Duke’s Best Wings

This is where things start to get challenging

In our first installment on Duke’s best forwards, we realized how tough it would be to list them, because the normal classifications don’t really work. So we broke it down into categories within the position:

• Stretch 4’s
• Wings
• Athlete

Today we’re going to look at Duke’s best wings. As commonly understood, wings play at the, well, wings of the offense and defense. Some might qualify technically as guards, but for our purposes, we’re just going for a particular type of player. Here are our top choices; yours may vary.

• Grant Hill - Duke’s best-all around player, Hill could do anything he wanted and play any position except center, which is why we list him in several of these lists.
• Thomas Hill - underappreciated but versatile and deeply useful player in the 1991-92 championship seasons.
• Brian Davis -Gradually grew into a major role and was a key contributor in the 1991-92 seasons, not least of all because he could deal with the mercurial Christian Laettner better than anyone else could.
• Art Heyman - Duke’s second truly great player after Dick Groat, King Arthur was a powerful inside-out player who was dominant in Duke’s first Final Four run.
• Jeff Mullins - At 6-4, Mullins could also go inside or out and played with relentless energy. He went on to a long NBA career, winning a championship with Golden State.
• Jack Marin - a mobile 6-6, Marin was the smoothest wing Duke brought in prior to the Krzyzewski era.
• Gene Banks - recruited to Duke as a forward, Banks had a full package of skills that went well beyond that. Among other things, he may be the greatest inbounder in the history of Duke Basketball. You had to see it to understand how good he was at it. He could stand flat-footed and drop a full-court pass for a layup.
• Kenny Dennard - at 6-8, Dennard could do a little bit of everything. He was one of the best running forwards Duke has ever had and, like Heyman, one of the great personalities in Duke Basketball history.
• Wendell Moore - Watching his confidence grow as he developed as a real pleasure. He was versatile enough to defend power forwards or point guards and became an outstanding leader too.
• Chris Carrawell - one of our favorites, C-Well just did whatever was asked of him, including guarding Tim Duncan. He was part of the 1999-2000 team which had a six-man rotation that was surprisingly successful.
• RJ Barrett - somewhat overshadowed by the brilliant season Zion Williamson had, Barrett was highly capable too. Williamson said it was Barrett’s team.
• Zion Williamson - the most arresting player Duke has ever had, at 6-6 and 285, Williamson defied classification. He was much more than a power player. All you have to do is to look up the Kentucky game from his freshman year which is still stunning. A highly underrated passer.
• David Henderson - the heart and soul of the 1986 team in many respects, Henderson wasn’t scared to guard anyone, including UNC’s Michael Jordan.
• Billy King - Duke’s best defender ever. At 6-6, he lived to shut people down. He could handle the ball and rebound, but shooting? For some reason, he just never learned how to do that. Even layups were a challenge at times.
• Rodney Hood - a smooth transfer from Mississippi State, Hood was slender but tough and he could score on anyone.
• Brandon Ingram - at Duke, he was painfully thin, but his long limbs and solid skills meant he could do whatever he wanted to do.
• Jack White - a much-loved reserve early, White emerged as a near-NBA level player who could shoot, defend and rebound.
• Dahntay Jones - a transfer from Rutgers, Jones had spectacular physical talent. He was highly useful as a defender and a penetrator and he could guard almost anyone.
• Justise Winslow - a real key to Duke’s 2015 national championship, Winslow was highly versatile and also able to fill whatever role was needed, which sometimes changed during games.
• Kyle Singler - like some other guys, Singler belongs on multiple lists. As a freshman, he was asked to bulk up and help inside. As a junior, he trimmed down and was essentially the third guard on a team with a very thin backcourt. As it turned out, his versatility was huge in Duke’s drive to the 2010 national championship.

Next up - we explain what we mean by athlete.