Duke Basketball: What would you do in a Blue Devil switcharoo?

Honorable Mentions

There are so many possibilities and even as I’m writing, I’m rethinking this or that. Ultimately, I just had to pick five, but there are so many others that I started doing research on and then scrapped for someone else. I thought this would be fun and it was, but it was brutal as well to have to narrow it down.

I would have loved to pluck junior Gerald Henderson or Austin Rivers from their respective Duke basketball teams, but I didn’t feel they had legitimate shots at a title or a Final Four with just one player added back, even though lesser teams not named Duke have certainly gotten there. Although there was one overlap with the 2018-19 squad, I also tried to spread the love throughout the different Duke basketball eras and use a player only once to show how consistently excellent the Duke Blue Devils have been under Coach K. Here are my best of the rest.

The Cook and Carter:  Quinn Cook 2013-14 and Wendell Carter Jr.

Speaking of 2014, Jabari played a lot of defensive center that year. Enter Wendell and exit Quinn. Quinn gives 2017-18 the true point guard and veteran leadership it needed with his 4.4-ast to 1.6-tov ratio and team first mentality. 2014 gets a true big man, with Parker, Hood and Amile Jefferson playing their natural forward spots and Matt Jones and Rasheed Suliamon helping senior Tyler Thornton with ball handling duties.

The One and Dones:  Corey Maggette and Kyrie Irving

This one was neck and neck with my Irving and Kennard switch and I flipped a coin and this one lost. That 1999 team really needed more guards on the roster and there weren’t many better in Duke basketball than Kyrie no matter how many games he played. 2011 also had two starters at point with him and Nolan Smith, so Kyrie was movable and came up a lot. 2011 had guards, but weren’t deep at forward and had no one near as athletic as Maggette. He would have dominated along side Singler.

The Back to Back…Almost:  Jason Williams 2001-02 and Grayson Allen 2015-16

This is mostly about adding Jason Williams to that 2016 team with Brandon Ingram and Kennard as freshmen and Marshall Plumlee and Amile Jefferson as seniors. Derryck Thornton was also a freshman point guard, but wasn’t ready to assume the role full-time and wound up splitting time with Grayson Allen and Ingram. Williams, the POY that year, would have sufficed nicely to say the least. The starting five on that Duke basketball team would have had more defined roles 1-5 and Williams would have provided leadership as the primary ball-handler and offensive initiator.

Taking J Will off would have been tough, but Allen was a beast that season averaging almost 22-pts 5-reb and 3.5-ast. Chris Duhon averaged 35 minutes, 9-pts 6-ast to 2.6-tov and had five steals in that team’s loss to IU in the regional semi-final. Daniel Ewing, Allen and Mike Dunleavy as a point forward could have assumed secondary ball-handling and the larger Allen could have helped on the glass as Duke was out-rebounded by 17 boards against the Hoosiers.

The Transfer of Wealth:  Nolan Smith 2010-11 and Gary Trent Jr.

I’ve already explained why a point guard is expendable on the 2011 Duke basketball squad, but this time I’m moving Nolan Smith to provide the point guard guidance to Trevon Duval and the veteran leadership to the 2017-18 team. Grayson Allen moves to the two full-time and Duke has two seniors, one fiery and one cool and collected to lead the way. Gary Trent Jr. adds size, shooting, rebounding and defensive toughness to a team with smaller guards and weakness at forward depth.

The Cam Conundrum:  Cam Reddish and A lot of Dudes

Cam Reddish was just too enticing and too talented to have had the year he had, even though he really did have a great season. He won two games with his baskets and on an aside, I think he would have been the perfect closer on that 2018-19 Duke basketball team. His length, touch and handles with the highest FT% and pure-looking shot just begged for the open kick-outs like he got at Louisville and Florida State. We saw what happened when he was asked to step up under pressure.

I liked a switch with Shane Battier, Wendell Carter Jr., and now think Jeff Capel in that same year would have been a good one too. The one I’ve decided on though would be to switch him with Cassius Stanley. Reddish would have gotten to play with his boy, Tre Jones, without the two dogs and play free because there were shooters and an inside presence. Plus, imagine Cassius and Zion Williamson on the same team. The dunking would have been next level and probably broken the internet watching those two go back and forth. He may not have been the shooter that team really needed, but those two having in-game dunk contests would have been AWESOME to see.

Those are my choices for the greatest Duke basketball switches that may have resulted in a few more championships in the Coach K era. There are a lot of choices and I’m sure I’ve left some out, but let me know who you think could have hung a few more banners up in the Cameron rafters.