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In the wake of Dallas moving on from Jason Kidd, there have been rumblings of both Duke's Jon Scheyer and Michigan's Dusty May being linked to the vacancy. But ever since Masai Ujiri was hired to run basketball operations last month, the belief around the league is that the most likely outcome for Dallas is elevating one of the NBA's rising assistants. That's what Ujiri did the other two times he hired a coach, both with the Toronto Raptors: In 2018, he replaced Dwane Casey with Nick Nurse. In 2023, he replaced Nurse with Darko Rajakovic.
In Scheyer's case, for the record, indications are strong that he's not looking to leave Duke for the pros ... even if it would mean a reunion with Mavericks star Cooper Flagg. Mike Krzyzewski's hand-picked successor as Blue Devils coach just announced two additions to his staff earlier this week.
Baker is in her fourth season with the Blue Devils (34-2), the No. 1 seed of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament’s East Region. Duke faces No. 5 seed St. John’s (30-6) today in the Sweet 16. “Oh my gosh, my job is the best,” Baker, 35, told Andscape. “And I think I’ve had really, really, really, really hard days. The hardest days of my life have been in this job. But every single day you take a step back and I think about the little girl who is faking sick to go to practice with my dad, or hearing Bob Huggins curse somebody out when my dad worked for him at Cincinnati, to now, genuinely, I consider [Duke head coach] Jon Scheyer one of my best friends. He is my boss. There’s a lot of respect there, but sometimes he asks me questions and it’s like pinch me, like, ‘You want to know what I think about that?’ So, I try and it never gets old. It’s unbelievable.” To say Baker was qualified for her job is an understatement. She brought a unique combination of lifetime basketball experience and financial expertise to Duke.
Duke men's basketball head coach Jon Scheyer announced Tuesday the creation of a groundbreaking new opportunity within the men's basketball program and within college basketball — Chief Basketball Officer. NBA Champion and former Blue Devil standout Jayson Tatum has been named to this first-of-its-kind responsibility. As Chief Basketball Officer, Tatum will volunteer his time as a special advisor to Scheyer and the Duke program, bringing championship-level insight and professional basketball experience to player development, leadership, and life as an elite athlete. Tatum, who starred for the Blue Devils in 2016–17 before launching a decorated NBA career, will leverage the lessons he first learned in Durham to help prepare current Blue Devils for success both on and off the court.
Noa Dalzell: Jayson Tatum has been named Duke’s Chief Basketball officer. He’ll serve as a special advisor to head coach Jon Scheyer, per his Instagram.
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Mike Curtis: Cooper Flagg on Jason Kidd’s hopes to play him at PG next season for the #Mavs: “I’m looking forward to it. Coach Scheyer trusted me a lot last year & I handled it a lot. I didn’t bring it up a ton, but in the halfcourt I handled it a lot & set up a lot of different actions. I think it’s something I can do at a high level so I’m excited to just experiment & do some new things”
PHNX Suns_ Suns GM Brian Gregory said he talked with Duke coach Jon Scheyer yesterday to get intel on Khaman Maluach: "Everything was off the chart: his work ethic, his ability to be coached, his desire to become the very best fits in exactly what we're looking to build here in Phoenix."
Gerald Bourguet: Suns GM Brian Gregory said he talked with Duke coach Jon Scheyer yesterday to get intel on Khaman Maluach: "Everything was off the chart: his work ethic, his ability to be coached, his desire to become the very best fits in exactly what we're looking to build here in Phoenix."
During the recruiting process, Kelly and Ralph made one thing clear to Scheyer above all else: no special treatment. So when Flagg was noticeably passive early in a game against NC State, Scheyer let it rip in one of Duke’s first timeouts. “Told him he’s being soft,” Scheyer says. “I used some different language, some different words.” Leaving the huddle, Scheyer looked up and happened to make eye contact with Kelly — who was standing a few rows behind her son, nodding in agreement with Scheyer’s assessment. Flagg subsequently scored 23 of his game-high 28 points in the second half — erasing a 13-point deficit, Duke’s second-largest this season.
Or, at least that’s how Duke’s early-season loss to Kentucky was digested by much of the basketball world. Cooper scored 26 points and gobbled 11 rebounds in his first marquee, primetime game. He also turned the ball over twice in the final minute, including with 26 seconds left in a tie game. “Everyone was killing him,” Carrawell says. “His first big game, everybody watching, he had 26 (points) and 11 (rebounds) — but the turnover, that’s all anybody talked about.” Still: At 17, Cooper was the only Duke player to speak to reporters after that game. Scheyer didn’t prod him to attend the news conference; Cooper understood it as one of his responsibilities. “That’s part of growing up,” Scheyer said. “He’s really hard on himself, and unfortunately, I think in order to be great, you have to be that way somewhat.”
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"It looks like [Duke head coach Jon] Scheyer has been intentionally putting him in situations where it's, 'OK, go, get a basket,'" one Western Conference executive said. "It doesn't look like the primary creation is there for him quite yet. There's a hope that he can be a go-to guy on offense. It seems like he's got the vision and passing, but the individual scoring stuff has to get better." Another NBA scout noted that teams shouldn't bank on Flagg being the primary shot creator for himself and others all the time, but could be an excellent secondary option. "Maybe you hope that, but it's more realistic that he's a 20-point-per-game scorer minimum. ... He's going to really impact the game and fill the stat sheet regardless."
It helps that Stoudamire comes to the ACC at a time when there’s a little more space to squeeze by. Not to discount the win against Duke, but beating Jon Scheyer reads differently than upending Mike Krzyzewski. Pastner laughs when he thinks back to his first three ACC games as head coach at Georgia Tech. “Home against North Carolina and Roy Williams. At Duke with Mike Krzyzewski. Home against Louisville and Rick Pitino,” he says. “That was my introduction to the ACC. What is that, like 2,000 wins and how many national championships?” Closer to 2,400 and nine titles.
He added that many labeled him the “next white Duke guy we’re going to hate” in the lineage of Duke players to follow him like current Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer and the aforementioned Allen. He clarified that Allen “did some stuff that deserved the harsh treatment” but that his own experience was different. He continued: “I created this on-court persona … I leaned in. Like, oh. You think I’m an [expletive]? Just trust me. I can be an [expletive] … You want me to read my poetry?”