Aubrey Dawkins first round pick?

Submitted by GhostofJermain… on

Found this on hoopshype.com  Not sure about a raw deal or a first round pick.  But I will be rooting for the kid, I will never forget he saved the day vs Illinois at the harbaugh introduction game.  Go get em Aubrey! Beat Staee! 

 

Shooting Guard / 6-6 / Central Florida / Junior

The son of Johnny Dawkins joins his pops at Central Florida and will be given every opportunity to shine. He doesn’t have the textbook shooting form that you would expect from a coaches son. But he finds ways to score. He’s a bouncy athlete that thrives in the open floor. He seemed to get a raw deal at Michigan as he fell out of favor when it appeared that he would step into a prominent role. His improvement as a playmaker, creating in isolation will be important.

Twitter:
 
Comparison: Shabazz Muhammad
 
Salary: $1,338,900*

MattisonMan

October 6th, 2017 at 12:04 PM ^

Thoughts from the board on "he seemed to get a raw deal at Michigan as he fell out of favor when it appeared that he would step into a prominent role." Mostly just the raw deal part.

MGlobules

October 6th, 2017 at 12:32 PM ^

he can't find his wings with his dad in FL. Lots of players take a while to find their game, or thrive in one context and not another. I respect Coach B a lot--and know he's not so keen on the fluidity with which kids are now moving from school to school--but this may be a textbook example of where a better situation awaited a player elsewhere. Hard to hold it against anyone. 

Cali's Goin' Blue

October 7th, 2017 at 3:44 AM ^

And defense is so much easierto teach to an athletic kid like aubrey in the NBA than offense. He has the athletic toolsto be a 10 year NBA vet. JJ Redick is in his 13th year and making $23 mil this year with not nearly the athletic profile Aubrey has. If his 3 pt shot extends to NBA range and he learns to shoot over NBA length(admittedly not an easy skill) then he has a a chance as a longtime NBA 3(and kinda D) player. 

Zenogias

October 6th, 2017 at 1:05 PM ^

He "fell out of favor" because he fell out of rebounding, playing defense, passing, and even started screwing up alley oops and put-back dunks. He did one thing well: shoot threes, and he didn't even create them for himself. Yeah, maybe he'd have improved more, but he was really stagnant between his freshman and sophomore campaigns, disappointingly so. I don't wish ill on the kid, but he didn't suffer from bad luck or a "raw deal." He sufferred from "didn't improve at basketball."

Anyway, it would be something else if he turned into a first rounder. I won't root against him, but I won't bet on him either.

TrueBlue2003

October 6th, 2017 at 6:05 PM ^

as bad as he was at defense (really bad), he was a lot better than Duncan Robinson in conference play last year on offense.  He shot 50 percent from 3, to Duncan's 35, got way more offensive rebounds, and as a result was generally a lot more efficient with a 123 Ortg to Duncans 107.

It was pretty frustrating to watch Duncan be Just A Shooter that didn't even shoot that well in conference play. That said, Aubrey certainly didn't show the effort and improvement to take the job and that was even more frustrating to watch. But I can see how he'd sit there and be like, how am I not playing over this guy (and the legitimate answer to that was, you need to try harder on defense)?

Add to that the inevitable emergence of DJ that the players knew was happening (hence the Chatman transfer as well) and it was clear that time on the wings would be even harder to come by in 16-17.  Smart move to transfer.

Also agree it's highly unlikely Aubrey gets drafted in the first round (although definitely rooting for him) and including him on this list is a click-bait move for shock value.  Which, well done janky, blog.  Well done.

ohheydude1

October 6th, 2017 at 12:15 PM ^

He may be a fringe NBA talent on offense.  Kid can really shoot and really jump.  Maybe his dad can teach him how to stay focused, disciplined, and engaged on defense...because he was very, very bad on defense while at Michigan.  

blueblueblue

October 6th, 2017 at 12:32 PM ^

"His improvement as a playmaker, creating in isolation will be important."

In other words, if he becomes a better basketball player, he may be drafted. Great analysis. 

MH20

October 6th, 2017 at 12:46 PM ^

He showed no interest in playing defense and little interest offensively outside of chucking threes and missing putback slams.  He has potential but to think he's a draftable prospect right now is silly.

Ali G Bomaye

October 6th, 2017 at 12:53 PM ^

I'd imagine that a random NBA draft website would tend to pick out players who have the size for the NBA (which Dawkins does) and have the athleticism and shooting ability for the NBA (which Dawkins does). But you wouldn't notice what an absolute liability he is on defense unless you watch him play, which I doubt these guys do for every single prospect.

denardogasm

October 6th, 2017 at 1:15 PM ^

Wasn't here long enough to say if he was a good player or not. Had all the raw athleticism for greatness. That said I don't know that a random internet "journalist" has insight to say if he got a raw deal when he didn't get a starting role.

ssuarez

October 6th, 2017 at 1:02 PM ^

But, him transferring sucked at the time - I always thought he had a ton of potential. Had he yet reached it, no. Is it possible he can? Yes. We were all super high on him at one time. 

Rico

October 6th, 2017 at 1:17 PM ^

tell when a player is the son of a coach. Aubrey was not an example of that. Hopefully as a college veteran now he can start to put it all together for his pops at UCF.

If he added strength and improved his defensive instincts he will have a shot at the NBA as a bench scorer. If he does that and improved his handles, passing, and scoring versatitily then he could be draftable, but thats asking a lot.

True Blue Grit

October 6th, 2017 at 1:21 PM ^

That assertion undermines the credibility of that website.  They clearly don't understand or didn't try to research the real reasons Dawkins transferred.  As others have pointed out here - crappy defense, poor ball handling, and other fundamental flaws are what prevented him from stepping into a starting role.  Nonetheless, I wish him the best of luck this year.  

potomacduc

October 6th, 2017 at 2:24 PM ^

Hoopshype is a good site for NBA rumors, but their analysis is hit-and-miss and this is a clear miss. 

We're talking about high level college basketball. The coaches' responsibility is to (within the rules) lead the program in a way that maximizes wins now and into the future. That may or may not include maximizing the long term success of an individual player. College basketball is not minor league baseball. Winning matters to people. If college basketball were a purely developmental program, it would attract as many people (which is to say MUCH less) as true developmental leagues like minor league baseball and the NBA's own D-League.

In some cases a player ends up somewhere that the interests of the team/program run counter to his own developmental needs. Maybe that happened with Aubrey.There's no shame or fault in that. He went to a program that may give itself a better chance of winning by working through his development struggles. I can't fault him for that and I wish him luck. I also can't fault Beilein for putting the success of Michigan basketball first and foremost. He is paid handsomely to do so.

Beyond the miss of saying Dawkins got a "raw deal", I think the author missed on estimating Aubrey's chances of success. He has shown flashes of NBA level athleticism, so you never know but the body of work to date has not indicated an NBA player, let alone a first round pick.

Beyond that, I'll venture into pure baseless speculation. Perhaps one of the author's NCAA sources is Johnny Dawkins. That would explain the pro-Aubrey bias and even if the author didn't buy it, maybe he gets other good info from Johnny. Hyping (ha) Johnny's son might cement that relationship. 

BIGBLUEWORLD

October 6th, 2017 at 7:10 PM ^

Playing defense is a mindset that can be learned. The best coaches get their players to make the effort for a tough defense. Do we always play with defensive intensity?

Coach Beilein could use a basketball version of Don Brown. "Solve your problems with aggression"!