Mike Krzyzewski proud of the success of his ultimate nugget, Paolo Banchero

NBA – In his final year as a coach, the Duke coaching legend saw the power forward in action and knew he would fit in easily in the NBA.

Pour Mike Krzyzewski, Paolo Banchero has been a ray of sunshine in an emotionally charged 2021/22 season, including a March Madness semi-final elimination against historic rival North Carolina for his very last year on the bench after 42 years of coaching To Duke.

Paolo Banchero will therefore remain as the last “nugget” of “Coach K”, who had already seen three of his protégés win the NBA rookie of the year trophy: Grant Hill (1994), Elton Brand (1999) and Kyrie Irving (2011).

The example of the “NBA ready” player par excellence

Even if he only stayed there for one season, as is now the trend among big prospects, Paolo Banchero marked “Coach K”, in particular by his maturity. The technician was thus not really surprised to see him succeed in his first year in the NBA. For him, all the elements were there to achieve his goals.

“I had told the few teams who had asked to see him that he was the best player in the Draft”, he explained. ” Besides that, he is easy to train. He doesn’t feel like he’s got it all figured out yet. He wants to work. It’s the perfect mix: a young talent, capable of being coached, within an excellent environment where there is enormous potential. He’s going to be a really unique player.”

As his statements following his reward confirmed (with the playoffs in sight from next season), Paolo Banchero is also a leader, who also did his part in this regard during the Magic season.

A remarkable regularity

“We didn’t expect much from their team. It might even have increased the pressure for him. But, instead, it seems that everything went well. He looked so comfortable playing,” explained Mike Krzyzewski, who would have liked to see his former player elected with 100 out of 100 votes for first place. “It’s a well-deserved choice, which should have been unanimous. He’s had an amazing year.”

“Coach K” also highlighted the player’s healthy entourage and also his consistency with more than 33 minutes of play on average over 72 games to average 20 points.

More or less, Paolo Banchero ended the season with the same line of stats as in the NCAA the previous year.

“I would say he was consistent every night, where you could count on a significant production from him in minutes. It’s something that’s not as common as people think in the NBA.” slipped Mike Krzyzewski, who will therefore follow the evolution of Orlando carefully next season.

How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Shots made / Shots attempted; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def= defensive rebound; Tot = Total bounces; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost bullets; Ct: Counters; Points = Points.