Stock Watch: Kyrie joins elite club

The bell has rung and the Blue Zone stock exchange is back in business. Each week The Blue Zone will look at whose stock is on the rise and whose stock has taken a hit from the week in the Duke basketball world.

Bull Market—Trending Up

• Kyrie Irving: You knew this one was coming. Kyrie stole the spotlight in the Big Easy during All-Star Weekend, taking home the All-Star Game MVP trophy. Just how big a deal is that? Well, from 1951 to 1998 only five MVPs failed to be elected to the Hall of Fame. Adrian Smith (in his lone All-Star appearance), Randy Smith (a two-time All-Star), Tom Chambers (four-time), Mitch Richmond (six-time) and Glen Rice (three-time). Richmond is a finalist for the 2014 Hall of Fame class. The post-1998 MVPs—Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant and Chris Paul—are all locks for the Hall or at the very least well on their way to Hall-of-Fame-worthy careers. Essentially, Irving put himself in a class reserved for just the upper echelon of NBA greats.
  
• Mason Plumlee: I ranted in this space about how Miles was the more deserving of the brothers to play in the BBVA Compass Rising Stars game. Apparently I was wrong. Miles scored four points, grabbed three rebounds and had one impressive block, but that paled in comparison to Mason's 20-point, seven-rebound, four-steal effort. The arrow is pointing up for Mason's playing time as well, as the Brooklyn Nets dealt forward Reggie Evans to Sacramento this week. That is, unless Brooklyn pulls off the rumored trade for Los Angeles' Lakers' Jordan Hill.
  
• North Carolina: As I'm sure everyone knows by now, North Carolina has been red-hot of late. The Tar Heels have rattled off seven straight victories, including a 75-71 win against then-No. 25 Pittsburgh. The run has put North Carolina one spot away from the top 25. The Tar Heels' wins haven't been all that impressive however. Wins against Pittsburgh and Clemson were solid but were at home. N.C. State and Florida State are both fine teams, but those wins aren't anything to write home about either. North Carolina has the talent, but it will be put to its first real test since turning things around when it faces Duke Thursday night.
  

• Josh Hairston: Can things get worse for Josh Hairston nowadays? In Duke's thriller against Syracuse earlier this month he logged less than a minute of action. He then played a total of eight minutes against Wake Forest and Boston College in the Blue Devils' next two games. Against Maryland, the senior forward failed to leave the bench at all for the first time since Feb. 7, 2013 when he sat out with an infected arm. His last DNP-CD came Feb. 28, 2012 against Wake Forest. Hairston made it back onto the court for five minutes against Georgia Tech, but managed to pick up four fouls in that short span, raising his fouls committed per 40 up to 9.0. Duke needs players to spell the starters given the quick turnarounds this week, but it also needs better production than what Hairston has provided this season.
• Rodney Hood: Hood has flown under the radar in recent games due to the impressive play of freshman phenom Jabari Parker. But now he's going to be exposed. In his past four games Hood has shoot a putrid 31.1 percent from the field. That figure is more baffling when you consider his strong 50.0 percent shooting from beyond the arc in that span. Duke desperately needs the Silent Assassin to finish in the paint and knock down his 2-point shots if the team hopes to win against both North Carolina and Syracuse this weekend.
  
• The Curry men: It was a rough All-Star weekend for the men of the Curry family. Seth Curry—a D-League All-Star—played moderately well on Saturday, scoring 10 points and doling out seven assists, but did so in a losing effort. Father Dell and brother Stephen were quickly ousted in the Sears Shooting Stars competition, falling to the Kevin Durant/Karl Malone/Skylar Diggins team in the first round. In the Footlocker Three-Point Contest Stephen Curry entered as the favorite, but put up an underwhelming score and was subsequently eliminated. Finally, on Sunday, Stephen managed just 12 points in the All-Star game, though he did hand out 11 assists. It's not easy to shoot 2-for-11 from 3-point range in a game in which 318 points were scored and defense was an afterthought, but Curry pulled it off. Notice that only the Curry men were trending down this week, as it was nice to once again see mother Sonya Curry's emphatic reactions to Stephen's play this weekend. Duke fans have surely missed her at games this season.