Duke Already Proving It's Much More Than Just the Jahlil Okafor Show

The thing that Duke was missing last year was a true rim protector on defense and a low-post scorer on offense.

Jahlil Okafor has brought both of those things to the table, and he's made Duke a much more complete team than a year ago. But what stuck out in two days in Brooklyn at the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic was not Okafor's ability—he wasn't close to the best version of himself—it was how the pieces around Duke's star fit better than a season ago when Jabari Parker had his run as Duke's go-to guy.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has built his offense around funneling the ball to Okafor—much the same way he did the same with Parker last year—but the results don't depend on his production.

Okafor has proved to be a much better decoy and doesn't need to score for his team to dominate.

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Through the first two weeks of the season, this Duke team has proved to be incredibly selfless. It helps that the Blue Devils are a really good passing team and willing to move the ball until a good look emerges.

Stanford's game plan on Saturday night was to surround Okafor whenever he got the ball and try to take away his touches deep. The Cardinal did a great job doing that, but the attention he was paid helped open up both Duke's perimeter shooters and the offensive glass.

Even though Okafor was just so-so offensively—scoring 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting—his hidden value could be found all over the place.

Duke grabbed 16 of 41 available offensive boards, and Amile Jefferson has become an elite offensive rebounder because of the attention paid to Okafor. He's averaging 3.8 offensive boards per game.

And typical of Krzyzewski teams, the bigs have also been willing to pass out their offensive rebounds for three-point looks—two of their nine threes came on such plays against Stanford.

Okafor has also realized that if he's a willing passer and gets the ball to his shooters when double-teams come, he's going to eventually benefit. His teammates will return the favor when defenses start to run them off the perimeter.

If there was any bad news for Duke in Brooklyn, it was that the book has been started on how to defend Okafor. Both Temple and Stanford did a good job of taking away scoring angles, staying between him and the basket when he got the ball and then forcing him to take shots over length.

Even when this is the goal, the benefit that Okafor has is his team moves the ball too well to keep him from getting good looks. He's not going to have many off nights because Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook will get better and better at knowing where to get him the ball in his scoring spots.

As good as the offense looked, it will really be humming when Okafor is at his best, and perimeter shots are falling.

The good news for the Blue Devils is that when they are off, they can actually lean on their defense this season.

"We can shoot better than that," Krzyzewski said in his Tru TV postgame interview. "But it didn't affect our defense, which is kind of a mature thing."

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That defense is solid and less gimmicky than it had to be last year when Parker played the 4 and Jefferson was at the 5. Jefferson has been able to slide back to his preferred position of power forward, and that's helped him on both ends. The Duke guards can apply more ball pressure knowing that they have a rim protector behind them.

Krzyzewski also has one of the best defenders he's had in years in Justise Winslow, who can guard multiple spots and is playing with an energy that has been contagious. Winslow plays beyond his years and is the type of guy who will work his butt off and do everything asked of him even if he's not getting his shots.

I saw it firsthand this summer at the FIBA Americas U-18 Championship. He was the best and most consistent player for the Americans on a team that included other hotshot freshmen Stanley Johnson, Myles Turner and Jones. He's been the same for Duke thus far. ESPN's Jeff Goodman noted Winslow has impressed NBA executives: 

Much like Winslow, Jones has also embraced his role. He's been willing to just be the facilitator and not worry about points.

And what we've learned from John Calipari's experiments with young rosters is that it helps to have a veteran or two around to show the young guns the way. Cook is thriving as that guy and even better because of the freshmen.

Cook has moved from point guard to shooting guard because of Jones, and a lot has been made about his willingness to do so, but it's actually a better role for him. Cook is a great spot-up shooter—he's shooting 48.6 percent from beyond the arc so far—and he's always been more of a scoring point guard than a facilitator.

Everything just seems to fit together. And that's a big reason why the Blue Devils look the part of a team that is a couple of months into the season. Coach K may have to do some tinkering here and there, but roles have already been determined and embraced.

C.J. Moore covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @CJMooreBR.