NEW YORK—It may not be the small army Kentucky is sending to the league, but come Thursday night, the defending national champions will send one of the most talented cores in the country to play in the NBA.
Four former Blue Devils—Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow, Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook—hope to hear their names called during the 2015 NBA draft at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, beginning at 7 p.m. With the possibility of two top-five picks and three first-rounders, Duke could be set to produce one of its best draft classes in school history—and it all starts with Okafor.
Although the 6-foot-11 center has been in the running with Kentucky's Karl-Anthony Towns, Ohio State's D'Angelo Russell and Latvian Kristaps Porzingis for the No. 1 overall pick, the center spoke little of the Minnesota Timberwolves—who are expected to take Towns with the top selection—during Wednesday's media session, focusing more on the team with the No. 2 pick, the Los Angeles Lakers.
"It was a good visit. I met with them twice, actually. I enjoyed it," Okafor said. "I worked out with them twice as well. I went to dinner with their staff, with their coaches.... They have a great reputation for the big men coming in there and dominating and resulting in NBA championships. I know if I was fortunate enough to go there, I would have big shoes to fill."
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Okafor, who spent Wednesday night at a Broadway production of The Lion King—his all-time favorite movie—was also asked about playing for the New York Knicks, who have the fourth overall pick, and said he would "be excited" to play for the Knicks. But with the Lakers in need of a franchise center and positive reports coming out of both camps, it seems more likely that another Blue Devil—Winslow—could land in the Big Apple.
The 6-foot-6 swingman went from being considered Duke's third-best pro prospect behind Okafor and Jones to a possible top-5 pick in the course of the past season. Winslow's athleticism and defensive flexibility—both of which were put on full display throughout the NCAA tournament—have made him a very attractive prospect, with both the Knicks and Orlando Magic eyeing the Houston native at either No. 4 or No. 5 spot in the draft.
Winslow has made New York his base for the past several weeks, living on the west side of the city while working out for various teams, the Knicks included.
"I'd be comfortable here [in New York]," Winslow said. "For the most part, [I've] just been living here. If I was in California or back home in Houston, I would be comfortable. This is a city that I've enjoyed, started to like it."
The only issue some take with Winslow going to New York is that he would have to sacrifice playing at small forward—a position currently occupied by perennial All-Star Carmelo Anthony—and he does not have the size to play power forward. Although Anthony possesses the body size and athleticism to slide to the four-spot, the move would not fit with the Knicks' scheme, meaning Winslow would either come off the bench or spend the majority of his time as the off-guard.
Regardless of his destination, Winslow said Wednesday that he expects to spend the majority of his minutes at either the two or three, and the swingman's ceiling at the next level has been pegged as among the highest in the draft. He pointed out that the larger court and spacing the NBA provides will serve him well and that he has already begun looking at some of the league's best two-guards as inspiration for what he can do on the floor.
"The spacing, just with the bigger court, with the lines extended, the spacing is better. Defensive three seconds and that sort of thing just offers more isolation, which kind of makes it easier to score," Winslow said. "Dwyane Wade, DeMar Derozen, James Harden—I don't try to mold my game or model my game after theirs but it's definitely stuff they do that I can do."
With all the attention that Okafor and Winslow have garnered in the past month, Jones—the hero for the Blue Devils on numerous occasions last year, most notably in the national championship game—is the final Duke player expected to be taken in the first round.
The point guard—who measured in at 6-foot-2 in shoes—has overcome size criticisms throughout his high school and collegiate career to put together one of the finest resumes of any player in this year's draft. Jones finished his lone year at Duke averaging 11.8 points and 5.4 assists per game and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
Jones—who will be watching the draft from home in Apple Valley, Minn.—is slated to go anywhere between 15th and 20th overall. Several mock drafts have the Houston Rockets as a likely landing spot for Jones with the No. 18 pick. Houston could be looking for a backup floor general after deploying 37-year-old Jason Terry at point guard once starter Patrick Beverley underwent season-ending wrist surgery late in the season.
Rounding out this year's crop of NBA-hopeful Blue Devils is Quinn Cook, who is coming off the best season of his collegiate career. The team's lone scholarship senior averaged 15.4 points and shot 39.5 percent from behind the arc. At 6-foot-2, Cook is also a smaller guard, but proved this past year that he can comfortably play in both the point or shooting guard roles, sliding to the shooting guard spot to make room for Jones to run the point. Cook could hear his name in the second round after establishing himself as a true long-range threat and a leader as a senior.
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