The Duke basketball team took another step to becoming whole on Wednesday.
It has been an exciting summer in Durham with the Duke basketball program but there has been one missing piece to the puzzle for Jon Scheyer’s squad and its the massive presence of Kyle Filipowski.
Filipowski has been relatively quiet in terms of basketball activity after he underwent double hip surgery immediately following the season and has been working diligently on his recovery while the rest of the team has been getting acclimated with each other out on the court.
The reigning ACC Rookie of the Year has said publicly that his hope would be to join the team in non-contact drills at some point in August and work himself back into full contact by September and the official start of practice.
The 7-footer did not participate in recent 4-on-4 or 5-on-5 scrimmages that the program made public on YouTube and has mostly been doing strength training and very light basketball drills.
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However, on August 2 the basketball world got to see Filipowski participating in basketball activities on the court with his teammates thanks to the Duke social media accounts.
New hips got Flip lookin bouncy pic.twitter.com/gmodXdbfM0
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) August 3, 2023
Filipowski showed off the new mobility that his hips are giving with him with a dunk as Tyrese Proctor and Sean Stewart celebrated in the background of the photos.
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Kyle Filipowski averaged 15.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.3 steals per game during his freshman season and shot 44.1-percent from the field yet only connected on 28.2-percent of his 3-point attempts.
Filipowski has said that the procedure on his hips will allow him to move more freely on the court, specifically defensively, and it will be needed for the Blue Devils as he will log a majority of the minutes at the center position with the departure of Dereck Lively II to the NBA.
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Duke returns three other starters from last season, Jeremy Roach, Tyrese Proctor, and Mark Mitchell, as well as adding one of the top freshmen classes in the country.
The Blue Devils are expected to be a major contender to win the National Championship and the health and availability of Kyle Filipowski will be a major factor in its success.