The Doc Is In | The Dominic Dawkins Player Lock Career

[TheDominator273]

DOMINIC DAWKINS NBA DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT

Despite not being an extremely sought after recruit coming out of high school, Freshman Dominic Dawkins has made some noise early in his collegiate career and he is being noticed by NBA execs.

The most intriguing thing about Dawkins' game is how much of a swiss army knife he can be for his team depending on the flow of the game. Through 7 games he has seen playing time at all 5 positions. In addition we've seen him impact a game in nearly every facet; vs Oklahoma he went off for 28 points on 10-16 shooting, at West Virginia he notched 11 rebounds and 11 assists, and at Duke he had 4 blocks. While he isn't elite in any particular area, his ability to impact a game in so many ways means that he is a lock to go in the first round of the 2017 NBA Draft.

Despite not being known as a scorer, Dawkins is currently 2nd in the NCAA in scoring as his 17.6 points per game is just shy of Miles Bridges' 18.8 ppg. Dawkins is able to score efficiently despite being a poor 3 point shooter, even for collegiate standards (30.8% on 1.9 attempts per game). He does this by craftily working his way into the paint where he is adept at maneuvering his body around traffic and finishing through contact.

If Dawkins can get his turnover problem under control, he projects to be a point guard in the NBA who is able to defend 1-4, which offers teams a lot of flexibility. I believe that Dawkins will always struggle with turnovers to an extent; he sees the floor too well for his own good. He sees teammates that are open and is not shy about trying creative ways to get them the ball, unfortunately this burns him too often and he will need to tone down the passing at the next level. In all likelihood Dawkins will play either SG or SF at the next level, able to be the primary ball handler for stretches. His playmaking skills will make him a great pairing with any of the numerous scoring point guards in the NBA currently.

The biggest weakness for Dawkins is his defensive ability. He is often in poor position on defense, completely losing his man off the ball far too often. He also seems to struggle with help defense and is often late to rotate to the correct player. In college his athleticism is enough to bail him out, as shown by his 1.4 blocks per game average. Often times these blocks come as he loses his man and is able to recover in time for a chasedown block. However the margin for error is much smaller in the NBA and Dawkins will need to learn to rotate correctly or his lack of defense will limit both his minutes and overall impact.

[TheDominator273]

Dennis Smith, Wolfpack Dominant in Win

Fans came into Sunday's game between the NC State Wolfpack and the Marquette Golden Eagles expecting a showdown of two exciting NBA draft prospects. They got half of what they expected as Dennis Smith Jr of the NC State Wolfpack was electric throughout the game.

Smith thoroughly outplayed Dawkins as he finished with 15 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal and 2 blocks tacked on for good measure. Outside of a spectacular chasedown block of Smith by Dawkins early in the first half, Dawkins was in large part awful and much of the reason the Golden Eagles were blown out 85-69. Dawkins finished with just 7 points on 2-12 shooting.

After a hot start to the season, Dawkins has struggled recently as he is only averaging 9.2 points per game in the 5 games since being placed into the starting lineup. This leads one to believe that the scoring display he showed in the first 4 games of the season was unsustainable with his inability to score outside of attacking the rim or wide open jump shots.

[TheDominator273]

Dawkins Struggles, Golden Eagles Fall Short vs Bruins

The Marquette Golden Eagles played a well balanced hard fought game Thursday night against the heavily favored UCLA Bruins. Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, freshman guard/forward Dominic Dawkins had a rough night shooting, and despite some stellar playmaking he was unable to match the output of UCLA freshman point guard Lonzo Ball.

Ball, a projected top 5 draft pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, lead the Bruins in scoring with 19 points. He also grabbed 4 boards and dropped 4 dimes and was in charge of the game all throughout. Ball showed great poise, pushing the pace when the opportunity was there and slowing it down and picking the Golden Eagles defense apart down the stretch.

The Bruins played stellar defense as they held the Golden Eagles to under 50% shooting from the floor, and a measly 2-12 from 3 point range. The 76-70 victory pushed the Bruins record to 12-6 and has them in a comfortable position to make the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles fell to 5-9 after the loss and will need to have a much better second half of the season if they want to go dancing in March.

[TheDominator273]

[TheDominator273]

Dawkins Tears ACL, Out For Season

To add insult to, well...injury, the Marquette Golden Eagles were dealt a devastating loss as star freshman Dominic Dawkins went down late in the Golden Eagles 62-52 loss vs Villanova.

Dawkins fell awkwardly when landing from a layup on which he took significant contact from Villanova center Omari Spellman. The play was not dirty in any manner by Spellman, Dawkins just landed in an awkward manner and a hush came over the BMO Harris Center as he did not immediately get up.

After laying on the court for a few minutes while the team trainers looked him over, Dawkins was carted off to the locker room from which he was brought to the hospital immediately. The official word came from the team late tonight, Dawkins suffered significant damage to his left knee including a complete tear of his ACL.

With Dawkins expected to declare for the upcoming NBA Draft, this injury effectively ends his career at Marquette. The Golden Eagles are 6-15 on the season and without Dawkins don't stand much of a chance to make the NCAA Tournament.

[studbucket]

Oh man, that's rough. Will this impact his decision on when to go pro? Or how much of a hit will his draft stock take?

[TheDominator273]

Quote: Originally Posted by studbucket

Oh man, that's rough. Will this impact his decision on when to go pro? Or how much of a hit will his draft stock take?

It may impact his whether he goes pro or not, but I'm going to go through the predraft process still and see if I can determine if it's worth officially entering the draft or if it would be beneficial to return to college for a season.

I think due to ACL injuries typically taking around a year and the fact this happened in late January that going pro may still be the best option if his draft stock doesn't fall off too far.

[TheDominator273]

Fultz Shines as Huskies Top Blue Devils to Cap National Championship Run

The consensus number 1 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft showed just why he's projected to be the first player selected as his 27 point 10 assist outing in Monday's National Championship lead the underdog Washington Huskies to their first title in school history.

The Duke Blue Devils received solid contributions from Jayson Tatum, Grayson Allen, and Harry Giles but the lack of bench production hurt the Blue Devils in the end as their stars were forced to dig out of a hole all game every time they checked back in.

Tatum, Giles and Luke Kennard are all expected to declare for the NBA Draft for the Blue Devils, and Fultz has already stated his intentions to declare. All 4 players figure to go in the first round.