Duke Blue Devils: Frank Jackson Exploring His Options
The Duke Blue Devils have a little uncertainty occurring right now as it seems Frank Jackson may be considering the NBA Draft.
With Grayson Allen safely back in the fold, I really thought the Duke Blue Devils had seen their last departure from last year’s attempt to build a superteam. Maybe we haven’t seen the last departure yet. According to reports from ESPN.com and their news services, Duke guard Frank Jackson may be mulling over a jump to the pros or at least going through the evaluation process.
Jackson was the guard who came on late in the season for Duke and displaced Allen from his starter’s spot because that lineup seemed to work well when Allen was hurt. Jackson was not considered to be a one and done player coming into the year, but we did know that he was better than Derryck Thornton since Thornton transferred out rather than get a minimal role.
Jackson’s talent but his lack of point guard development so far may be driving this decision. Duke only has two starting guard spots (three depending on how they use their three man). Luke Kennard was one of those. Allen was another. Technically Matt Jones was the third. Jackson was holding Allen’s spot at the end of last season.
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With Jones and Kennard gone, it would stand to reason that the Blue Devils could play both Jackson and Allen in the starting lineup. Except that Duke went out and signed Gary Trent, Jr. and Alex O’Connell. Neither of players forced Jackson out of the starter spot since only one of them would move into the lineup.
Then Duke is still out there in the recruiting waters. Two of their remaining targets are point guards. One is Trevon Duval and the other is Tremont Waters. Duval is the number one point guard recruit in the nation. There is no way he does not start for the team that he decides to sign with. Waters is probably the insurance policy for Duval. He is a four star recruit who probably wouldn’t threaten Jackson’s role in the starting five.
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If Duval comes, Jackson has to wonder where the minutes come from. Duval would be a starter. Allen would be a starter. While Allen could play some third guard for the team, it is unlikely that he would do much of that. That would mean that Trent’s minutes would be relatively safe. Jackson would likely be looking at a diminished role just as Thornton was last year, except Thornton was not good enough to even test the pro waters.
All of this could have been avoided if Allen had gone pro, because then Duke could have played Duval and Jackson together. Now it becomes a wait and see effort for both Duke and Jackson. Jackson could test the draft waters while Duke sees if it is able to actually sign Duval. If they fail, Jackson could exit the draft process and return. If they succeed, then Jackson would have look carefully at what the NBA talent evaluators tell him. Is it really time for second round pick money or NBDL status?
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This little wrinkle is going to work itself out, and if Jackson leaves, the Blue Devils will still have plenty of pieces to play with next season. Seasonal reload continues so look out world, the Duke hype is still real.