News and Notes: David Duke Shining at Summer League After Turning Down Nets Two-Way Contract
1. David Duke is betting on himself once again, as he turned down another two-way contract from the Brooklyn Nets in hopes of landing one of the 15 standard contracts on the Nets’ roster.
Duke wasted little time in showing off an improved game this summer, going for 22 points in Brooklyn’s Summer League opener on Friday night (a 94-90 loss to the Bucks).
He then scored 21 points on an efficient 6-11 from the field and 9-10 at the free throw line in Sunday’s 91-84 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
“I’m always going to strive for the most that I can get, right? So if there’s a roster spot to strive for that, then whatever happens from there, happens,” Duke told the New York Post after Friday’s win. “But like I said, I’m just out here trying to play the best that I can, show what I can bring to Brooklyn, to whoever. And that’s just my mindset.”
Duke earned high praise from color man Steve Smith for his play on both ends of the floor versus the Bucks on Friday night.
Here are some of his best plays versus the Sixers on Sunday:
2. Opportunities have been harder to come by for AJ Reeves and Justin Minaya through three combined games so far. Reeves did not see action in the Celtics’ Summer League opener on Saturday night, while Minaya saw four late minutes for Charlotte on Friday before logging a DNP-CD on Sunday against the Lakers.
Rhode Island native Cole Swider continued his hot shooting during Summer League play in the Lakers/Hornets game on Sunday, making 5-8 from deep and 6-10 from the field overall en route to a team-high 21 points.
Providence recruited Swider out of St. Andrew’s in Barrington, RI before he committed to Villanova. He transferred to Syracuse last year, put up a big season in the ACC, and has shot the ball terrifically this summer.
The leading scorer for the Hornets in their win over the Lakers? Former Creighton guard Ty-Shon Alexander, who had 22 points. Their second-leading scorer was one-time St. John’s wing LJ Figueroa with 16.
3. Some other Big East products have made an impact over the past few days in Vegas. After signing a two-day deal with the Denver Nuggets, Villanova’s Collin Gillespie went for 17 points, seven rebounds, and six assists on Sunday night. This followed up a debut in which he had 11 points, six rebounds, four assists, and zero turnovers in 30 minutes.
Seton Hall’s Jared Rhoden has scored 23 points in two games for the Kings.
Justin Lewis of Marquette sat through every draft pick at the Barclay’s Center without hearing his name called. He signed a two-way contract with the Bulls and has shown flashes.
4. Providence offered a scholarship to 6’9 (or 6’10 depending on who you read) Drew Fielder of Southern California University. Fielder drew high praise from 247 Sports’ Adam Finkelstein for his play on the Under Armour circuit.
Notably, Fielder will be teammates next season with 2023 PC commit Garwey Dual at South California University. They will also have 7’1 Pawtucket native Isaiah Miranda in the fold.
The Idaho native was also offered by USC this week. Fielder also has offers from TCU, Boise State, Arizona State, Maryland, Creighton, Nebraska, and many others.
Fielder was solid (14 points, 9 rebounds) in a win over a very good Middlesex Magic (MA) team featuring budding superstar JP Estrella.
Providence also offered California native Brady Dunlap, a 6’7 sharpshooter in the class of 2023. Dunlap was also offered by Illinois in late June. 247 Sports has him in their top 75 in the class of 2023.
A teammate of Bronny James on Strive for Greatness (CA) on the EYBL circuit, Dunlap scored a team-high 20 points vs. Seattle Rotary this week, led the team once again with 19 points against Brad Beal Elite, led them for a third time this week with 19 more against Houston Hoops, before scoring 15 versus Team Takeover. He scored a team-high in four of SFG’s six games this week.
5. Shockingly, the Power 5 football schools and conferences continue to devour whoever they can. USC and UCLA left the Pac-12 for the Big 10, an announcement that came less than a year after Oklahoma and Texas announced they were eventually heading to the SEC.
Football’s Power 5 is now down to two. It’s the SEC, the Big 10, and everyone else.
The SEC and Big 10 have delivered crushing blows to the ACC, Big 12, and Pac-12 — a far cry from when the ACC swore they were only being proactive in pilfering anything they could from the Big East a decade ago. As Andy Staples of The Athletic wrote, “(ACC Commissioner John Swofford) recognized only one of the ACC or Big East would survive, so he raided the Big East repeatedly to kill that league and bolster the ACC’s football product.”
According to David Teel of The Richmond Times-Dispatch, the feelings running through the ACC are those of uneasiness, survival, and “simmering resentment.”
Oh, the irony.
Teel’s article is well worth a read.
6. The Boston Globe featured Boston native AJ Reeves on Monday. From the article:
The former Providence guard had a strong pre-draft workout for Boston last month. He was later brought in for another session as the Celtics began to fill out their summer league roster, and then he was added to the team.
In Las Vegas this week he is playing games nearly 3,000 miles from TD Garden, in a college gym where air conditioning goes into overdrive to fight the 110-degree temperatures outside. And his uniform looks more like a practice jersey than the real thing. But he’s here, he’s getting closer, and he insists he is not satisfied.
“This is a dream I had to work toward and I set goals along the way,” Reeves said. “Now I’m here and just trying to make the best of my opportunity. Just being able to have the name on my chest and play here is something I’m definitely going to tell my kids when I have them. But this is step one of a long journey. This is just the beginning. Hopefully, I can do a little bit to get to step two and just keep chipping at it. Any movement is better than no motion at all.”