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Amile Jefferson Leaves Duke For The Boston Celtics

A loss for Duke but a great hire by Boston.

By JD King
/ new
NCAA Basketball: Duke Welcome Home Celebration
Apr 7, 2015; Durham, NC, USA; Duke Blue Devils players Amile Jefferson (left) and Quinn Cook react during a welcome home ceremony at Cameron Indoor Stadium. 
Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Well we didn't see this coming: former Duke star and current Jon Scheyer assistant Amile Jefferson is off to Boston where he’ll be a Celtics assistant. And he’ll also reunite with his former Blue Devil teammate Jayson Tatum.

It’s possible that Boston pursued him to keep Tatum happy as at least one of the stories below suggests, but that’s not enough to hire an NBA assistant. If it was, the entire league would have posses on the bench.

No. Jefferson is a guy you want on your side. At Duke, he was willing to take his time to develop and when he was asked as a senior to come off the bench, he was willing to do that and that helped his team win the 2015 national championship.

He’s a winner in other words. We’ve also been impressed with his studiousness on the sidelines. He’s going to be a major asset for Boston and not just for Tatum. We’ve always thought of him as a rising star in the profession.

This of course leaves a spot open on the Duke bench and our choice, not that it matters, would be Quinn Cook.

Cook, who was also on that 2015 team, has made a huge impression everywhere he’s been. Everyone loves the guy. He’d be a tremendous recruiter and he would work the DMV beautifully.

But that’s Scheyer’s call, not ours. But we’d love to see him come home to Cameron.

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