Duke basketball standout Kyle Filipowski passed over in first round of NBA Draft
Kyle Filipowski’s decorated Duke basketball career caused NBA Draft prognosticators to consider him a lock to be a first-round pick, whether he came out last year or this year.
When the picks came in Wednesday night, Filipowski didn’t hear his name called.
The ACC tournament most valuable player his freshman season and a second-team all-American as a sophomore for the Blue Devils, Filipowski was not selected among the draft’s 30 picks during the first round at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The draft continues with the second round beginning at 4 p.m. Thursday, and that’s the lone solace for Filipowski, who was one of 25 players the NBA invited to join the green room at the draft site on Wednesday night.
Sitting with his fiancee, plus Duke coach Jon Scheyer and Duke basketball employees Rachel Baker and Zach Marcus, at the draft, Filipowski watched Duke teammate Jared McCain go to Philadelphia with the No. 16 overall pick.
The 6-11 Filipowski started all 72 games the Blue Devils played over the past two seasons as they posted consecutive 27-9 records in Jon Scheyer’s first two seasons as head coach following Mike Krzyzewski’s retirement.
After leading Duke’s ACC championship team in scoring (15.1) and rebounding (8.9) as a freshman, Filipowski repeated the feat as a sophomore when he scored 16.4 points per game while averaging 8.3 rebounds. He had offseason surgery on both hips following his freshman season to correct an abnormality and allow for freer movement.
As a sophomore, he displayed improved play-making ability by increasing his assist average to 2.8 per game. He also shot 34.8% on 3-pointers, up from his 28.2% mark as a freshman.
Despite all that college production, Filipowski’s measurements at the scouting combine created concern among NBA talent evaluators. After being listed as a 7-footer during his Duke career, he measured at 6-10.75 without shoes. His wingspan measured slightly smaller than his height at 6-10.5.