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Duke Blue Devils: Life After Rasheed Sulaimon

By Jacob Rude

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With the dismissal of Rasheed Sulaimon, the Duke Blue Devils now have a big hole to fill and, more dangerously, a shorter rotation to fill it with. Can Coach K pull off another great coaching feat?

The Duke Blue Devils provided the biggest news of the week not only in the ACC, but in college basketball in general by dismissing junior guard Rasheed Sulaimon from the team for undisclosed issues. By all accounts and reports, Sulaimon was in good standing academically and had no legal troubles, meaning this decision came from a pure basketball standpoint.

As many have pointed out on Twitter, it’s hard to imagine head coach Mike Krzyzewski would have continued to use Sulaimon if he predicted or even thought that he would be forced to dismiss the guard. Even on Wednesday night, Sulaimon saw 12 minutes of action, albeit well below his season average of 19.3 minutes a game.

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    • However, Sulaimon’s minutes per game have been slowly falling. Coming in as a potential one-and-done player, Sulaimon’s time in Duke was rough. Last season, he found himself in the doghouse more often than not, but it had appeared the two sides – Coach K and Sulaimon himself – had moved past that prior to Thursday’s dismissal. It appeared the junior had embraced his role off the bench with his per 40 minute stats showing he was having arguably a career year.

    But, clearly, we only know the half of the story on the court. Off the court, things weren’t as smooth and Sulaimon’s departure leaves Duke with serious questions. The already thin Blue Devils, who lost Semi Ojeleye to transfer during the fall semester, are now noticeably thinner.

    Through the first 20 games, only six Blue Devils had played over 300 minutes this year, including Sulaimon. With Sulaimon out, the player most needed to step up will be Grayson Allen. The freshman came into the season as ESPN’s #21 recruit, but has failed to find consistent minutes in Duke’s loaded back court. With the remaining competition cleared out, Allen may not only get more minutes, he’s likely to be the first guard off the bench with Matt Jones having played more of a forward role this year.

    Even with Allen’s added minutes, the Blue Devils’ are very, very thin. With both Quinn Cook and Tyus Jones starting, the team’s only point guards, only Allen and Matt Jones will be available off the bench. More troublesome is that Jones and Winslow are the only natural small forwards and Marshall Plumlee is the only big man reserve. Coach K will have to balance keeping his players as fresh as possible with only one back-up guard, one back-up guard/forward, and one back-up center.

    Paper. Thin.

    Duke will likely be forced to go small ball much more than normal, with Winslow and Jones seeing time as a stretch four. However, this would further exploit the already terrible Blue Devils’ defense. Coach K could maintain the front court rotation as is, but his team is bound to wear down. Depending on how many games the Blue Devils play, at least three players – Jahlil Okafor, Cook, Tyus Jones – are on pace to play over 1,000 minutes with Winslow a likely candidate if the team makes deep runs in either the conference tournament or NCAA tournament.

    The possibility remains that Coach K could adjust the starting line-up, although it’s a risky move. By bringing either Tyus Jones or Cook off the bench and starting Matt Jones, the Blue Devils have a more dynamic and versatile player coming off the bench. More importantly, it’d be a player who could provide instant offense which can be vital in a game where the starters might not be effective. However, it could damage a player’s psyche to “demote” him to the bench at this point in the season.

    No matter how you twist it, Coach K has his hands full. Suddenly, he has a big hole to fill in Sulaimon’s lost production as well as a balancing a team with incredibly limited depth. If any coach could do it, it’d be Krzyzewski, but even he is going to have his work cut out for him.

    Next: Indiana Hoosiers Finding Success With Spacing

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