Amile Jefferson Departs

As we learned recently, Duke assistant Amile Jefferson got a tremendous professional opportunity when the Boston Celtics pursued him as an assistant coach and on Thursday, the news became official.

Here’s what Jefferson had to say about it:

“Duke has meant the world to me — this place is home. I’m so grateful to have earned my degree, played and began my coaching career here. I can’t thank Coach K, Coach Scheyer, the players and our staff enough. Although I’m going to miss Durham and my Duke family tremendously, the Brotherhood is forever. This opportunity with the Boston Celtics was something that felt like the right next step in my journey. The Celtics are one of the most elite professional franchises in sports. I’m honored to be able to learn from everyone in this organization. I wish our guys at Duke all the best, and I know great things are in store for Jon and the program.”

This is a meteoric rise by Jefferson, who has only been an assistant coach for a single season at Duke. He’s just 30 and his opportunities seem boundless.

Although everyone is sad to see him leave, Scheyer had some lovely things to say about his now-former assistant, including that he is “one of the hardest working, most passionate, positive and dedicated people I know. He is a tremendous teacher of the game and his ability to connect with players is innate.”

As a Celtics assistant, Jefferson will reunite with his former Duke teammate Jayson Tatum, who has gone from a very good college player to an elite professional. That’s going to be fun to watch.

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