NEW YORK - At this point, Duke head men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski could probably cut down the nets blindfolded. And back in the day, Jerry West could flick up his jumper with such a quick release that it just became second nature. But the individual trademarks of two of basketball's elder statesmen aside, it's what they have in common that really sticks out: the stare. It's that barely-squinting, much-holier-than-thou glare they both love to shoot that makes them unquestioned, makes them revered, makes them legends.
So when the Duke head coach recruited Dahntay Jones, a tattoo-laden swingman at Rutgers, and made him just his second ever transfer player in 2000, no one second-guessed Krzyzewski. And when West traded for Jones, now a raw professional prospect thought to possess a shaky NBA shot, and made him the Memphis Grizzlies' first-round pick on June 26 here at the NBA Draft, any doubt as to whether the Blue Devil forward should have gone earlier got a quick turn-around.
"I can care less what other people say," professed West, the former Hall of Fame player cum personnel guru as president of the Los Angeles Lakers and now the Grizzlies. "The most important thing was to get the people that we needed on this team.
"I believe in class and character of a person and this is going to help us get to the next step," he said, in words Krzyzewski might be heard uttering, of the draft night deal that sent Memphis' choices at No. 13 and No. 27 to the Boston Celtics, who picked Boston College guard Troy Bell with the 16th selection and Jones with the 20th before sending the two southbound.
For Jones, Duke's leading scorer and a first-team all-ACC pick last season, a night he said was "one of the most stressful times" of his life turned into quite a coup. Despite proving themselves two of the most athletic players available at the pre-draft camp in Chicago, Bell took heat for his small stature and Jones couldn't find his shot from the field, even in the slew of individual workouts they took part in during the weeks leading up to a draft in which the duo seemed bound for the second round - and second-round money.
But West and his staff, who many draftniks thought had their eye on French shooting guard Mickael Pietrus, saw something else.
"On our draft list it was Dahntay Jones and Troy Bell. Mickael Pietrus was three," said Memphis assistant coach Tony Barone, West's right-hand man in the war room. "Mickael Pietrus and Dahntay Jones run the court like jets. They can really run the court. The comparison between them ends when you talk about the physical nature of Dahntay and the physical nature of Mickael. Dahntay is a physical guy, and although Mickael is a great defender, he is not a physical guy."
With his shuffling on the draft board, then, West changed the nature of the evening, changed projections and predictions to his own reality. In a draft that was supposed to be about LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and a pack of fellow teenagers, from high school and especially from around the globe, the man formerly known as "Mr. Clutch" orchestrated the only major trade of the night to take two four-year college players. Nine seniors went in the first round overall, as several underclassmen and international players were surprisingly bumped out when other executives played into the West scheme.
"If you happened to get a chance to come to the workouts, you could see the difference just in an hour workout with guys that are well-coached," Barone said. "If you are expecting a rookie to come into this league and play, the chances of that guy coming in and playing after a four-year career of success, to us, is betterâ"that chanceâ"than a young guy that pops up. Does that mean that LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony is not going to be a star? Of course not, but it makes it a lot easier when you get those other type of guys."
Another in that well-shaped mold is Shane Battier - Duke's former National Player of the Year drafted by Memphis in the first round two years ago - who will now fight for playing time in being reunited with Jones, who becomes the ninth Blue Devil to become a first-round pick in the past six years.
"Shane is going to help me as much as he can," said Jones, who has been hampered by ankle and leg injuries during the NBA summer league. "It's a young organization. The guys play really hard. They can only get better because of how hard they play."
And, it seems, they're getting better from learning a confident, trained glare of their own, one handed down from those who've perfected it.
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