Quinn Cook averaged 33.6 minutes per game, last season, and is the Blue Devil’s returning top scorer, yet it looks like he will not be a prominent feature in the offense this coming season.
By Rowan Shiell
Coach Mike Krzyzewski will be turning the offense through two relative newcomers in freshman Jabari Parker and redshirt Sophomore transfer Rodney Hood.
“It’s not your conventional team, like here are your two big guys, your wing, your shooter and your point guard,” Krzyzewski said, right before Duke’s first open practice. “It’s not going to be a team like that. It’s going to be a team that has very good versatility.”
Coach K thinks that the other players will have to adjust to these two forwards. He does think that Cook “will probably be a starter” along with Amile Jefferson, with the fifth player remaining unnamed.
Coach K also said that “Quinn Cook’s role with this team changes. He is not going to be your conventional point guard, coming down and running the offense.” ?This sentiment was echoed by Hood when he told Fox Sports Carolina that he expects to have the ball on offense.
“Especially last year, I ran a lot of point and this year, once I get it off the rebound I’m going to be pushing it,” Hood said. “And there’s going to be some offensive sets where I bring the ball up the court, kind of like Lamar Odom for the Lakers, into the offense.”
This will be a different team, which Coach K compared to the 2001 championship team where Mike Dunleavy played Power Forward at times or Shane Battier played Center.
“It’s not traditional. We don’t have any set positions.” Parker said. “It’s like the old school 70′s era where you didn’t have a center. You just had Forwards; you had Guards and everybody’s adjustable, everybody can move around.”
Jalen Rose once said that positions were created so that fans can follow the game. That may be true but roles have to be undertaken by a different player to have parity and certain roles are more befitting certain players.
That’s why bigger players are more likely to rebound and smaller players dribble. In college basketball you need that “Point Guard” to control the flow of the game but it really doesn’t have to be the smallest player just the best ball handler … and on Duke that is Cook.
Every championship Duke team has benefited from exceptional point guard play. Jon Scheyer wasn’t a traditional Point Guard but he performed his duties well enough plus Nolan Smith had his back. The other two championship guards were Bobby Hurley and Jason Williams.
Big shoes for Cook to fill, but he made huge strides as a Sophomore so at this point his learning trajectory should still be rising.
“Quinn is in the best shape of his life. His ball pressure has been outstanding.” Krzyzewski said. “He has elevated that tremendously. He’ll be in a little bit different role. But his ball pressure, that can really help. We will need to pressure the ball.”
Cook has been criticized for not always being engaged defensively. Without a traditional shot blocker to erase any mistakes on the perimeter, Duke’s guards are going to have to really bring it defensively. It seems Cook is ready to address that part of his game.
“The style of play this year that I see is very fast, very fast, very up tempo.” Cook said. “We have a lot of athletes, and I think coach will utilize our athletes to our advantage.”
There are several players that can grab a rebound, and initiate the offense but only few can rival Cook’s speed on the attack. As Coach K says, the offense will run through Parker and Hood but that doesn’t mean either will lead the team in scoring. There will be plenty of opportunities for everyone, just don’t be surprised if Cook finally comes into his own this season.
Nolan Smith, a fellow Oak Hill Academy graduate, came to Duke a highly rated recruit but had two inconsistent seasons before becoming a major contributor in Duke’s championship drive, as a Junior. Like Smith, Cook appears on track to become a leader at Duke.
He scored over 20 points several times last season and made 39% of his three point attempts. With a little consistency, he could develop into a scorer like Smith. Also being given more responsibilities helped Smith’s development, so maybe that could work in the junior’s favor too.
Instead of trying out for the USA team going to the World University Games, Cook declined the invitation so that he could spend some time with the freshmen during the summer.
Taking the initiative is a good quality of a leader and the 6’1” guard has made no secret of his ambition.
“I think the biggest thing I learned about being a leader is leading by example.” Cook said in his Summer Grind video. “Being the first guy in the gym, being the last one to leave, getting up early.”
Don’t be surprised if Coach K makes Cook a Captain mid season just like he did Seth Curry.
Bermuda Bob adds:
I thought Quinn’s “coming out and into his own” was against Louisville in the “Battle 4 Atlantis” last year, and further confirmed against Ohio State, where he played like the consummate Point Guard he was hailed to be when recruited. More interesting to me was that he did it against one of last year’s best floor generals in Aaron Craft.
I think that fans of a great program, the caliber of Duke, make terrible mistakes when they expect incoming players to “be like” this former player or that former player. Sure, it would be nice, but each kid is his own player, and one of the things that makes Coach K so successful is that he is adroit at recognizing each kid for who he is and what he can become.
I enjoyed Ro’s observation of Quinn’s comment on his wanting to stay on campus to work with the incoming frosh. That is a demonstration of true leadership and why I hope to see Quinn as the quarterback of this squad, even though it will be a completely different Duke team.
Much has been said about the lack of stature this team has, and no one knows better than 6-foot-1 Quinn Cook that stature always gives way to character. I believe that it will be Quinn’s consistent character on which this squad will revolve.
Last year, Quinn lead Duke in assists (190), steals (51), and was second only to Mason Plumlee in time played, but by only 40 minutes. He was criticized sometimes for having relatively “quite” games, but I maintain that he never vanished. Sometimes a leader needs to assume a different role to get the job done. That is why statistics don’t always reflect a player accurately.
I have always thought that a true point guard possessed the ability to see each and every thing that is going on. He is a grand “control freak” but also incredibly self-deprecating. In a word, he is versatile to a fault. A truly unique talent to aspire to.
I too was surprised that Quinn was not voted as a captain, but then I think having another “C” word – Consistent – assigned to him could be much more important to both he and the team.
