Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports
Rasheed Sulaimon was one of the best freshman in the country last season. However, he has received less playing time for the Duke Blue Devils this year and has not been as much of a threat on the offensive side of the ball. Sulaimon showed he is still a scoring threat in the win over Virginia.
Sulaimon led all scorers with 21 points. Those 21 points were huge since Jabari Parker had yet another off night. If he has too many of those off nights, they are just going to become the norm for him. That may be a little harsh, but Parker has to be the best player on the court if Duke is going to do anything this year.
As it stands, the Blue Devils are barely even competing in the ACC. They are just 2-2 in the conference standings and all.
Parker being the best player on the court or not, Sulaimon is still one of the most talented players on the team and he deserves more playing time. I understand that Rodney Hood and Parker are the go-to guys, but Sulaimon can still be a reliable scorer for the team and he has a great shot (shooting 42.3 percent from behind the arc).
Sulaimon has now scored 20 or more points per game twice on the season, but those types of performances would be a lot more frequent if he actually received more minutes.
Regardless, Duke is one of the most talented teams in the country. It may not look like that right now, but it has plenty of great players–a couple are player of the year candidates–and that is probably a big reason why Sulaimon is not getting as much playing time. Still, he proved that he is a scoring threat in the big win over the Cavaliers.
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