Yup, hard to argue with any of Jon's roster moves this past offseason. Stewart was the only transfer I was really bummed about, and I still believe his ceiling is high, but it seems clear that Maliq is a far more polished and impactful player right now.
Those guards are each high end, switchable defenders on a Duke team that is going to wreck teams with its defense. We don't need them to pile up assists when the ball is going to be largely in the hands of basketball IQ savants Cooper Flagg and Kon Kneuppel on offense.
| Player | New team | Min | PTS | FG% | REB | AST | TO |
| McCain | Sixers | 11.2 | 7 | 46 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 0.5 |
| Flip | Jazz | 14.8 | 5.5 | 51.9 | 4.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| Blakes | Stanford | 28 | 12 | 75 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| Roach | Baylor | 27 | 9 | 22.2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Power | UVA | plays Wednesday | |||||
| Stewart | Ohio St. | 13 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Schutt | VaTech | 24 | 9 | 50 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Reeves | Clemson | 7 | 3 | 33.3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Mitchell | Mizzou | 29 | 8 | 33.3 | 7 | 2 | 4 |
It seems clear that Jon does not want to run a traditional system with a single "pure" point guard, but instead prefers multiple versatile ball handlers. And even if he did want a pure point guard, Roach was never seen as that player in his four years here. So had he stayed he would have just been in the mix with Foster and Proctor as all being combo guards, plus as you said Flagg and Kon would be initiating a lot of the offense too.
I'm not as high on Blakes, nor do I see our backcourt as having a hole. I liked him and wished he had played more, but last season after Foster got injured and with Schutt already being out we were basically down to four guards to play three positions, yet Blakes could still barely manage to get into the game. Unless he made a huge leap, I find it hard to imagine him seeing any more minutes this season. He'd be great to have in practice and I loved having a guy who developed over four years. He put up good numbers in his first game at Stanford so maybe he's expanded his game, or maybe he just never got to show it here, but on the court I don't miss him at all.
Especially when the entire team now looks like it knows how to pass the ball.
This ^. The ball is not sticking this year, and our offense has so much more upside because of it. I don't see a single person we lost that doesn't have a superior replacement, especially considering fit and the vision of how this team will play.
Oh gosh, I don't see it that way at all.
Do you think Blakes would be playing over Sion? I don't. Sion seems like a perfect experienced, strong-bodied defensive guard off the bench.
I’m not following you on this one.
Why would we need Mitchell? He was basically unplayable starting from the Wake Forest game in Winston.
New ACC member California lists 22 players on its basketball team: Cal Roster
I haven't watched enough 2024-25 Blakes to comment definitively on who's better (has anyone? he's only played a game), but I take brevity to mean that Duke only has 3 guards on the roster, and having a 4th with Jaylen's experience and ability would be at the very least a nice security blanket.
Seems pretty clear that Jon views both Cooper and Kon as guards, at least on offense.
I watched Stewart in high school and was underwhelmed. He had no offensive game and didn’t understand positioning. He simply used his size and athleticism to outplay lesser talent. He is mostly potential at this point.