A week after he announced he would no longer play for Duke this season, Jalen Johnson is no longer a Duke student and has been removed from the team’s roster, The News & Observer has confirmed. The 6-9 freshman forward declared for the NBA draft on Feb. 15 after he and his family consulted with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Mike Krzyzewski Rumors
Last week, Williamson described Van Gundy as “old school,” a quality he considers positive. He said his stepfather, who has trained him since he was a boy, and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski share it as well. “I think it’s a great quality because that’s just how I was trained,” Williamson said. “Always going to be on you. Always expecting greatness from you. Never satisfied. Coming to the gym with the idea that we’re going to get better today. It may be tough. But always coming into the gym with the idea that we’re going to get better today.”
In what ways have coaches such as Coach K at Duke and Lloyd Pierce in Atlanta helped you grow in understanding issues outside of sports? Cam Reddish: The biggest thing they’ve both helped me with is how to use my voice, whether that’s on the court or off the court. Whether you’re talking about ‘Black Lives Matter’ or yelling ‘switch’ on the court, use your voice. That’s the biggest thing I got from both of them.
Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski was the head coach that team, and he shared a particularly memorable anecdote about Olympics Kobe during a recent appearance on JJ Redick’s “The Old Man and the Three” podcast. “When we were starting to build a culture at USA basketball, and [Bryant], Chauncey Billups and Jason Kidd were added. … We’re getting ready for Beijing, I’m with my staff in Vegas…and all of a sudden there’s a knock on the door, two days early, and it’s Kobe,” Krzyzewski remembered. “He said, ‘I want to guard the best perimeter player on every team that we play.’ Now, he’s the NBA scoring champ, he’s the best player in the league at that time. … And he knew that he would have to change a little bit and be a leader. “And then he pauses — and, you know him and Jordan had the same eyes, they killed you with their eyes — and he leans forward and he said, ‘Coach, I promise you I’ll destroy ’em.’”
Krzyzewski noted that Bryant wasn’t simply leading by example, though. He was looking ahead to a matchup with Manu Ginobili. “He had this vision of moments. He knew that for us to win the gold medal we would have to beat Argentina … and he wanted to guard Ginobili. Believe me, he already had that figured out. It wasn’t just to set an example for the team. … So, we do play Argentina in the semis, and we’re beating them by 20 points and Ginobili gets hurt … and it becomes a six-point game, because now [Kobe’s] not interested anymore. That’s who he was,” Coach K said of the late NBA icon.
Alex Schiffer: New Nets coach odds per @betonline_ag: Jacque Vaughn-5/2 Ty Lue-11/4 Gregg Popovich-3/1 Mark Jackson-7/2 Jason Kidd-4/1 Jeff Van Gundy-15/2 Darvin Ham-10/1 Ime Udoka-10/1 Rick Pitino-15/1 John Calipari-18/1 Mike Krzyzewski-18/1 Tom Izzo-18/1 Adam Harrington-20/1 Jay Wright-20/1
