Duke Recruiting: AJ Griffin Interview

We’re really excited to see this kid play

We missed this the other day and also didn’t realize the Athletic is allowing you to use the site if you register, as opposed to a paid subscription, but here’s a great interview with Duke-bound AJ Griffin who talks about recovering from his injury, missing a year of basketball and heading to Duke, among other things.

A couple of excerpts:

• Asked to describe his game: “I feel my motor got better. And I would just say my hand-eye coordination, with dribbling, being able to shoot off the dribble. I haven’t been able to play as much, but that’s what I see from the showcase. But coming into the year, I’ve been really working on my pick-and-roll game. A lot. Handling, being able to shoot the ball, catch-and-shoot, off the dribble — all that. I’ve been working on all that in the time I had off, but I’d say I’m continuing doing that. But those are just a few improvements of mine.“
• On getting to Duke: “...I’m most excited just to get to work. Really, just have a fun year of working hard. Getting to that championship game, the national championship. That’s what I’m looking forward to: having the opportunity to get there. I just know we’re all going to have to pitch in and really work our butts off every day. That’s really where it starts off, Day 1 of the summer. So I’m just excited for that.“

We’re really looking forward to seeing this guy in a Duke uniform. We think even despite his reputation, he’s undervalued.

By the way, this is something we’ve been meaning to mention for awhile: we sometimes link to things that are subscription sites because, well, we figured out (legal) ways to access them without subscribing. We won’t list those here but if you hit a link for a subscription site, chances are it’s accessible. Poke around and you’ll find out how.