Banchero, Griffith Selected For Rising Stars Game

Congrats to Brotherhood members Paolo Banchero and AJ Griffin, who were both selected for the NBA’s Rising Stars game.

Banchero of course is the leading candidate for NBA Rookie of the Year. He’s having a tremendous rookie season, putting up 20.7 ppg, 6.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists. He’s also playing well beyond his years. He attributes it to growing up in Seattle and dealing with a lot of NBA players as a teenager.

As for Griffith, he is averaging 9.7 ppg and getting 20 mpg for the Atlanta Hawks. He’s played in 47 games so far, which is great. At Duke he got behind due to an injury and had one early with the Hawks too which made you worry that he might be injury prone. So far so good though. He’s also show a real instinct for clutch play.

The Rising Stars game is played on All-Star weekend, which will have a definite Duke Blue tinge as Jayson Tatum, Zion Williamson and Kyrie Irving will all start, health permitting.

Also picked for the Rising Stars game: Jose Alavarado. The guy has made an amazing climb to be not just in the NBA, but now highly regarded. We never thought he could stick, and look at what he’s done. He’s an absolute inspiration.