Hunter Dickenson Opens Up on Transfer
Hunter Dickerson opens up on his transfer to Kansas.
Comes off as an honest guy. Michigan Basketball doesn't look great though, as far as seriousness of the program, imo.
not dickinson-related, but this notion - that it doesn’t matter what a player gets, as long as you can afford it - would at least seem to be arguable, as the teams that have made big NIL splashes in terms of sheer dollars have not been notably stable or successful so far.
i’d go the other way, in fact - huge NIL hauls for some players but not others in the same locker room have tended to destabilize those teams (a&m, miami football) in general.
now, hunter dickinson walking into a locker room with decades of the dirtiest money in hoops? ya, that’s no biggie.
I tried saying he wasn't worth what Kansas is paying to keep him here and got trashed for it.
Seems to continue to be true.
He has to prove himself over again somewhat with a new lockeroom and all. He is probably working harder to prep for the season.
Hunter states in the article that Bill Self has a "pedigree of developing bigs."
It would seem that the blame is more on the coaching staff for not developing him into an effective big man for the next level rather than S&C.
I mean, maybe but Self has gotten 2 centers drafted the last decade, one being Joel Embiid for one year and the other being Udoka Azubuike, who stuck around for 4 years and became a really good college basketball player but has largely floundered in the NBA. Self is a good college coach but I sorta doubt he'll get better coaching/development at KU compared to UM. He'll play with better players, which is something, but I doubt they'll unlock some new ability he hasn't shown before that will make him a demonstrably better player.
Dickinson has played pretty well in college at UM; it's why he was considered the #1 transfer target. I wish him luck but that part felt like pablum just to talk up his new coach.
unless Hunter is thinking of the days when Roy Williams was still at KU, Self gets centers drafted but outside of Embid they are either bench guys and not playing that much or they aren't even in the NBA anymore...
Hunter is and will be a great college player, but at the end of the day its on him to make himself better. the coaches can only do so much but they aren't the ones on the floor during the game...
It should have read “Self gets big men to exceed the level people have projected them at” Bill Self is best big man coach in the game.
He’s just not an NBA prospect. It’s not due to a lack of development. He doesn’t have the foot speed to defend at the next level and is never going to have a full face up game, either. He’s an old-school post-up big and would have been an NBA player 20 years ago (not a star, but on a roster), but not now.
And that’s why Self and Kansas are his best choices. Hunter already seals his defender extremely well wait until Self gets a hold of that ability.
Pretty innocuous all things considered, I don't think he left on bad terms so it's good he's not shit-talking.
However, the subtle stuff about practice and conditioning sort of nods to a suspicion / concern I've had about Juwan perhaps not pushing / catering to his star players. Hunter always looked out of shape and could barely bend his knees on the court, so it sort of checks out that he wasn't going 100%.
So it's Juwan's fault Big Baby was a slouch in July? Lol, there's a take.
Are you responding to a different comment? I don't understand how you extracted that from what I said. It would be like me getting mad at you talking about eating dog meat. Why did you just admit to eating dogs?
"However, the subtle stuff about practice and conditioning sort of nods to a suspicion / concern I've had about Juwan perhaps not pushing / catering to his star players." I've had.
Either you believe what you say or that's not my issue. I could care less about your take. I asked a question. You like dog meat?
Consulting the Rosetta stone to decipher BoCanHam's comments, will report back with findings. Hoping AI can help translate the more inscrutable phrases.
So far, my team lead and I have talked and our hypothesis is that the question was "is it Juwan's fault that Hunter didn't try hard?"
My response would be "not entirely but usually the coach of a sports team is involved in disciplining and motivating the players and Hunter seemed unmotivated and undisciplined."
You care too much.
I wish Dickinson the best but...come on:
I knew that I had an opportunity to try to test the NBA waters, I knew I could go back to Michigan, or the NCAA has the transfer portal that’s been a hot topic nowadays...but I just felt like I wasn’t yet ready for the draft and I wanted to do one more year, try to win a national championship and try to develop a little bit more.
and then later
Especially just being at Michigan, I had averaged I think 15 (points) my freshman year and then like 19 the last two years, and I’ve seen that really doesn’t help your draft stock as much as winning a national championship can do.
He's been trying to go to the NBA since his freshman year and the general consensus from the league is "you're a late 2nd-round/G-League/Euro guy". He's a good offensive player but certainly isn't a switchable defender and will be 23 at the start of next season. He's what he is, in a lot of ways, and so I get why he'd want to try to win a title in college but he's absolutely not a guy I expect to bounce up on NBA radars. The reason guys from champions get drafted is because they're good NBA-level players; Dickinson may get drafted but it won't be because he put up 19 points and 10 boards at KU.
He's a really good college player and he should be there but he was also not great the first half of the year and got pushed around by a bunch of MAC-level players until he got healthier/gave a shit to end the year. That's a positive and I think he'll be more engaged at Kansas but his rationale for going to KU should be "I wanted to win a title at KU gives me a better shot at that" and not try to talk about anything else.
It looks like Hunter never made any physical strides as far as body transformation. Whether or not that is on him or the trainers or both I dont know. Maybe someone should've pushed him harder or maybe that was him im not sure. Can a big man learn footspeed and quickness or is that something you have coming in? Hunter got paid and that is the bottom line. Kansas isnt going to get him into the NBA any faster and to be honest he might spend a lot of time watching shots go up with that roster.
Yeah, I think his issue is he just lacks the lateral quickness you really need at the center position to survive in the NBA. He's actually a pretty good shooter from 20+ feet and is a decent-enough defender at the rim to at least make guys think twice. But he can't stay in front of great athletes and the NBA is full of PFs and Cs who can move and have a level of bounce he doesn't know how to handle. And while he's tall and big he consistently got moved by guys like Cockburn and Bacot at UNC, and those guys are a step below NBA-quality bigs.
Do I think he could be an end-of-bench guy on a bad NBA team? Sure, especially if he can shoot a bit because bigs who can stretch a defense even a little can net you 2-3 minutes in a pinch. But that's it, and that outlook ain't changing at KU where, as you noted, he'll likely be the 2nd/3rd option most times down the court.
bottom line - hunter's full of shit......period
Wish him luck but his draft prospects would be best improved by some plutonium and a DeLorean.
I find it funny that so many people on this board are mad about the state of the hoops program and/or Juwan's coaching, but are also mad at a guy who probably felt the same way about the program and decided to leave.
"This program is trash....and how dare this guy feel the same way about our trash program and leave us with our trash program!"
For the record, I don't think the program is trash.
Big 10 basket ball is completely different that Big 12 basketball... wow really?!?!?!
As we all know the Big 10 is a half court league for the most part, very few teams are going to sprint all game long, so yes Hunter you are out of shape for the type of league that the Big 12 is...
Also if he was out of shape last season that is on him, and not on U of M... maybe he should have spent his Saturdays over at Crisler instead of up on the 5th floor of Michigan Stadium bouncing from suite to suite eating all of that wonderful food that gets served up there...
Fairly interesting fluff. A couple of things:
Bill Self being a great coach of big men is a reason Hunter left? To me, him saying that gives a figurative slap to the face of Juwan.
If Hunter would not have missed half his bunny shots in his M career he probably would have averaged 32ppg.
I think he'll be coming off the bench for Kansas.
There's a big difference between "coming off the bench" and "candidate for National Player of the Year."
I mean pretty generic comments... I don't think Michigan looks bad at all...it looks like a university basketball program, allowing kids some flexibility in the summer.
I am sure that Oliver would probably note a few things that differ between Michigan and Tennessee...
I appreciated HD and what he did here and don't have an issue with him chasing the chance to win an NCAA championship, esp after Kobe and Jett made their intentions clear...can't really blame him
I mean, what else would he say? He can't praise and keep his old school higher. He can't put the two schools together either. So it's just "new guy trashing his old school". I don't think any D1 program is "easy". And just because KU seems harder/tougher, doesn't make Michigan soft.
They offered him $4 million. Michigan can't, and won't, do that.
Kansas offers him an opportunity to play for a national championship for a serious national title contender. Michigan is just not there, and they're really not all that close.
I don't blame him for a second for leaving. Go make some real money, go win a title. You're not going to get either one at Michigan.
Hunter gave us three years. He doesn't owe anyone anything except himself.
Be skeptical of these NIL claims. A reported “$4 million” is probably more like $400,000 in reality. (Which is still more than he got here, I imagine.)
It doesn’t seem that bad to me. I finished it and thought it sounded like he just wanted something different and to compete for a national title in his final year. I guess if you read between the lines you could say that he wasn’t being fully developed as a big man for the NBA, but he also said at Michigan, everyone knew how to get him the ball. Again, it still felt like he wanted a change for the sake of change, not because of anything bad at Michigan.
I find it interesting when these players transfer… most M fans wish them well and understand the decision along with support it.
Then the kid is interviewed and they just can’t help themselves but say something easily construed as negative.
If I were the parent I would advise the word Michigan should NEVER come out of their mouth especially as a comparison that could be viewed negatively.
He was going to be remembered well, now he’s buried himself and many fans will root against him - legacy diminished (add him to the Erik All and McNamara pile)
Sounds like he wanted a change of scenery and thought Michigan wasn't going to do anything next year and at Kansas he has a chance at a title. I don't think the summer conditioning is bad at Michigan seeing as how Sanderson has been a massive plus for the program for years. Seems like he's just saying the "this new place is so great" type of thing.
He said the practice was a little harder. It’s not some huge negative.
winning a national championship isn’t going to make Dickinson an nba prospect but he made the decision he felt was best for him and it’s time to move on
Hunter who? I'm done with him.
I still feel bad he's gone and still wish him well.
I have this to say about Hunter's time here... his first year he had three players on that team that have seen NBA minutes. His second year had three players who have seen NBA minutes, his third year had two lottery picks. Hunter will never play a minute in the NBA, I think it is a little bit of sour grapes.
c'mon, he got more money. he's not going to go out and say that's the main reason but it is. competing for a title is probably next. i will basically give little credence to anything else he says.
Sounds like he is being forced to get in shape, which I never felt he really was at Michigan and which may have contributed to his defensive shortcomings. If you watched him closely during games he often seemed to be gassed. There's no doubt that if he completely dedicates himself he can still improve in his 4th year.
Interesting article. Will always be sorry HD left and will always root for him unless he is playing Michigan.
I think he's just trying to talk Kansas up a bit to a Kansas reporter, and the comparisons he makes with Michigan doesn't even put Michigan in a bad light, unless you have extremely thin skin.
If he wants to improve on defense and conditioning, he needs to look at the man in the mirror. I remember Franz had to bark at him as a freshman to get his head in the game on the defensive end.
I like Hunter and he's completely within his rights to chase the money and do what he thinks is best but I'm also within my rights to consider him a very good player who never had enough fire. He like to chirp and was incredibly good fun as a heel (he will always have a special place in my heart for trolling Izzo) but he played with swag, not anger. He didn't have the same "fuck you I'm going to break your spirit" the way Trey and X and Nik did. If he finds that I'm sure he'll do amazing at Kansas, wish he had it here though