How I Learned to Stop Hating and Like (Two) Duke Players
- Joshua Covell
- Nov 30, 2017
- 5 min read
The men’s basketball program at Duke University is indisputably great, and their resume is long and impressive enough to back it up. They’re fourth all-time in NCAA wins. The team’s coach, Mike Krzyzewski, sits atop the leaderboard for coaching wins on the men’s side, and, presumably, leads all Division I coaches in hard consonants in his name. Their arena, Cameron Indoor Stadium, is considered one of the toughest places for visiting teams to play in. And they are a part of, along with the North Carolina Tar Heels, one of the best rivalries in the history of organized sports.
Krzyzewski, who has a laundry list of accolades to his name, is heralded as one of the sport’s greatest coaches. He led the USA men’s national team at the last three Olympic Games, winning the gold medal each time. He’s earned gold medals at back-to-back FIBA World Cups. He’s won five NCAA championships during his time with the Blue Devils. And winning is of course the most important thing for an elite basketball program. It serves as a recruiting tool for prospective players, who realize that nationally televised games and deep runs into the tournament are crucial to boost their draft stock. But, as programs like Kentucky under John Calipari have learned, winning actually comes second to serving as the biggest and best springboard to the NBA. And, I’d argue, Krzyzewski has done the worst job of any top-tier college coach at propelling his players to the pros and positioning them to have a successful career in the NBA.
His track record is grim, to say the least, and it’s seems like the road from Duke to the NBA is paved with underachievers. High profile lottery picks like Elton Brand, Christian Laettner, Jahlil Okafor, Mike Dunleavy, Austin Rivers, and Corey Maggette have been serviceable role players at best and outright draft busts at worst. He’s coached several players whose bodies struggled to hold up to the pro game, cutting their careers short (Grant Hill) or plaguing their young careers with injury after injury (Jabari Parker, Rodney Hood, Kyrie Irving, and Justice Winslow). The number of players with lagging physical development appears to be more than just a fluke, and it begs the question that, regardless of how well coached these players are coming out of college, are Duke and Krzyzewski doing enough to prepare their players for the physical rigors of the NBA?
The answer seems to be: naw.
That’s the pragmatic reason for why I have such disdain for Duke basketball. The irrational, and likely more honest, reason is that I grew up a Tar Heels fan and honestly fuck Duke. For as long as I can remember, the program has produced players* who were labeled as, and then reveled in being labeled, humongous assholes. Bobby Hurley, Christian Laettner, and Shane Battier made their names by being antagonistic college players who lacked athleticism and made up for it by getting under opponents’ skin. J.J. Redick, one of the best Duke success stories, was also one of the most hated college players ever. Danny Ferry? Racist. Dahntay Jones? Prick. Carlos Boozer? Douchebag. Austin Rivers? Don’t get me started. And Grayson Allen, expected to enter the NBA draft next year, might be the biggest asshole to date.
So what made me finally come around to Duke players? This year’s Celtics team. Even before I was a Tar Heels fan, I was a Boston Celtics fan. As a native New Englander, I had to suffer through the tragic loss of Reggie Lewis; the Rick Fox years; the Rick Pitino era (*shudder*); trading away Chauncey Billups, Joe Johnson, Tony Allen, and Al Jefferson, only to see them flourish on other teams. But the suffering never really fazed me. Whether they were at the top or bottom of the standings, I’ve always enjoyed watching the Celtics play.
Some teams, however, have been more fun to watch than others. And some of the most watchable have been the teams coached by basketball wunderkind and suspected Second Coming of Christ, Brad Stevens. And this year’s team has been the most fun of the group. Whereas Krzyzewski produces underachievers, Stevens turns his roster into a team of overachievers, squeezing out every ounce of potential from them. His system made a 5’9” point guard and last pick in the draft, Isaiah Thomas, into an MVP-caliber player last season. He has (mostly) reined in the wild and gutsy Marcus Smart, pushed Avery Bradley to have a career year last season, and elevated players like Evan Turner, Terry Rozier, and Jaylen Brown to the level of essential contributors on a winning team. And just as important as his coaching acumen is his personal and professional relationship with Gordon Hayward, who the Celtics were able to acquire during the off-season.
This year’s team was primed to make a serious run at the Finals, so when Hayward went down with an obliterated ankle (official diagnosis) during the first quarter of game one of the season, I immediately assumed that this year would be a wash. But in the subsequent games, Stevens proved me wrong. Because of the injury to Hayward, Stevens was forced to give big minutes to Brown, in his second year, and Jayson Tatum, a rookie out of Duke who might have been the best player taken in the 2017 draft, as well as hard-nosed role players like Smart and Rozier. Irving, another Duke alum who the Celtics acquired in a trade last summer for fan favorite Thomas, has continued to be a magician with the ball and has improved his defense dramatically since last year. And even though Irving, for some reason, believes the earth is flat, he has also quickly developed a strong relationship with his teammates, the organization, and the city of Boston, which in a way makes his questionable off-court opinions (no doubt cultivated at Duke) kind of an adorable quirk.
It’s almost impossible not to be charmed by this team. The Hayward injury should have torpedoed their season, but they rattled off an early 16-game win streak and currently hold the league’s best record. Remarkably, they’ve gone from a mediocre defensive team to the best in the NBA. Their rebounding, a huge liability for them in recent years, has improved to sixth overall. And a lot of the early success is due to their two Duke players: Irving and Tatum.
The two of them, I presume, are more the exception than the rule that Duke doesn’t do a good enough job of preparing their players for the pros. But under the guidance of Coach Stevens, I’ve been able to find two Duke alums who I can’t help but root for. And that’s an even more impressive feat than their place in the league standings.
*It's unclear whether Duke produces asshole players or asshole players are drawn to Duke. The jury is still out, but honestly, it doesn't matter.
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