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Can Kyle Filipowski Make A Weakness A Strength?

He has all the tools to be a great three point shooter.

Duke v Miami
GREENSBORO, NC - MARCH 10: Kyle Filipowski #30 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts following a three-point basket during the second half against the Miami Hurricanes in the semifinals of the ACC Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 10, 2023 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Duke won 85-78.
Photo by Lance King/Getty Images

Kyle Filipowski had a terrific freshman year with a couple of minor issues. First, while he has a brilliant spin move, he frequently turned into guards who subsequently picked his pocket.

And second, his three point shooting was not where it should/could be.

Clearly he has the capacity to do it but he only shot 28.2 percent last year.

We’re sure he’s been working on it, but as always happens, his role will change. No one knows how exactly, but with Dereck Lively moving on to the NBA, Filipowski is the best big man on the roster. He’s very likely to spend more time inside on defense and possibly on offense as well.

All of this provides a major opportunity for Christian Reeves. As Coach K used to say, you build a role first by doing what a team needs and then build out from there. Reeves could carve out a role with defense and rebounding and offense would be gravy at this point.

Back to Filipowski.

The focus is going to be on his three point shooting, but Filipowski is also going to be working on. his strength and quickness. That has obvious benefits but as we’ve said before, the guy has an astonishing spin move. It backfires when he does it in traffic but when he can get some space, it’s almost impossible to defend. It was frustrating to watch him spin into defenders, but when he got some room to work with?

It was beautiful. You’ll see that move in highlights for the next decade or so. Our guess is that soon or later, it’ll get its own nickname, perhaps something like Hakeem Olajuwon’s Dream Shake.