Originally Posted by
kAzE
I don't see it, and I don't know why anyone would expect sufficient improvement from him in that area. He's just an average playmaker at best. The only slight positive I can think of is that he has okay vision, but he's pretty slow, his first step isn't beating most decent defenders, his ball handling is average for an ACC guard, and his pass accuracy is atrocious. He's almost as likely to throw a pass out of bounds than to a teammate. 0.78 A/TO as a freshman, and 1.35 this season. That's probably where he's going to be. I doubt he's suddenly going to be a 1.5 A/TO guy, and even if he did, that's not exactly high efficiency playmaking. I think for Duke to be a championship contending team, Wendell needs to operate in more of an off-ball role. He's fine at cutting, crashing the glass, and spotting up from the corner. I've seen plenty enough of point Wendell, and I'm fairly certain we're not a Final Four team with him running the offense.
That said, I do think Paolo and AJ are going to be much more reliable options with the ball in their hands, so Wendell going more off ball might just naturally happen. Paolo might be the best passer on the team next year. The kid is an absolute stud.
I still think we should try to get a guard transfer, especially if we don't get Keels. I assume Steward and Roach will improve, but their lack of passing vision isn't going to fix itself completely in 1 offseason, and we're also 1 twisted ankle from having to play Michael Savarino for some stretches at guard in that scenario. We need more guard depth.