Duke Basketball: Biggest keys for Blue Devils in final month of 2019-20

Joey Baker

Joey Baker has been an interesting player since his arrival at Duke.  It seems he was destined to always be the odd man out in Durham as the fifth recruit in a class featuring Zion, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish and Tre Jones.  We know the story last year of his burned red shirt and then only seeing 18 minutes of game time for the rest of the season.

There was talk of his possible transfer after prognostications foresaw no place for him in this year’s roster prior to this season.  They looked like they were right after he saw no time in the first game against Kansas.

But some of us believe we can lead our own destiny and that is what Baker has managed to do.  Is he indispensable?  Not necessarily, but he could be in the right circumstance or if he gets hot.  Baker is a shooter hitting 41% of his threes and 92% from the line, although he doesn’t get there very often.

While Duke struggled early in the year with their three-point shot, Baker stepped in, started knocking them down and never looked back.  He was over 50% during the early part of the year and has been up and down lately, but still gives 1.2 makes and 13.5 valuable minutes a game.

He spaces the floor, shoots with range and comes in looking for his shot with confidence it’s going in.  He is not a great individual defender, but much like Matthew Hurt is a solid team defender and capable blocker of shots.  For his size and attitude, Baker should probably average more than just one rebound a game.  Adding strength would benefit him in this area, but Duke is a top twenty rebounding team, so other players have picked up the slack.

Baker also plays with a bit of a chip on his shoulder and can be seen dishing out a hard foul, woofing a bit at an opponent and slapping the floor in a staple of Duke culture.  He has a good shot fake, decent first step and ability to drive it to the bucket.

While Baker’s role is to provide timely three-point shooting, he has a fairly versatile offensive game.  As he is being closed out on, he needs to drive more and try to finish at the rim to get fouled or pull up in the mid-range.

He scored eight points against BC with his first two baskets coming from this exact scenario.  He then hit a big three in the second half since he was given space after showing the ability to drive.  Being above 90% from the line, driving would also give him a chance to get easy points if he were to be fouled, although finishing through contact is not his forte.