When Duke players began to enter the NBA Draft early in 1999, Mike Krzyzewski’s advice was that it wasn’t wise to go if you didn’t have a very good chance of going early.
That changed of course and Duke players over the years have gone anywhere from #1 to undrafted.
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This year, Jared McCain and Kyle Filipowski are very likely to be first-round picks but the mock drafts are all over the place. And in fairness, very few people know much about strategies of the various teams.
There is always speculation however, and one of the more recent ones is that Oklahoma City might like to pair Filipowski with Chet Holmgren.
Holmgren is leaner and more athletic while Filipowski is stronger and more capable of doing the dirty work inside.
However, both of them are outstanding three point shooters and that would give OKC an interesting look.
Their three point shooting would open the court for their teammates and for the concerns that Filipowski is not overly athletic, he’s a very capable rebounder and he has a tremendous spin move that will translate beautifully to the NBA.
Coach K’s advice still rings true. Yahoo.com sees Filipowski going #24 to the Knicks, CBS has him going at #14 to Miami and NBADraft.net reckons he’ll go to Phoenix at #20.
A lot of it is a crapshoot and a lot depends on a player ending up in the right situation with the right team. Miami is a culture that we think he’d thrive in. New York is a home state team and that probably would thrill Filipowski. Phoenix could use some help inside and it’s always nice to be needed.
