Exit Aubrey Dawkins
Like it says on the tin:
HOOPS NEWS: Aubrey Dawkins leaving to play for his dad, Johnny, at Central Florida #GoBlue https://t.co/u0whbpNKM5 pic.twitter.com/BfB2MFSbAV
— Michigan Basketball (@umichbball) April 6, 2016
Dawkins had a really promising freshman year that he did not follow up on. He's is an efficient low-volume shooter but he lost his starting job to Duncan Robinson once it became clear that Robinson had more offense and they were both equally bad on defense. Robinson edged towards okay at the tail end of the season; Dawkins not so much.
Michigan now has an open scholarship and can pursue a transfer or late-blooming recruit if they so choose. They've been asking after a couple guys. Our favorite dude on the market is Alec Peters of Valpo, a 6'9" dude who shot 85/55/44 last year with high usage and rebounded well, albeit in the Horizon. Michigan also inquired after Columbia combo guard Grant Mullins, who'd probably be just a shooter.
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Like taking the ball away from the future of your program.
would not have to. There would be a place for Spike in the backcourt without alienating Simpson. It is not as though Spike was ever meant to be a 25-30 minute per game player. He also would not have to play exclusvely at the point depending on other personnel on the floor. He can shoot, and we badly need consistent outside shooting. It would probably work for him also instead of learning a new system for a year. If we make no other moves I don't think it would be wise to let him walk if he wants to come back.
I think that's an insult to him. I think he can be an excellent starter if surrounded by the right mix of talent (size and defense). Let him run your offense, shoot, and pass to finishers and you can win a lot of games. He's a very good offensive player.
Trying to turn Spike into 'just-a-shooter' is a waste of his skills.
But if you can put shot-blockers behind him and length/athleticism on the wings around him, the offensive benefits are worthwhile.
Steve Nash was both a huge defensive liability and an NBA hall-of-famer. At the college level, Spike can serve that kind of role.
I'm not Brian, but I think Spike's too small to play the 3.
EDIT: Beilein has said that he would be open to Spike returning. Also that there may be another transfer out of the program.
First thing that came to my head too. Spike back would be sweet.
So true. And that beautiful picture of his smile in the midst of the jubilant crowd only makes the tinge of sadness more than a tinge.
Three players have transferred, which is a quarter of the scholarship players on the roster.
It's been an adjustment for Beilein as well, obviously, but this is the way it works now. There is a high school recruiting season, a 'parting of the ways' season, a grad transfer season, an early draft entrant season -- many of these overlap.
MSU, which -- notwithstanding their face plant in the tournament -- had a very good year, but has two players with two years eligibility left (a la Dawkins and Doyle) leave this year. Ohio State has had at least two players leave; Indiana culls their roster like its a herd. That's just the way it is -- some years you'll have none, but most years you'll have at least one. Get used to it.
But only two players had scholarhips available to them for next year. That's 15%
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This must mean we have a silent commit from Josh Jackson already /s
Hopefully Coach B is already on the phone with J. Jackson telling him a scholarship has opened up and we'd love to have him at Michigan. That'll work, won't it?
Thank you Aubrey. Most recognizable on the team, at least according to Derrick Walton.
and good luck!
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I will always remember him for his hilghlight reel missed dunks
+1 Phi Slamma Oops
This was the one wing/guard Beilein felt comfortable playing off the bench by the end of the year and a big blow to our wing depth next year. Excellent 3 point shooter and athlete who will be missed. It still feels like the defense is a fixable issue, but from Dawkins' perspective Beilein may not be the best guy to develop him there.
Ramifications for UM:
- Kam Chatman needs to get ready for a much bigger role.
- Ibi Watson has next to zero chance of red-shirting, which is fine.
- Rahkman may need to play 3
Chatman showed signs of life towards the end of the year, and not just the IU shot. He was the #1 recruit from the state of CA. He's got basketball ability, he just needs confidence and to apply it. We should be putting him in a bigger (backup) role next year.
As you noted, I doubt we were planning on redshirting Ibi anyway. He's a good player -- he should play at least 5 minutes a game.
MAAR could play the 3, but he shouldn't need to. That should be Zak, primarily, backed up by Duncan and Ibi.
I believe the team is best served with Chatman starting and embracing a role as a defender and complementary offensive player. I feel like he tries to do too much off the bench. A smaller and more focused role - playing beside Irvin and Walton, defending oppposing 4s - could help him get more comfortable.
That would also allow Robinson to be a dangerous weapon off the bench and pair nicely with Simpson.
That said, Chatman still has a long way to go to justify that role, and needs to build on the improvement he showed this season. Chatman was always going to be raw coming from a tiny high school in Oregon and being young for his class - he deserves our patience.
I don't think the above scenario is likely, but Beilein has toyed with starting Chatman before.
Regardless, suddenly this program is RELYING on Chatman, rather than just hoping he pans out.
Kam is from Oregon.
Kam moved to California for a bit and played ball down there. That seemed to bump up his ranking a bit in HS.
Go back and watch some film. He's terrible at defense. Often times he got caught having no idea who to guard and was on the wrong side of the floor. If we still did UFR'S for basketball, which I think is where they started, I am sure Chatman would be negative for the year.
Thanks Aubrey!
but he was an enigma.
How could someone with that much athleticism be so poor on defense?
During or after the Notre Dame game I had an epiphany. Is it that Aubrey knows he's leaving and thus just isn't making some plays that someone with his athletic ability and more fire would? How did he not get that offensive rebound against Notre Dame, running under it without somehow realizing it was his for the taking had he only jumped? How did he get outjumped and rebounded in the BTT against Northwestern by someone of his size?
Best of luck to him. I hope the switch turns on for him.
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/mbb-wish-list-next-year#comment-3817145
is how could someone with that much athleticism can be so poor on defense. We've seen it before with others - Dawkins is just the latest and perhaps most extreme example of what is a trend/weakness with our otherwise excellent coaching staff.
Dawkins seemed to improve his passing and dribbling a bit from last year but the improvement on defense (if it existed) was imperceptible.
Hardaway, Levert, Robinson are all elite athletes who were never great defenders. That's continued (for Hardaway at least) into the NBA. Stauskas too (who has decent size and good enough athleticism to blow by NBA-caliber defenders) is and was a wreck on D. Very few Beilein wings seem to improve on defense.
You don't see many mental errors on offense for Beilein but it's consistently a problem on defense. Beilein recruits high-character kids who improve steadily on one side of the ball but not the other. I don't know what else to blame but coaching here.
Also, I don't really want to hear about his ability to blow by defenders on offense as an example of his athleticism. That's a result of being an excellent shooter and heady with shot fakes and hesitation. Great qualities, not necessarily direct links to ability to defend
When you've got size and a deadly, quick shot that defenders fear and will lunge at, you can go by them by getting them off their feet or at least out of an athletic stance.
He's still blowing by people in the NBA. You don't do that unless you're a decent athlete.
Stauskas wasn't/isn't a great athlete, but given his length, it was more than enough to be a competant college defender.
Because Duncan Robinson got elibigle and proceeded to hit half his 3s in non-conference play.
Both guys were terrible defenders - so that's not why he lost time as much as why he failed to earn more of it.
while Aubrey finished at 44.0%. Aubrey shot 50.0% from two, while Duncan shot 45.7%. At the free throw line, Duncan was superb at 88.6% while Aubrey shot a respectable 72.4%
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/stats/_/id/130
Also note that Aubrey produced 0.411 points per minute played, while Duncan produced 0.388.
In Big Ten Play (career):
Dawkins 60/123 at 49%
Robinson 37/105 35%
Seems like something did not click with development or something, because it was kind of unusual how he looked this year vs. last year. A bummer. I hope he has a good career at UCF playing for Pops.
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maybe if we remove the "s" from the end of the Columbia trasnfer's name we can pretend he's chris mullin's son
I'm good with that.
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