Last week, the itinerant troubadours of NBC College Basketball Talk regaled you with the ballad of the NBA draft prospects. My own verse was about the centers, and I rated my top ten on their ability to succeed at the next level. At the time, Miles Plumlee was supernumerary to that effort.
What a difference a week makes. As of today, Miles - long the least heralded of the Plumlee mini-dynasty - has crept into consideration for teams at the bottom of the first round. How on earth did that happen? Coach K told Brett Freidlander of the Wilmington Star-News his take on the quiet man’s rising fortunes:
“Basically, he’ll be a complementary player, like most of the guys in the NBA,” Krzyzewski said last week. “At 6-11, 255-260, he’s an incredible athlete. I think he’s still growing as a player and he’ll only be asked to do things he does well. He can run. He can play defense. He can rebound. He doesn’t have to be a great shooter. He’s an adequate shooter, but he can physically play right away. And he can do the things you would ask a complementary player to do.”
DraftExpress.com also took note of Plumlee’s ascension, and attempted to analyze his game with the help of the highly specialized stats provided by Synergy Sports Technology:
In essence, nobody in the NBA seems to think that Plumlee is going to blossom into anything other than what he already is - a big guy who plays fairly well in limited minutes. Sometimes, that’s all a title contender needs to take the next step.