Wendell Carter suggests Duke Basketball players weren’t able to show their strengths

NBA lottery prospect and now-former Duke Blue Devil Wendell Carter Jr. suggested after a workout with the Chicago Bulls that he and his teammates will play better in the NBA than they did at Duke.

Carter said he and other Blue Devils didn’t get to showcase their strengths as much, pointing to how the NBA doesn’t play a zone defense (like Mike Krzyzewski’s 2-3 system).

“I think even my teammates, all my teammates, weren’t able to show all their strengths,” Carter said, according to ESPN’s Nick Friedell. “That’s just the college life. You buy into whatever college you go to. You do whatever you got to do to help the team win. I think, not even speaking for myself, but all my teammates, we’re going to be able to show a lot more that we can do at the next level with the spacing on the floor, the fact that it’s the NBA. It’s not no-zone like how we were playing [at times], but it’s a lot more space on the court.”

Carter played one season with Duke. He averaged 13.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.

Krzyzewski has made the shift from a traditional recruiter to a one-and-done recruiter, but those efforts may not be as successful if he doesn’t play his team to prepare them for the next level. Using a 2-3 zone and running a more college-minded system doesn’t really help the one-year guys prepare for the NBA.

I guess that’s evidenced by guys like Jahlil Okafor.

This also isn’t the first time a Carter has been publicly critical of someone. Earlier this year, Wendell’s mom ripped the NCAA, going as far as to compare it to slavery.

The crazy part is UK was in the running for Carter early in his recruitment, but they backed off and never looked back during the summer of his final high school season.

Well said.