Trevor Keels
Combine measurables: 6-foot-4.75, 223.8 pounds
Let’s start with the only unknown as it relates to Duke.
Should Keels return to Durham, he’d rejoin high school teammate and close friend Jeremy Roach in the team’s starting backcourt, and it stands that he’d be showcased on Jon Scheyer’s first team. The Blue Devils lost their top four 3-point shooters off last year’s roster, meaning Keels (and Roach, to a lesser extent) would have the green light in filling some of that perimeter volume. And considering Duke’s incoming recruiting class is heavier on frontcourt players and wings, Keels would see plenty of playing time both on- and off-ball.
But multiple NBA sources who attended the combine and spoke with The Athletic this week said they would advise Keels to return to school, based on his below-average physical testing and inconsistency as a freshman. “You just wish,” one scout said, “there was duplication of the Kentucky game.” Keels scored 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting against the Wildcats in Duke’s season-opener (and did so with just one 3-point make), but he only topped 20 points twice in the remaining 34 games he played. (Keels did miss three contests with a midseason lower leg/calf injury.) Draft analysts have largely publicized Keels as a potential first-round pick, but that outcome now seems unlikely. “One-hundred percent he should go back,” one evaluator said. “He’ll be a G League guy if he doesn’t.”
“Testing didn’t do him any favors,” said a second scout
That was in reference both to Keels’ physical testing and the on-court work he did. Keels finished with the fourth-highest body fat percentage among all players measured, and was the heaviest weight-wise for his position. He finished third-worst in the shuttle run, too — behind 7-foot center Kofi Cockburn and 6-foot-9 forward Drew Timme — and tied for third-worst in vertical leap. NBA teams are still intrigued by Keels’ frame long-term, and believe he can be an impactful pro, but the lack of explosiveness and conditioning he showed in Chicago didn’t improve his stock. “He’s still capable of doing this,” one scout said. “But the biggest thing is obviously improving the body.”
On top of that, evaluators who attended Keels’ late-night pro day said his shooting in Chicago mimicked his hot-and-cold 3-point stroke as a freshman. So while Keels did make 31.2 percent of his 3s on the year, and had five games with at least three made 3-pointers, he also had seven games with at least five 3-point misses.
Of course, Keels will and should make his own decision, but there’s little guarantee he would be a first-round pick if he opted to remain in the draft. Comparatively, scouts pointed to one of his teammates as a model of what could happen should Keels return to Duke as a sophomore. “You’ve got Wendell to look at as a perfect example,” one source added.Trevor Keels
Combine measurables: 6-foot-4.75, 223.8 pounds
Let’s start with the only unknown as it relates to Duke.
Should Keels return to Durham, he’d rejoin high school teammate and close friend Jeremy Roach in the team’s starting backcourt, and it stands that he’d be showcased on Jon Scheyer’s first team. The Blue Devils lost their top four 3-point shooters off last year’s roster, meaning Keels (and Roach, to a lesser extent) would have the green light in filling some of that perimeter volume. And considering Duke’s incoming recruiting class is heavier on frontcourt players and wings, Keels would see plenty of playing time both on- and off-ball.
But multiple NBA sources who attended the combine and spoke with The Athletic this week said they would advise Keels to return to school, based on his below-average physical testing and inconsistency as a freshman. “You just wish,” one scout said, “there was duplication of the Kentucky game.” Keels scored 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting against the Wildcats in Duke’s season-opener (and did so with just one 3-point make), but he only topped 20 points twice in the remaining 34 games he played. (Keels did miss three contests with a midseason lower leg/calf injury.) Draft analysts have largely publicized Keels as a potential first-round pick, but that outcome now seems unlikely. “One-hundred percent he should go back,” one evaluator said. “He’ll be a G League guy if he doesn’t.”
“Testing didn’t do him any favors,” said a second scout
That was in reference both to Keels’ physical testing and the on-court work he did. Keels finished with the fourth-highest body fat percentage among all players measured, and was the heaviest weight-wise for his position. He finished third-worst in the shuttle run, too — behind 7-foot center Kofi Cockburn and 6-foot-9 forward Drew Timme — and tied for third-worst in vertical leap. NBA teams are still intrigued by Keels’ frame long-term, and believe he can be an impactful pro, but the lack of explosiveness and conditioning he showed in Chicago didn’t improve his stock. “He’s still capable of doing this,” one scout said. “But the biggest thing is obviously improving the body.”
On top of that, evaluators who attended Keels’ late-night pro day said his shooting in Chicago mimicked his hot-and-cold 3-point stroke as a freshman. So while Keels did make 31.2 percent of his 3s on the year, and had five games with at least three made 3-pointers, he also had seven games with at least five 3-point misses.
Of course, Keels will and should make his own decision, but there’s little guarantee he would be a first-round pick if he opted to remain in the draft. Comparatively, scouts pointed to one of his teammates as a model of what could happen should Keels return to Duke as a sophomore. “You’ve got Wendell to look at as a perfect example,” one source added.
