Duke Recruiting: This man’s potential is enormous

The DMV has long been a focus of Duke recruiting interest. Mike Krzyzewski’s first great player, Johnny Dawkins, was from D.C., and his backcourt mate Tommy Amaker was from Northern Virginia. The list goes like this: Danny Ferry, John Smith, Nolan Smith, Grant Hill, Kenny Blakeney, Quinn Cook and Paul XI.

That’s kind of a joke, because Duke has developed a pipeline from Paul XI. Recently Duke got Jeremy Roach, Trevor Keels, Darren Harris and Patrick Ngongba from Paul XI. And now they’ve offered Jordan Smith.

Smith is a 6-3 guard who will be great in transition. As you can see in this video, he is very athletic. He also has a 6-9 wingspan, which will come in handy.

His offense is good, though his ballhandling may need some work to play at the highest level and he will almost certainly need to have PG skills to be an NBA level player. But basically that’s just doing the reps.

However, his athleticism could allow him to become an absolutely elite defender and if you can do that, your chances of staying in the NBA go up significantly. Anyone can play there, but not everyone is a willing defender. And having a pit bull to set up a great offensive player is a real asset.

We’d love to see him in Cameron, but wherever he goes, he’ll do well.