Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith split the hard jobs in Duke's 2010 backcourt. Scheyer initiated the offense. Smith usually guarded the opponent's primary ballhandler and attacked after the catch. That partnership gives us a specific way to examine how Scheyer handles Duke's guards now.
Start with the player for a moment. In the 2010 national championship game, Scheyer had 15 points, six rebounds and five assists as Duke beat Butler 61-59. Duke's notes from the final put him in the middle of a game that left almost no room for an empty possession. He had to score and get the ball to somebody else who could.
The guard beside him had spent the season benefiting from that second responsibility. Nolan Smith's account of their partnership is where I would begin a conversation with Scheyer about coaching guards.
Smith could catch ready to make a play
An Al Featherston feature published by Duke in January 2010 described the change. Smith had started at point guard the previous season, carrying the offense along with his scoring and defensive assignments. Krzyzewski moved Scheyer to the point and gave Smith more work off the ball.
Smith explained the benefit to Featherston. “I catch and I'm already in a playmaking mode.”
That is a better explanation than a label on a lineup card. Smith still got to make decisions. The change gave him a different place to start making them. Scheyer accepted more of the work needed to bring the offense to that point.
The defensive assignments made the arrangement more interesting. According to Featherston, Smith usually guarded the opposing primary ballhandler while Scheyer took the shooting guard. Duke could divide the demanding jobs across both ends of the floor. The guards also exchanged offensive responsibilities during games, so the arrangement allowed room for each to respond.
I like the practicality of it. If the guard who pressures the ball also has to initiate every possession and supply the scoring, the coach has piled three jobs onto one player. A capable partner can take a share. That gives the first guard a chance to attack a defense after somebody else has begun moving it.
Wes Hardaway's Kentucky pairing of Momcilovic and Moreno raises a related question. His proposed alignment needs a guard who can deliver the right pass while the defense is moving. Somebody has to do that work before the scorer receives a good opportunity. Smith could explain what it felt like to be on the receiving end.
Duke's advantages still count
Duke announced Scheyer as Mike Krzyzewski's successor in June 2021, effective with the 2022-23 season. He had spent eight years on the staff by the time of that announcement. He knew the program as a championship captain and as a coach working for the person he would replace.
That is a substantial advantage. Scheyer inherited a job whose history attracts attention before the current coach draws anything on a whiteboard. Duke's resources belong in any assessment of what he accomplishes there.
So do his decisions. If Duke wins and its advantages receive all the credit, then Duke loses and Scheyer receives every bit of the blame, we have designed an argument he can never satisfy. A rival fan might enjoy that arrangement. I would rather discuss the substitutions.
Playing for Krzyzewski cannot settle those arguments in Scheyer's favor either. The 2010 championship belongs to Krzyzewski's coaching record. Scheyer's playing experience gives us a reason to ask more informed questions about his choices, while the choices themselves have to survive examination.
My Duke road-stretch preview puts that examination on the returning guards. I want to see how Duke shares the difficult possessions, particularly when the first action fails. Changing which guard initiates could help a teammate attack sooner. It could also give the ball to somebody less equipped to solve the immediate problem. The opponent gets a say.
Smith could tell Featherston how a change in responsibility had made his own job easier. Scheyer had been the teammate helping it happen. When his current backcourt struggles, I want to know whether he can arrange that kind of help for someone else.
