J, I have seen him listed as both, but he PREFERS playing the point. He says he's also been referred to as a shooting guard and combo guard. OFC
Devils enter mix for PG
- Thread starter hart2chesson
- Start date
10-4 nothing is guaranteed until they wear that Duke Uni. As far as Smith goes I would think that the Duke staff must have received positive info in regards to GA or Jackson declaring for the draft. Why else would we jump in with Smith this late. Jackson was Dukes best player by years end and will be a solid pro with the physical style of play he brings. Tyus Stones Jones stock went out the roof in the tourney even though we all thought he would be back one more year
Germanton, Laettner I see both your points-
On the one hand my first thought was staff has definitive knowledge either GA/Jax gone, and/or bad news on Duval. By the same token it could be just that, "a mad scramble," and they are going for insurance as Mac noted earlier. For one thing, I will say its been an ENTERTAINING off season! OFC
Still pretty darn impressive that an NBA team would draft you post mortem. Talk about an ice cold shooter...
Interesting..
I don't think it's more about who is staying and who is leaving and more about they have an open scholarship so why not. If we do get Duval and smith you can keep Jackson, Allen and Trent at the 2-3 and keep them off the ball where they are better. Plus next year when you have Allen, Jackson, Duval, and possibly Trent leave you have an experience player in the backcourt for next year
The staff obviously knows much more that we do....we're just trying to read tea leaves.
The Smith kid is from my area. He is a very good basketball player who blew up over the summer and during his senior year. He can flat out fill it up and runs the point for his high school team which was very good. He is very athletic as before his sophomore year he was committed to Missouri for baseball. I think this would be a great pickup for the Blue Devils! He will be a program kid who will be around for 4 years and will thrive.
Shocks me that Cal can overload any position he wants with players and not one kentucky fan flinches, but we still have multiple roster spots open and are concerned about overloading with guards.
Heard that before "bolden will be gone! "Grayson will never stay" I could go on and on ...u know it all ..I bow
It may have been pointed out already but after next year it is entirely possible duke will have no guards (except O'Connell) on the team that are not incoming freshmen. Could have something to do with this year but like you said duke is filling an open spot that can help a lot as a sophomore and on.
Seriously Duke should have plenty of scholarships with all these kids leaving early. A kid like Mark Smith will provide depth for the future where ever he ends up. I doubt he breaks the 2 deep for Michigan State this year with almost everyone returning. He reminds me alot Denzel Valentine. Coach K did say he wanted to get deeper, and if there is mutual interest why not.
The wind seems to be blowing him towards Michigan State. Kentucky went after him when looking for shooters, but we signed a top 100 sharshooter Baker from California. Also, I think we are getting Cameron Johnson as a transfer from Pitt and that will probably scare Smith off.
The Smith kid is a better ball handling, more natural PG version of Frank. It's easy to see programs going after him. Just think he's going to Michigan State
He's a 6'5 point guard who can shoot, drive and score. He can sky and slam. But, he's also a great passer and has fantastic hustle.
Imo, fans would fall in love with this kid as soon as he gets PT. In some ways, he may be better suited for Duke than Duval. He would have have his eye on the NBA year one. I'm not sure he's a 3-4 year player. If he shines at Duke similar to Kennard, the NBA will be all over this kid by year two. Possibly year one. And, just to show he's not a pure PG ... take a look at these highlights. I really hope we land this kid:
When the highlight video of a point guard has little / no passing then I have the same question...
Have a hard time believing he's anything less than a 3-4 yr guy, if he doesn't transfer by then (shots fired!). I would love a 3-4 yr point guard though, I'm so done with this OAD era of college basketball. Just let them go out of high school or make them stay at least 2 yrs. I don't know why that's so difficult. It'll be better for everyone.
Allowing kids go to the NBA straight from HS cost us Lebron and Kobe for a year of college ball. Couldn't imagine how big of a recruiting war it would've been for guys like Lebron, Kobe, KG, etc.
I can't stand the NBA so I enjoy getting to see the best players there are for at least one year in college.
It's a highlight real and he was the best player on his team. But there are plenty of passes if you watch them. And, plenty enough to see he is a very capable passer. Btw, I've seen plenty of highlight reals of Travon Duval that were mainly shooting and scoring. Does that mean he's not a PG?
On a team where he was the best player, he averaged over 8 assists a game.
But, hey, who cares about actual data, right?
Guess you missed the part that no one thought Luke Kennard was anything but a 3-4 year player, let alone any sort of NBA talent. Will chalk that up to youthful exuberance. Yet Kennard's being drafted in round 1.
The point is - at Duke, where a player gets a ton of notoriety, and with a lot of OAD talent around him, a 6'5 PG is going to get a lot of attention. He's clearly not OAD. But, one never knows beyond that if we land him and we don't get Duval.
OFC
Mane!!!!!! I hope we get this dude. He brings an element I'm not sure Duke has ever had at the point guard position. 6'5 big strong point guard! I still think we get Duval but I wouldn't be too mad if we got this dude as the consolation
Luke took advantage or injuries and internal issues this year. Good for him to step up.
If he wants to play right away then why would sitting behind Duval, Allen, Trent and possibly Jackson be the realistic choice?
No, Luke worked his *** off in spite of who was on the roster and forced the staffs hand. There was no way to keep him out of the lineup. He was arguably the most talked about Guy at dukes pro day before the season.
Luke competed, not many guys want to do that! Thornton didn't.
U of I sold him a dream Duke was not going to allow him to even daydream about. Go Duke.
Duke must fine a 3 to 4 year guy.
No because he is not interested or we are not interested.Not arguing just curious