Jon Scheyer’s staff keeps finding the right players - even when Duke never gets them on campus.
That was on display again Friday night, when former Blue Devils target Allen Graves turned heads in his Las Vegas Summer League debut for the Toronto Raptors. The No. 19 pick put together a stat-stuffing performance, finishing with 22 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots. He also knocked down three 3-pointers and led the Raptors in scoring.
For Duke, Graves is the latest example of a recruiting evaluation that looks even sharper in hindsight. The Blue Devils had real interest in the Santa Clara standout during the latest transfer portal cycle, but Scheyer chose not to push the situation into another Cedric Coward-type outcome.
That decision mattered. Graves stayed in the NBA Draft and wound up going to Toronto.
Coward had been the cautionary tale from a year earlier. A Washington State transfer, he committed to Duke over Alabama before his draft stock surged during the pre-draft process.
He never made it to Durham, and the Memphis Grizzlies took him with the No. 13 pick. He is now teammates with Cameron Boozer.
Graves followed a similar path in terms of rising value, but Duke didn’t get caught flat-footed this time. Instead, Scheyer and his staff shifted their focus to other targets, including John Blackwell and Drew Scharnowski, and avoided banking on a player who was clearly trending toward the league.
Still, Graves’ debut was a reminder of why Duke wanted him in the first place. He has the kind of all-around game that fits anywhere: active on the glass, disruptive on defense, and capable of scoring at all three levels. The source material even framed the fit as “Maliq Brown with an extensive offensive bag,” and Friday night offered a glimpse of that kind of impact.
In the end, Graves’ performance only strengthened the case for Duke’s scouting department. Scheyer saw the player correctly. The Blue Devils just never got the chance to coach him.
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