Kyle Singler 1-on-1 Interview

Part 2 of the USA Basketball Duke player interviews brings us Kyle Singler as he looks back on his busy Summer and looks forward to his Senior Year as Captain of the Duke Men's Basketball team. Duke Hoop Blog's Lara Lee sat down with Kyle before he joined the USA Select Team for training camp:


Duke Hoop Blog: What does it mean to you to be chosen for this Select Team?

Kyle Singler: It's a great honor. It's a good opportunity to play with and against great competition, and it's just a fun opportunity and experience to be part of.

DHB: What do you hope to take away from this week?

K: Hopefully I get better as a basketball player. Hopefully I have fun, and hopefully I learn some stuff. And so far, I've been doing all three.

DHB: You've had a really busy summer so far; it seems like you've been all over the place. What have you gained from the camps and the various things you've been up to?

K: You take away different things from different camps. But I think the main thing that has happened is just playing against good competition and just being away from Duke, I think, has helped, just being in different arenas and atmospheres. I think that's helped, and it's kind of mixed up the summer a little bit.

DHB: Have you got any plans to take a breather before you get into the season?

K: Yeah, I'll probably go home like the first part of August and stay there for about two weeks before school starts.

DHB: Speaking of home, what did you think when Coach first approached you with the idea of playing against EJ up in Portland this fall?

K: Yeah, I was really excited about it. You know, I was hoping that we would get the chance to at least go back to Oregon to play when I was at Duke. So now that I'm playing my brother, and it's in Oregon, it should be a really fun thing. A lot of people in Oregon are excited about it, so I'm excited to get back there.

DHB: You said that a big reason you decided to stay for your senior year was because you love Duke so much. What are some things that you love about the program and about the university that made you want to stick around?

K: Well, just those things. I love the program, I love being around the guys and Coach. The university and just the people at the school are fun to be around. Just the whole experience I’ve had a blast. Each year's been more fun so hopefully my senior year is even better than the last one. And that's pretty tough to do.

DHB: Speaking of next year, what does it mean to you to be a captain coming up this year?

K: Yeah, it's something new; it's something that I haven't done. I think it'll help Nolan and I as basketball players, just to become more of a leader, I guess, in our program. It'll just help us as basketball players, just become more complete.

DHB: It's going to be a very different year next year. Not only do you have a lot of personnel changes, but the outside expectations for the team are so different than they were last year. How do you tackle that as a captain?

K: Well, you kind of have to just be yourself. I think that's the main thing. Just like you said, it's going to be different. Every year's been different since I've been at Duke, so I think if Nolan and I are just ourselves, our instincts will take over. I mean, we're leaders already, so I think we'll just be ourselves and things just come natural.

DHB: You mentioned how it's been different every year... that's really been true for you, because you've been moving around on the court pretty much every year. What do you think your role this year will be on the court?

K: I have no idea, to be honest. It could be anything. I really can't see what it's going to be like. We're just going to work hard during the summer and hopefully we put ourselves in the right positions to be successful.

Nolan Smith 1-on-1 Interview

Nolan Smith is in Las Vegas for a week with Duke teammate Kyle Singler and a number of other college players training with the USA Select team. This squad was hand selected by a panel of college coaches and USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Committee to train against the USA Men's National Team and gain valuable experience in the Olympic program.

Duke Hoop Blog's Lara Lee caught up with the two players before they set out on their second day of practice. Here's the first interview with Nolan:


Duke Hoop Blog: What does it mean for you to be chosen for this Select Team?

Nolan Smith: It's a huge honor to be out here, you know, to play alongside these great college guys and also get the opportunity to play against some of the best NBA players. It's a great honor, and it's very exciting to be out here.

DHB: What do you hope to take away from this week, for yourself?

N: Just learn a lot about my game. I'll really know what I have to do to improve, not only for next season in college basketball, but going forward in my game at the next level. To see myself against the NBA guys, I'll really get to test myself and test my game.

DHB: You've had a really busy summer so far. You said that yourself yesterday... you've been all over the place. What do you think you've gained from going to the different camps and things like that?

N: Oh, I've gained a lot. In my next blog coming out, I'm actually going to talk about that. I've gained a lot. Learning from guys like Chris Paul, Deron Williams, LeBron... all of them have really just given different pieces of their game that they have. And then all the trainers that I've been working with all summer, you know, I've tried to just soak it all in. Keep my game the way it is, but add different pieces that they have. I really feel like I've grown this summer.

DHB: Speaking of the blog... What brought that on?

N: You know, just my personality. Really wanting to become one with my fans, Duke fans, and basketball fans. I really think that they appreciate it. People that love sports love to hear what we're doing, love to hear and see our personalities. And I love giving out to them, so it's just something I want to do to really just spend my free time, you know, when I'm just sitting at the house, and really just do it for the fans.

DHB: So is that your ultimate goal with the blog, give more the insider view of your life off the court?

N: Oh yeah, definitely... give an insider's view, allow people to ask me questions, and I'll try to answer as many questions as I can, and really just try to connect with everybody. I'm a people person; I love putting a smile on people's faces. That's just me.

DHB: Most people were under the impression earlier in the spring that you had no thoughts of declaring for the draft this year. And then after the fact we got a little bit of a different story. How come you kind of kept your thoughts to yourself for a while there?

N: That was just the way I wanted it. You know, I really didn't want to deal with the questions, deal with the interviews asking me about it. I wanted to keep it inside Duke, and keep it with the coaches, keep everything just really low-key. If I would have decided [to leave], then I'd have been prepared for any questions. But then when I decided to stay, it was kind of like, everybody was expecting me to stay, and that's just the way I wanted it.

DHB: What does it mean to you to be a captain coming up this season?

N: It means a lot to me. You know, especially the captains that we had this year, they set a high bar. You know, Jon and Lance... and Zoubs wasn't a captain but he really was, just our senior leadership. This year it's going to be Kyle and myself, and we're ready to try and do the best we can, like last year's guys did. And we're ready for it, you know, leading by example but also being very vocal with our freshmen and our guys coming up. So, it's a huge task and we're ready for it.

DHB: Along that same line, it's a very different team coming in this year personnel-wise, but also the outside expectations for this team are very different this year from last year. How do you handle that, starting out?

N: Just try and be humble. You know, as long as we get everybody on the same page, and play to take it one game at a time. We know the expectations are going to be very high for us. But we just have to stay relaxed, and we got to expect that after winning a championship, the expectations are always going to be high. But even more so with the guys coming in, Kyrie Irving and Seth Curry, who was sitting out, you know people are expecting a lot out of those guys. So we're just going to have to all keep it together. If we play together, then everything will just fall into place.

DHB: Are you going to make it to any of the DC Assault games while you're out here?

N: I definitely plan to. Our workouts here are pretty much over by 2 or 3 o'clock every day, so I definitely plan to go support DC Assault kids and just watch my guys.

How Does Kyrie Irving Rank With Recent #1 Rated PG Recruits?

Kyrie Irving became the first #1 Rated PG commitment for Duke that actually will enroll at Duke since Chris Duhon in the Class of 2000 (Shaun Livingston was a Duke commit and #1 rated PG in 2004, but never made it to Durham.)

While the expectations for Kyrie are sky-high, is it that much of a stretch to predict he will perform at least as well as the last 5 #1 rated PGs to go to college? Let's take a look at their Freshman years:


2002
Ray Felton -- UNC
GM MIN PTS REB AST TO A/T
35 35.4 12.9 4.1 6.7 3.7 1.81

2003
Chris Paul -- Wake Forest
GM MIN PTS REB AST TO A/T
31 33.6 14.8 3.3 5.9 2.6 2.23

2006
Ty Lawson -- UNC
GM MIN PTS REB AST TO A/T
38 25.7 10.2 2.9 5.6 2.2 2.57

2007
Derrick Rose -- Memphis
GM MIN PTS REB AST TO A/T
40 29.2 14.9 4.5 4.7 2.7 1.8/

2009
John Wall -- Kentucky
GM MIN PTS REB AST TO A/T
37 34.8 16.6 4.3 6.5 4.0 1.62

Just by averaging these numbers out, we can extrapolate the following.
**I am not an idiot. I don't expect these to be the actual numbers...

2010
Kyrie Irving -- Duke
GM MIN PTS REB AST TO A/T
36 31.7 13.9 3.8 5.9 3.0 2.01

Compare this to our PG from last year, Jon Scheyer:

2010
Jon Scheyer
GM MIN PTS REB AST TO A/T
40 36.8 18.2 3.6 4.9 1.6 2.98

While Kyrie will obviously not play as many minutes as Jon did last year, he should play more than the 25.7 played by Ty Lawson in 2005. Kyrie will have the ball in his hands from Day 1 and will play in a fast-paced offense more similar to the other #1 PG recruits than to the Duke offense of last year so he will have many opportunities to score and pad the assist numbers. If he can control the turnovers and bring down some rebounds in that high-paced offense, you should see Kyrie's numbers fall more in line with the top tier of these five players than the bottom.

Is it Countdown to Craziness time yet?


*all stats from ESPN.com
*all recruit rankings from rscihoops.com

Quinn Cook to Oak Hill Academy?

Heard from a couple of reliable sources that Quinn Cook will follow in his godbrother Nolan Smith's footsteps and play for Coach Steve Smith at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, VA.

Oak Hill has a wonderful basketball program and has a great history of taking talented DMV guards (Smith, Ty Lawson) and placing them on a path to success in the ACC and then the NBA. We can all hope that Quinn has a similar career...

2011 Recruiting

Duke already has two commitments for the 2011 class in Michael Gbinije and Tyler Adams.

Michael Gbinije
A 6'6" Small Forward Prospect from Benedictine High School in Richmond, VA, Gbinije is known as a smooth and talented baller. His effortless skills on the court have often been confused for a lack of intensity, but he's so under control with little to no wasted motion that it could be just that, confusion. Nevertheless, Mike G. made a wonderful college choice if this is his only knock as the Duke staff commands full effort at all times. Following a short courtship, Gbinije became Duke's first commitment for the 2011 class, and the first recruit targeted by Nate James to sign with Duke.

Tyler Adams
The 6'9" 260lb back to the basket center from Mississippi was Nate James' second commitment and followed Gbinije's path of a short recruitment followed by a commitment to Duke. While raw physically, Tyler is quite a specimen for reportedly (according to him) spending little time in the weight room. Tyler will serve a role at Duke that was crucial to the 2010 run in rebounding and defense, but does not play much above the rim. If you are willing to accept that as his role, you will be very pleased with the contributions of this young man.

Austin Rivers
The ultra-talented shooting guard from Winter Park, Florida has reopened his recruitment recently after committing to the Florida Gators as a high school freshman. Duke is by far the leader for Rivers, but has some competition in UCLA, North Carolina, Kansas, and Texas. All reliable reports have Austin announcing his commitment in August, and as long as the Devils are able to seal the deal, he will join them for at least the 2012 season.

Quincy Miller
Quincy is going to be a serious matchup problem for whoever plays against him in the future. Depending on who you ask, he's anywhere from 6'8"-6'10" but plays like a guard. Standing 5'11" his Freshman year, he hit a chia pet style growth spurt but still maintains his guard skills from when he was shorter. With a solid outside shot, decent handle, and enough size to get his shot up around the rim, he's hard to guard for a SF and too quick for most PFs. Early reports had Duke in a strong position following their Elite Camp last year, but he seems to favor Kentucky more these days. Duke fans should hope for sanctions or the lure of the NBA for Calipari if they want to land "Q".

Anthony Davis
Like Quincy, Anthony had a recent 8 inch growth spurt. His happened a year later though and allowed Davis to stay under the radar until a few solid performances at AAU events earlier this year. With the skills of a guard, but the height of a forward, Davis has been the buzz of the AAU circuit this Summer. The Duke coaching staff is in the evaluation stage with Davis and are very interested in watching his ability to adjust to his new body.

Amir Williams
As you can see from the last two players mentioned, Power Forward is a position of importance for the 2011 recruiting class. Amir is a very talented, 6'9", 210 lbs post player from Detroit Country Day High School (former school of Shane Battier.) The staff is high on Amir and he believes he has a committable offer from Duke to play basketball. My sources tell me he has not been officially offered, but they would not turn him down if he wanted to commit, so maybe he does...

Chasson Randle
Chasson is a 2011 guard that reminds us a little of Nolan Smith. He's been compared to a number of past Duke guards and we can see a little of all of them (Sean Dockery, Daniel Ewing, Chris Duhon.) His versatility is something the staff is looking for in a number of their new prospects as he would be able to play either guard position in college. In the AAU games we saw him play this Summer, he tended to defer to his teammates a little more than we would have liked, but he is very talented. Not to mention, he's #1 in his High School class academically. Sounds like a Duke kid to us...