranges. The EKC office manager, Michele, sees the process through, watching as each item from the order she placed on Friday comes through the door.
Come Monday afternoon, as the students enter the Center for their focused daily work with their tutors, the fruit begins to disappear from the many baskets placed around the Center and apple cores and banana peels line the trash cans.
At dismissal time, parents and siblings come in to pick up their youngsters and the Emily K Center lobbies are filled with literally hundreds of people. For Emily K CEO Marleah Rogers and her staff, this is the best part of the day: seeing the children excitedly report their achievements to their parents, watching as lead tutors pass along information to the parents of children they have come to know so well, and hearing the laughter and joy that fills the room. Each family member takes a piece of fruit. It is not unusual for students to shyly ask if they can take an extra piece home for a younger sibling, a grandmother, or a friend.
Research supports that healthy children, who have essential food groups in their diet, are better equipped to learn. But, even though the parents of Emily K Center students often have multiple jobs, families of four often have a combined income of less than $20,000. Fruit is important to a balanced and healthy diet, but it is also expensive. On such a tight budget, providing nutritious meals and snacks can be a challenge. The families of Emily K Center students are eager to take advantage of the fruit provided at the EKC and are extremely appreciative.
Marleah will always remember one story in particular, “Our parents are so committed to the success of their kids that they make many sacrifices,” she says, ”As we expanded the number of students in our Pioneer Scholars program I saw a new mom devouring an apple core. When I asked why she was eating the core, she replied that she thought the fruit was only for the children. When I told her that we encouraged everyone to take a piece of fruit, she began to cry and said, you mean I can have a piece of fruit too?”
It was always a part of the Emily K Center philosophy to provide the students with a healthy after-school snack while they work on their studies. But, since the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year, that fruit has been delivered free of charge, saving the Center hundreds of dollars a week while insuring that the after-school experience provided is complete.
Because the Emily K Center is a home away from home for some great kids, the students and their families always say, “thank you” to whatever member of the EKC staff or volunteer is nearby as they reach for their fruit. But the students do not know who really deserves the thanks. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. But I’ll tell you who it is: it’s Steve Serck.
Steve is a member of the extended Duke Basketball family, a great friend, and a four-year veteran of K Academy. In his “real life,” he lives in Chicago and runs Jack Keller Company, distributing fruits and vegetables throughout the Midwest and now, because of Steve’s generosity and connections in the produce business, Jack Keller indirectly delivers to 904 W. Chapel Hill Street in Durham via Foster Caviness out of Greensboro, NC.
Steve’s commitment to the Emily K Center is the perfect example of how supporters of the EKC can find unique ways of giving, employing unconventional methods that match their expertise or field of work with the real needs of the students and families who make the Emily K Center part of their everyday routines. When asked about Steve Serck’s contributions, Marleah Rogers says, “Steve’s generosity helps our kids brains be ready to learn, and it has taught our kids and their families to love fruit and make it a healthy lifestyle habit. Our kids and their families know there is a special donor who makes this investment in them and who is part of the larger team that believes in them. They want you to know, Steve, that they deeply appreciate your kindness and that you are making a difference in the health and well being of their family every day.” Steve Serck and the numerous other contributors to the Emily K’s success have found ways to be equally as creative as they have been committed in their giving.
When asked about her after school snack, seventh-grader Litesha responds matter-of-factly, “I like the Golden Delicious apples the best. I have one when I come here from school. My mom and I get a banana when she picks me up from Pioneer Scholars.” Like the top-notch tutoring and character development they receive through the programming at the Emily K, the healthy snack has become a part of their routine. Of course, the Center seeks to provide its students opportunities to try new things, to feel as if someone believes in them, and to receive the individual attention they need and deserve. So much of it is about dreaming and dreaming big. But it is also about developing habits for a healthy and long life, giving them not only the means, but also the time to see those dreams through.
By Friday morning, after many grateful takers and the fruit baskets near empty, it is time for Michele to place another order.
STAY CONNECTED WITH THE EMILY K
You can stay up-to-date with the latest Emily K Center news as well as submit your own comments and questions at the EKC’s new blog site atwww.emilykblog.org. Read about events taking place at the Center, take in words from the students themselves, and connect with other members of the Dream, Do, Achieve team. Currently you can read Ryan Schwartz’s (Chair of the EKC’s Volunteer Leadership Council) description of the first Social Entrepreneurship Symposium held at the EKC or enjoy 6th grade Pioneer Scholar Dashaun’s poem about what “team” really means. We encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed or bookmark the page so that our “6th Man” can always stay connected.
I’m excited about the journey to a national championship, that’s what we’ve been missing. I think that we have the tools to do something big like that. We’re going to keep working hard and see what happens. Starting the ACC regular season is the next step and it will be very tough. There are so many great teams in this league.
How do you think you personally have grown since last season?
Well, I think that I’ve definitely become a better leader and especially in the captain role. I think that’s good for our team. I think I need to be a more explosive player.
Have you noticed any changes in the coaching staff since the Olympics?
I would never say Coach’s confidence has ever been down because he’s always positive and he’s had so much success but I think definitely, after winning the Olympics, he really wants to get another one. I think that his passion for doing that has rubbed off on us as well.
Tell us about the Coach K you know that differs from the intense coach everyone sees on ESPN all the time.
I think the one thing about Coach K is that I always take from him is his honesty. He’ll always be truthful with you. He’ll tell you when you’re playing badly, he’ll tell you when you’re playing well. I think that’s the biggest thing in becoming the player that you’re going to be, it’s being truthful to yourself. Not just in basketball but in life — the kind of person you’re going to be. The most important thing is to be truthful with yourself.
What is something specific that Coach K has stressed this season for you in particular?
Well, definitely, I’ve worked on having a bigger ego. Something with all our guys, we really have to understand how good a player each of us is – and can be. So if you think you’re going to be a certain player, which is a good player, it gives you a better start to becoming that player.
How would you describe Coach K’s coaching style?
I’d call him a players’ coach. He’s very personable. He can relate to a lot of things we go through, he’s played the game at the college level and he’s been coaching for 30-40 years or so. Is that right?
Not quite 40… This is his 29th year at Duke.
Well, he’s been doing this for a long time so he’s had a lot of different players, a lot of different men come through here and he’s been through a lot of experiences. He can really relate to anything that we’re going through.
Describe Coach K in three words…
I think the best three words to describe him would be honest, passionate and tough. Not only on himself but tough on us, in a good way, to push us to higher levels, I think. That’s one of his biggest attributes that’s helped me individually.
We are about to start ACC play with the students coming back from winter break. Talk about that.
With ACC teams here or tough non-conference games, there is so much on the line. Anyone who’s been in here or played in a game here understands it gets louder than any stadium that you could ever be in. Just the intensity of all the games we play in here is really high and to me, it’s the best play you can play, in college basketball. And the Cameron Crazies are great — they give us a lot of energy during the games. They like to come up with some kind of new chant or something funny that helps to keep things loose before the games. They’re a lot of fun for us, they’re a lot of fun for the rest of the fans, and our games wouldn’t be the same without them. It will be good to have them back.
Is there a point during a game where you guys talk about a funny chant or something funny you see in the crowd?
Well, before the game, when the away team comes out, they always create something new. Before a big game, you might be nervous or real serious. It’s a pretty serious atmosphere but they lighten it up a little bit with some of the stuff that they say.
You’ve played in a number of other loud and intense environments at this point in your career. What makes Cameron different?
I think that we do our stuff in a classier manner than really anywhere else out there. Some places are pretty tough, pretty tough. We focus more on us. Also, Cameron is more intimate with the students right on the court in a small arena.
How has the team adjusted to the coaching change with Nate and C-Well coming on board?
Well, Nate specifically was on the national championship team, a four-year player — he’s a guy that has been there. He’s been there where we’re trying to go this year. He knows what it takes. Just him being around everyday, not even being a coach, just him being around is so valuable. With C-Well, the same — he didn’t get the national championship but he was on some great teams and they’ve both been through everything that we’re going through. Even Nate played for Coach Collins, Coach Wojo — coaches that we play for today so they’ve gone through everything that we’ve gone through. We can come to them about anything and they can just relate to us a lot.
What are your thoughts on the team’s style of play this year?
I think our style of play is great. Me, individually, I like to play fast. Getting out on the break is something I probably do best and guys like Nolan and Kyle like to play that way too. It’s just something that makes me better and makes them better. Coach likes to play that way and so does really the whole league. It should be an exciting ACC season.
Hello Duke Fans,
This is my favorite part of the year. Now that we have gotten into January and the ACC season is in full swing, every game has great meaning and every environment you play at on the road is tough. We are off to a great start in the ACC with a 5-0 record. Our conference this year is as strong as it has been in many years, so each win you get is extremely important. We just finished off a great week with wins over Georgetown, NC State and Maryland, all at home.
Playing a great non-conference opponent like Georgetown is always a lot of fun. Its one of the reasons why you come to Duke to play. I remember from my playing days, the great games we played against teams like Michigan, Temple and UCLA. Those are some of the games that I will remember forever. These kinds of games always give you a sneak preview of what it would be like to play in a big-time NCAA tournament game. Our guys were really excited about the game and our crowd was amazing. Gerald Henderson had an incredible 1st half in that that game and it carried us to a big win. I didn’t think he was going to ever miss!!
Next, we had to get back into our regular ACC schedule and routine. It was a quick turnaround with a Tuesday night game against NC State. NC State is a team that is extremely dangerous because they have good talent, especially in the frontcourt, and they seem to always to be ready to play against us. We felt like our guys were ready to play, but we got off to a terrible shooting start to the game. We only shot 20% in the first half and we trailed by four. At halftime, our staff told our guys that we were getting great shots and we just needed to keep shooting with the ball with confidence. The main thing we needed to keep doing was play great defense and hopefully wear them down. In the 2nd half we really turned it on. We shot an amazing 20-26 FGs and ended up winning 73-56.
To finish off the week, we had Maryland coming to town. Over the years, we have always had great games with Maryland. It doesn’t seem to ever matter what the teams records are. In fact, Maryland had been able to come into Cameron and win more than any other team in the past 10 years, so we knew that we had to be ready to play. It was a unique start time at noon, so one of the most important things was making sure our guys were up and ready to go once the ball was tipped. Well, our guys were sure ready! We put together maybe our best 40 minutes of the season on offense and defense and won 85-44. Overall, it was a great performance. The best part of the game was watching the unselfishness that our guys played with on offense. On our 31 FGs, we had 23 assists, and there were a couple fastbreaks where everyone touched the ball and it never hit the floor. We have really been stressing with our team that when we play together and share the ball, we are really a good team.
I have to give credit to the Cameron Crazies because they have been awesome this year. Our guys really feed off their energy and I hope they can keep it going the rest of the way because we are going to need everyone’s support.
It was exciting to see our guys recognized as being the #1 team in the country. These guys have really worked hard, and although the goal is to be #1 at the end of the year, it is an honor that we are proud of. Being #1 is not something we talk about on a daily basis. We just want to keep getting better and fully realize the potential of our group. We realize that there is still a long ways to go with the season. Other teams will always give Duke their best shot, so where we are ranked doesn’t really matter with that either. We know we don’t have any time to celebrate as we play at Wake Forest next. They are an incredible team, we are going to have to be at our best to have a chance to win on their home court.
With that said, I have to go get ready for the game.
Until next time, GO DUKE!!
Coach Collins
“These shoes are hot, we are definitely going to be styling in these,” exclaimed Nolan Smith, except he wasn’t looking down at an open orange Nike shoe box that would typically contain our team’s new kicks. Instead the point guard was staring at an iMac computer atop a NikeiD station that had been set up courtside in the K Center. Hovering on the screen was a pair of custom white, blue and black Hyperdunks that our team had just designed to wear in this year’s Big Dance.
The design process started with an introduction from Nike iD design consultant Ozzie Myers. Myers explained to our guys that they would split into two teams and each side would design their own Duke shoe on one of the two iMac iD stations using state-of-the-art NikeiD technology. Once each shoe design was complete, the team would vote on which of the two shoe designs to wear during March Madness. From there, the team would have some additional personalization options.
The team then split up, with G, Jon, Greg, Lance, and Nolan forming a group and Dave, Kyle, Brian, Miles, Marty, Olek, Elliot, Steve, and Jordan working together. Each group huddled around a NikeiD consultant and went to work, customizing everything from the sole color, to the laces, to the midsole, to the Swoosh color, to the Flywire style and more. Also, Nike designed a special toe piece with the Duke D, university shield and elements from the Duke Chapel merged in a unique graphic that only the winning Blue Devil shoe would have.
“It’s cool because when you break them up into groups, they love to jab at each other and go at it,” said Meyers about the guys competing to design the best shoe. “But it was cool how they were really supportive and would be like, ‘Oh man those guys shoes looked awesome with this, maybe we should change this on ours.’ It’s just cool to see that they are all on the same page. It’s obvious that they have such good chemistry on the court because they do so well off the court.”
After 15 minutes of design and deliberation, the shoes were ready for a vote. “That’s the shoe,” said G right away when he saw the other group’s design. “That’s going to be fire.” The design by the second group won easily with minimal disagreement.
Nolan described the winner, “Well we wanted some black on the bottoms. But we also had to get some blue in there on the Nike swoosh and on the laces. We wanted a shoe that we could wear with the white, blue, or black jerseys. There is a little bit of each color in there. You know, we got to look good while we’re playing well. So I think this shoe is really going to fit us nicely.”
Once the shoe was set, the guys had the option of adding a personal ID to the tongue such as their initials or number. Instead, the group decided to include a team motto that everyone has tried to embrace this season. Said G, “We decided to put 14 equals 40 on the tongues of the shoes because we have a saying that we have 14 players and we are going to play hard for 40 minutes.” Nolan added, “14 equals 40, you know, it takes 14 Duke players and 40 minutes. That’s our motto from now until the rest of the year.”
Overall, the players were pleased with the final result and left excited to debut the finished product in March. “It’s really cool that we get to design our own shoe,” said Jon afterwards. “We were able to decide everything pretty much from the shoe lace to the base of the shoe. As a basketball player it was a really cool honor for our team, and it was a really unique thing. It will be a lot of fun wearing them.”
After the shoe design was complete, the guys scurried back to the locker room and headed back up to the K Center weight room for a lift. Meanwhile, the Nike team packed up and prepared to hit the road. The iD design team plans to visit eight of the most elite Nike programs in the country, allowing each to design its own shoes for the Big Dance. In Duke’s case, the Blue Devil team members will be the only people in the world who have their shoe.
“Obviously, you guys are the premier team in the country,” said Myers. “And that’s what we are doing, we’re going to only the best of the best schools and showing them how much we appreciate them being a Nike team. And what better way than to give them some totally unique and totally custom shoes. Hopefully we’ll see them wearing them deep into March.”
