Originally Posted by
scottdude8
Fair point. What I should've said is that Duke has NBA-quality facilities and support staff, so the potential is there for significant development from Year 1-2. We already saw Blakes take a leap from a guy few expected to ever contribute to, like I said earlier, a guy who scored 17 points in back-to-back ACC games at one point this season. We haven't had a ton of multi-year guys recently to really test how good our year-to-year development is, but we did develop Wendell and Mark into first rounders when they returned last year.
I think those that are writing off Schutt/Reeves on their inability to contribute as freshmen are having much too narrow a few of things, especially given Scheyer's explicit desire to put a focus on developing multi-year players to maintain continuity. You can't teach 7-foot-1, and you can't teach Schutt's shooting ability (even if it hasn't yet translated to a game). Both have the potential to make an impact in a Duke uniform if we allow them to have their ups and downs, which we'll have to if we want to get away from OAD dominated teams. You can't have your cake and eat it too... or, more accurately, you can't have homegrown juniors and seniors and also demand we go find a better thing in the portal each season.
Yeah, by all accounts Stewart's calling card is defense and rebounding, including the all-important ability to switch onto guards on the perimeter when necessary. The fact that he doesn't have NBA size might keep him in a Duke uniform longer than someone like Lively, but in the college game he could have as big an impact (maybe just not in year 1). We've been spoiled with 7-footers of late, but there is a reason they're the exception and not the norm in the college game. I think we're very likely to see Stewart play important minutes at the 5 next year in the right matchup, especially if Reeves is still developing.