Friar Basketball Newsletter: Summer League Play to Kick Off for Duke, Diallo
Former Friars David Duke and Alpha Diallo will make their NBA Summer League debuts shortly, as Diallo agreed to join the Phoenix Suns, while Duke will suit up for the Brooklyn Nets. Phoenix begins summer league play on Sunday night (10:30pm on ESPN2), while Brooklyn starts on Monday (5:00pm on ESPN2).
You can find more on when both are playing (and how to watch) here. The article also touches on Diallo’s decision to opt out of his contract with Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos after a good rookie season with Lavrio of the Greek League. Diallo was facing the possibility of going on loan next year, which may have ultimately impacted his decision.
Additionally, you can also see where a variety of players we have covered in years past from the Big East and New England recruiting circuit will play this summer. David Duke will have his work cut out for him with the Nets summer league team, as Brooklyn drafted four prospects and traded for a fifth player from last week’s draft.
We also posted articles and videos of Friar transfers Al Durham and Justin Minaya. You can read, and watch highlights, of Durham’s career-high 24 point night versus Northwestern — a game that included a last second jumper by Durham to send the game to overtime. Durham made a number of critical plays in this comeback victory.
Minaya struggled to find the range from deep when South Carolina took on a talented LSU team last January, but he finished with a 12 point/10 rebound double double. Minaya spend a considerable amount of time covering the talented big man Trendon Watford in this one. Highlights of Minaya are also included.
Finally, we continue to make progress toward the podcast series on the 2003-04 Friars that we are partnering with The Friar Podcast on. We hope to wrap up our final interview next week and will aim to have the first episode out later this month.
For those of you who have already subscribed, we very much appreciate it. Everything on the site has been free this summer, but once we transition to the Monday newsletter and content release, some of the content will be exclusively available for subscribers.