Originally Posted by
gumbomoop
Imported this from Rodney Hood thread:
Amile is clearly, just now, not the prototypical college PF. But the one game I saw him play, he played mostly inside, and effectively. On D, he guarded 7' Kaleb Tarczewski, probably out of necessity, but willingly, even enthusiastically. On O, he sometimes had the ball on the wing, but he used his pretty good handle and nice footwork, plus his instinct for driving into the lane or along the baseline to get to or near the rim to put up a variety of shots.
Amile just does not fit anything close to a preconceived college 4. He's different. He does "look" like a prototypical college wing/SF, but certainly didn't play that way in the one game I saw. Since Duke recruited him to play inside, it would seem as if the one game I saw was the way he plays, mostly.
I assume, as do many other posters, that Alex, Rasheed, and Amile will share the wing/SF minutes this season. There's been plenty of discussion that when Amile and Ryan are on the floor together, Amile might play the 3 on D, but drift inside to allow Ryan to drift out to 3-bomb land on O. Maybe Rasheed will prove effective on the wing, so effective that he will be the primary backup to both Seth and Alex, so that Duke will play a 3-guard alignment a good bit, in which case Amile will have to compete with Josh for minutes backing up Ryan. Or maybe Amile will adapt enough, at least on D, to the wing/SF that he'll be Alex's main backup there.
Whatever happens, Amile begins his years at Duke looking physically like a wing/SF, but having played [in HS] inside. According to jimsumner's informed comment, we can tentatively assume the staff sees Amile's long-range role as a 4. Everyone concerned, staff, Amile, and, most important, EK posters, presumably expects him to fill out somewhat over the next several years.
He's different. His different-ness doesn't make him great; but it does mean he doesn't now fit easily into normal, much less "classic," definitions of positions. It makes him interesting.