Preparing for NBA Draft with Kyle Filipowski: His fit in league, best Jon Scheyer story, more

Sometime Wednesday night, during the first round of the NBA Draft, Kyle Filipowski’s lifelong dream will come true.

The only question is when. After two standout years at Duke — including this season, when the 6-foot-11 big man led the Blue Devils in scoring (16.4 ppg) and rebounding (8.3 rpg) en route to first-team All-ACC honors — Filipowski is expected to be selected as early as the late lottery (picks 10-14). The Athletic’s NBA draft expert, Sam Vecenie, has Filipowski going No. 25 in his latest mock.

The Athletic spoke to Filipowski last week about his predraft process and the biggest takeaways from his time at Duke, including plenty of missed layups by coach Jon Scheyer. The interview has been lightly edited for grammar, clarity and length.

You had the opportunity to go pro last summer and likely would have been a first-round pick even before your hip surgery. (Filipowski had surgery in April 2023 to correct malformed hip joints above both legs. The procedure, which required a six-month recovery, prohibited him from any predraft workouts last offseason.) What made this the right time?

After my freshman year, I was in a really good position … but I didn’t feel like my time was up yet at Duke. I felt like I still had stuff to finish out. And even though we weren’t able to win the national championship, I still had a great two years there, and I feel a lot more prepared, mentally and physically, to go professional.

Always love 💙 pic.twitter.com/LF1W1iFY8K

— Kyle “Flip” Filipowski (@kylefilipowski) April 12, 2024

You mention being more prepared physically. Obviously, you had the surgery and thrived afterward. But mentally, what did you learn this year that better prepared you?

Just maturing a lot and realizing the reality of things. There’s a lot more to basketball than just playing now, compared to when you were a little kid. So just trying to remember why you’re here in this position in the first place and why you want to do this — because of how much you love playing basketball. Having that realization and that mental fortitude, being prepared for a lot of other things to come with basketball but still remembering that this is what I love doing and that’s what I want to keep it like. Trying to be as prepared as I can for the NBA lifestyle with all the traveling and how it’s run differently than college, of course.

So what has life been like since the season ended?

I spent most of my time in Chicago, doing two to three workouts a day — one always being shooting, and then lifting, doing explosive agility stuff. And then a skill workout, as well. So it’s just a lot of that Monday through Saturday, and then Sunday off. That’s pretty much what it’s been, just basketball. I’ve started to realize, aside from having to take care of more of those business things, how much more free time I do have now that I don’t have to worry about school.

What have you been trying to showcase?

The biggest thing is how good of a spot I’m in right now physically. Post-surgery, there’s all these questions about my hips, but I’ve been as transparent as I can be because I have nothing to hide with that. So showing how good of a spot I am in now and how great of a spot I can be in moving forward, being in the right program now that I can actually have an offseason to work out, rather than just going straight into the season. …

A few other things: trying to show my defensive versatility, guarding the perimeter, smaller guards. Showing off my IQ, how I scan the floor and make plays. Then also my 3-point shooting. That’s a huge thing teams are looking at: if I can space the floor for them.

You’re one of three prospects — alongside Duke guard Jared McCain and Providence guard Devin Carter — on this season of Overtime’s “Draft House.” Jaren Jackson Jr. from the Memphis Grizzlies is hosting. Has he or any active Duke pro given you any advice entering the league?

I actually did get some good advice from Jaren at the Draft House: Don’t back down. Of course you’re going to be tested a lot in certain ways, and you’ve got to earn the respect of your teammates and everyone, so don’t back down — but also, make sure you fit in well. Remember that you’re part of this team, and don’t try to do too much. That’s one of the biggest things is learning your spot and learning your place and going out with the mentality to kill every game. Now it’s turning into a job, and you’ve got guys who don’t want their job taken from them, and you’re trying to get your job to go longer.

Can he give you any pointers on the pro game? I know you’ve told me you watch a lot of Lauri Markkanen of the Utah Jazz. Anyone else?

There’s a lot of bigs now that are starting to become more versatile. I’ve mentioned Markkanen and (Nikola) Jokić, but I can even look at Jaren’s game and take bits and pieces from that, or maybe a Brook Lopez (from Milwaukee). All those guys do something so well, and yet they’re so different. What I can do is very unique and can be a little bit of each of their games, so to be honest, it’s about watching as many people as I can and learning.

As you’ve gone through these workouts and the combine, is there any one thing about your game you think will translate the easiest to the NBA?

Probably passing, playmaking, just facilitating. It will be interesting to see because I’m sure there won’t be as many doubles. It will be nice — I’ll shed a tear when that happens. (Laughs)

Have you had your starstruck NBA moment yet with anyone you’ve met or played against in workouts? Or, who are you the most excited to play against?

That’s a good one because I’m sure I’m not thinking of them now, but when I’m playing against them and actually see them, I’ll be like, whoa.

But I’m definitely looking forward to playing against Jokić. I want to see how big some of these guys are in person compared to me. I think that’ll probably be the starstruck moment; if I’m next to (the Philadelphia 76ers’) Joel Embiid, I’ll be like, holy s—. Wemby (The San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama). So I think just comparing myself to how big they are, rather than just watching them on TV.

You were Scheyer’s first commitment after he was named head coach, and you said then that you wanted to not only bridge the eras at Duke — from Mike Krzyzewski to Scheyer — but also build something sustainable. How well do you think you did?

I like to think I helped the idea that Duke is more than just a one-and-done place. Especially with myself returning, but also Tyrese (Proctor) being a junior, Caleb (Foster) being a sophomore and the other guys who returned after my freshman year. Of course, you’re still going to have those one-and-dones, but I definitely think that now, Duke — with the players it has coming in — it’s giving the coaches more to work with. Now they do have players they can build up with and work around, and then maybe they need to add a couple transfers.

You were on Scheyer’s first team, too, so nobody knew what that would actually look like. How did your experiences at Duke compare to your expectations?

It lined up to my expectations pretty well. That freshman year was probably a lot harder as a team just because it was coach Scheyer’s first year as head coach, and it was a brand-new team of like 12 new players. That was harder. It was a long process to get where we ended up, you know? And there were a lot of bumps in the road. My sophomore year, there were still those bumps of course, but there was more of that foundation to build on, so that helped a lot more. That’s what made us go to the Elite Eight — and if it wasn’t for (NC State’s) DJ Burns, the Final Four. (Laughs)

That leads me to one of my favorite questions for guys who are leaving. Who were the three toughest players you played against in college?

DJ Burns (Jr.), for sure. (Purdue’s) Zach Edey. Those are the top two. I’d probably say (North Carolina’s Armando) Bacot, just because he’s an older guy and he’s been through college a long time, so he knew how to play and get around things. Like, he was a very smart college player. Definitely those three. (Clemson’s) PJ Hall was pretty good, too.

Along those lines, what are your favorite moments or wins at Duke? I assume the ACC title game your freshman year is up there.

Definitely. The ACC run was amazing — not even just the championship, but the semis against Miami. That game was insane, and we played our best basketball in order to win that. Those were some great moments, and then also against Virginia (in the title game). The UNC game at UNC my freshman year, that was a great one. And then I’d probably say Georgia Tech for one of my favorite performances this year, at home. (Filipowski had 30 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, two blocks, two steals and no turnovers in Duke’s 84-79 win and also matched his career high with four 3-pointers.)

I can’t really think of one play to be exact, but there were some really good plays where we’d really connect. There’d be three, four, sometimes all five guys involved, and it’d be a great defensive stop leading to transition offense. Just plays like that, those were always great. Against Wake Forest my freshman year, and we beat Wake Forest, Tyrese and I had a little two-man action going for 3. Things like that.

Best Scheyer story?

There are times where it’s a very serious moment in practice, and we’ve messed up — like, we messed something up in practice, so he’s mad at us, yelling at us. Then he takes the ball to show us what we need to do, and it ends with a layup — but then he missed the layup. (Laughs) But he’s mad, so you can’t laugh. You can’t say anything. There are times where it’s good vibes and he misses the layup, and then we can clown him a little bit. But there was one time I remember where he was really upset, we weren’t having a good practice, and as he was showing us, he goes to lay it up and misses — and I’m trying so hard not to laugh because I know it’s a serious moment and I can’t. (Laughs)

How do you want to be remembered at Duke?

I want fans to think about me as one of the players to kick off the next generation for Duke basketball. Like, being coach Scheyer’s first commit, being part of that first team, and then the second team, I was there to help start building the new system and tried to start it off really well for future years to come. Just giving all I had, competing my butt off every day, no matter what — even if we lost in the second round against Tennessee. So competing and being one of the players to kick-start everything for this new wave of Duke basketball.

 (Photo of Kyle Filipowski and Terrence Edwards Jr.: Elsa / Getty Images)