Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Duke looking into Nick Smith Jr.
https://twitter.com/jakeweingarten/s...871382021?s=20
I could be wrong, of course, but here are some reasons why I think this.
First, there are many other countries where basketball players turn pro at earlier ages. Luka Doncic, for example, turned pro when he was 15. He's exceptional, of course, but lots of European players turn pro without doing anything that looks like college sports. In fact, while I haven't heard this as much recently, some scouts have attributed the improvement in European basketball success in the NBA to the fact that their players are full-time basketball players from earlier ages, with concomitant gains in skill level.
Second, there are already a *lot* of US kids who go pro at the first current opportunity - i.e., after their freshman year - and many of these players know that they are unlikely to make an NBA roster in their first year or two out of school. Why do they do it? I think that many of them don't particularly like school and think that they can improve more quickly without that extra obligation. I don't see why they're wrong. I don't think, for example, that DJ Steward (and Marques Bolden before him) has any serious expectation that he will make an NBA roster (or make anything like an NBA salary) next year. Rather, I see it as him thinking that he's going to improve more in the minor leagues than he would if he stayed at Duke and had to worry about school.
Third, I think this will snowball further if, as I expect, the NBA's next collective bargaining agreement again allows kids to go directly from high school to the NBA.
Again, I could be wrong about some of this, but that is where I see the American basketball culture headed.
Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!
Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
9F 9F 9F
https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com
Top prospect Mark Mitchell will be visiting Duke's campus in June according to Jake Weingarten. The Kansas SF is going on several trips this spring, ending in Durham June 28-29. Other stops include UCLA, Missouri, and Oklahoma State.
https://twitter.com/jakeweingarten/s...15291153768448
Jake Weingarten tweets that Kyle "Flip" Filipowski will join Mark Mitchell on June 28-29 for an official visit to Duke's campus. Flip has a busy schedule and will finish with Duke after visiting Syracuse, Ohio State, Indiana, and Iowa. He'll also take unofficial visits to UConn and Northwestern.
https://twitter.com/jakeweingarten/s...69877097553927
Sage Grouse
---------------------------------------
'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Not much of an update, but Tipton Edits notes that Duke is among the teams recruiting 7'0" C Dereck Lively the hardest. Lively is considered one of the top 50 players in the class of 2022 and projects as an athletic and versatile scorer and rim protector a la Myles Turner. All of the top programs are after Lively, including Duke, Kentucky, Michigan, UNC, etc. We'll see if he schedules an official visit this summer or fall. Lively plays his high school ball at Philadelphia's Westtown, where Cam Reddish played.
According to Tipton Edits, who does alot of commitment graphics and talks alot to high school players, Duke is interested in Jazian Gortman.
https://twitter.com/TiptonEdits/stat...246070276?s=20
Quick update on Derek Lively: His first official visit will be at UNC-CH in early June.
https://twitter.com/Andrew__Slater/s...80998898487299
I like the package of skills and physical makeup. Now that UNC is after him, I would like him to land at Duke even more.
Good find. Interesting to see Duke after a PG, in particular one that isn't top 25/top 10 (like Jaden Bradley). 247Sports has Gortman as a top 50 player and composite ranking of 32. It could mean a couple of things.
1) the staff is not sure if Jeremy Roach is going to be gone after the 2021-22 season, OR
2) the kid is underrated
Anyway, here's some video highlights of a recent matchup against Kentucky commit Skyy Clark. Gortman is FAST and athletic. He seems to enjoy whipping the ball to open teammates and can knife his way through traffic.
Another update: Lively will be making an official visit to Duke in late June/early July. The first day of his OV, June 29th, lines up with the dates that Mark Mitchell and Kyle Filipowski will be on campus. It would be nice if the group hits it off, maybe starts a group text or something like that.
https://twitter.com/jakeweingarten/s...89846334074881
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Yeah, I'm far from certain of what kind of role he can play this season or going forward. I'm just saying we need to see how he does competing with the rest of the team in summer scrimmages and the such before we make any long-term judgements.
Wasn't nobody out there who thought Jordan Goldwire could be a contributor for Duke and Blakes has a far, far, far better high school ranking than JGold did.
-Jason "I'm basically just saying not to write him off" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
One of the top players in the Class of 2022, 6'6" SG/SF Dariq Whitehead, will be taking an official visit to Duke on June 11th. Whitehead is a talented, athletic forward that played on the loaded Montverde Academy team last year. While Whitehead has been a fan of Duke for a long time, don't expect a quick decision. Here's what he told Jason Jordan of SI:
https://www.si.com/college/recruitin...-visit-to-dukeWhitehead will take an official visit to Duke on June 11, which is especially notable since Whitehead grew up a fan of the Blue Devils.
“I’m a big fan of Coach K and what he has done at Duke,” Whitehead said.
Be that as it may, Whitehead contended that he’s “a ways away” from even formatting a list of schools he wants to focus on, let alone a decision.
“Right now, we’re just thinking about how and when we want to cut the list, where we want to take visits, if it’s better to wait and see who goes where, everything,” Whitehead said. “I’m just enjoying the process right now and remaining open. I know this is a big decision, so I want to be thorough with every part of it.”
As you can probably guess, Whitehead has a lot of suitors. It's nice to see he will be visiting Duke early on.
So how does Today’s news change recruiting?