When Sean Stewart signed with Duke, it seemed like the Blue Devils had an unfair advantage: his neighbor was Grant Hill and Hill clearly made an impression on Stewart, who knew early that he wanted to play for the Blue Devils.

Over the summer he’s made an impression as an athletic forward who is capable of maybe playing bigger than he really is.

In other words, he might be able to spend some time at center if needed.

What is the NBA impression of Duke’s young big man?

Sports Illustrated considered his potential and here are some thoughts:

Rebounding is a big strength and that’s likely to be his early calling card for Duke. He’s also likely to be a key defender because he’s certainly better able to defend big guys inside than Ryan Young and possibly better than Kyle Filipowski (although we’ll have to wait and see how Filipowski does with his surgically repaired hips first).

Three point shooting is touched on and that’s something that most of us don’t know about with Stewart. There’s no inherent reason why he can’t do it though. Interestingly, that was also one of Hill’s few weaknesses in college, perhaps his only weakness.

If Stewart can do that in the modern game, it will really open things up for him. If he can do it at Duke, it could make a huge difference for the Blue Devils as well.