It’s Time To Admit That Duke Needs Jaylen Blakes
The junior guard brings something to the court that no other Blue Devil can, outweighing his offensive limitations
Imagine that a new AI algorithm is released that can make individual basketball players unrecognizable on film. Without Jared McCain’s trademark style or Kyle Filipowski’s imposing seven foot frame, it might be difficult to differentiate between individual players in Duke’s modern, spread offense.
The defensive end of the court would be another story.
I’d argue that even with this hypothetical technology (which, let’s be honest, probably isn’t all that hypothetical at this point), most Blue Devil fans would still be able to identify which blur was Jaylen Blakes on defense. No Duke player exerts the defensive pressure that Blakes does. No Blue Devil gets around screens as aggressively as Blakes. If you saw someone diving on the court for a loose ball, it’s a solid bet it’d be Blakes.
And that’s why the junior guard needs to remain a key part of Jon Scheyer’s rotation, even when Tyrese Proctor returns to health.
There were a number of coaching adjustments that Scheyer made in Duke’s convincing win over Charlotte to snap a two game losing streak, but perhaps the one that went most under the radar was Blakes being the first Blue Devil off the bench. He responded with his best game in nearly a year: Blakes’ 15 points, notably on 5-of-5 shooting from the field, were his most since back-to-back 17 point games in ACC play last December.
That offensive output is just a bonus, though. Blakes brings something on the defensive end of the court that no other Duke guard can match, which is all the more important given the Blue Devils’ tendencies for sluggish starts this season. That need for aggressive perimeter defense is amplified by the hole that Dereck Lively’s departure to the NBA has left in Duke’s starting lineup; arguably, his impact on last year’s team is only now being fully recognized as we see how many defensive lapses his presence negated.
Blakes may never be a consistent 20+ minute per game player in a Duke uniform, but he’s ideally suited as a sixth man. If the Blue Devils start sluggishly, Scheyer knows that Blakes will come in and impact the game defensively. His energy is clearly infectious, as evidenced by how his offensive output seemed to motivate his teammates on Saturday.
And lest we forget, when Blakes plays within himself he’s not a total offensive liability. Despite his tendency for ugly misses, the junior is 4-for-9 from beyond the arc this season, after shooting a respectable 34% from deep last year. While he hasn’t been called on much in Duke’s higher profile games this season, he’s proven he can provide positive minutes in ACC play, including a 6-game stretch early last season in which he averaged more than 21 minutes per game. What role Blakes might have served had he not broken his nose in practice last January is one of many “what if’s” of the 2022-23 season.
Duke players and coaches repeated many similar buzzwords to explain their two game road losing streak: a lack of intensity, energy, hustle, and the like, especially early in games, took much of the blame. Jaylen Blakes is arguably the one Duke player who can be relied upon to consistently play with the defensive intensity and energy this still young Blue Devil team needs. Whether he gets a handful of transition buckets or doesn’t score at all, that’s an element that has been missing in many Duke contests so far this season. Blakes needs to keep seeing the floor early in games to provide a much needed spark for this squad.