Duke Blue Devils: Grayson Allen Stays
Duke Blue Devils shooting guard Grayson Allen is returning for his junior season, delaying his jump to the NBA.
The Duke Blue Devils last won the national title last year. So when should they expect to win their next one? How about next year. A big development occurred today that affected both the NBA Draft and Duke’s title hopes for next season.
That big development was the return of Grayson Allen. Allen decided to return for his junior season and will rejoin cohorts like Amile Jefferson, Luke Kennard, Derryck Thornton, Matt Jones, and Chase Jeter. Of course that nucleus will not be the only Duke players in town next year either with big signees Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum coming in.
Allen certainly could have left after this season. He was a 1st team All-ACC player. He has a national title under his belt from last year. He was projected to be late lottery in many mock drafts before removing his name from consideration.
Yet he returns, and good for him. He may be on pace to graduate after next year, but even if he is not there are worse places to spend one’s 21st birthday than the Duke men’s basketball team. Since he seems fine as a shooter and a cutter then the only logical step is to spend a summer in Houston working with Hakeem Olajuwon on post up moves.
Sorry, that’s a pro thing. Summer is summer school time to get those credits.
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Coach Mike Krzyzewski kept a limited rotation this year. Part of that was due to injury and part of that was personal preference. He will have to expand it next year. Giles and Tatum are currently projected as one-and-done talents who cannot be benched. The only question Coach K really has to answer is whether he wants a point guard on the floor.
My guess is that Coach K will go with a Jefferson-Giles-Tatum-Allen-Thornton lineup at least to start. He may start the senior Jones but have Tatum play more minutes as an alternative. He may also put Allen and Kennard together for more scoring punch.
The thing to note is that Duke will be in the national title discussion now. Allen’s decision will keep the Blue Devils name in circulation until the games are actually played next season.