Duke basketball: 20 serious concerns about 2020-21 Blue Devils
By Matt Giles
Question No. 5 for the 2020-21 Duke basketball team…
Does Jordan Goldwire have what it takes to be a legit weapon on offense?
A few times during Saturday’s Blue-White affairs, a bulked-up Jordan Goldwire initiated offense with a simple pass to either a cutting Jeremy Roach or DJ Steward, depending on which five-star freshman guard was the senior’s backcourt mate at the time.
In those moments, Roach and Steward would perfectly relay the pass from Goldwire to either a big for an easy bucket or a forward for an open three.
The action was reminiscent of last season when Goldwire, now a veteran defensive specialist, would technically run the offense with Tre Jones at the two. Jones would anticipate the right time to 1) cut toward the lane or another spot around the arc, 2) catch a simple pass from the acting point guard, and 3) smoothly deliver the only type of dime that shows up in a hoops box score.
But other than that and maybe his decent floater, Goldwire — renowned layup-clanker — offered little in terms of consistently generating offense in a halfcourt setting. Now, to be fair, he added at least a hint of respectability to his outside shot as a junior by connecting on 35.4 percent of his 3-point attempts; however, we’re talking about only 17 total makes from deep for the season.
In order for Goldwire to maximize his critical contributions as Duke’s lone upperclassmen likely to see any significant playing time at either guard spot, he will need to have added “capable creator” and “frequent layup-finisher” to his repertoire.