Was Dawkins running with the first team in the scrimmage portion of the practice that you posted on the main page? He was on the team with Walton, Irvin, LeVert and Donnal.
First impressions.
- Doyle looks great physically, much more agile than I thought and looks like he is ready to be a presence off the hop.
- MAAR has great athletecism but not a great jumpshot.
- Dawkins obviously has a lot of athleticism - if he can hit the 3 at a 35 percent clip and use that athleticism on both sides of the ball and in transition, can be a great asset. - Kam looks really smooth, has nice form on his shot and with Irvin’s added size I see them being a great pairing at the 3 and 4, kind of interchangeable in regards to who they guard.
- Walton looked to be shooting the ball well.
- For all the flack Irvin has been getting for not expanding his driving game more, I think he will knock down a lot of shots. Seems to have improved shot off the dribble, which he always had from his high school days, maybe just might be more comfortable using it at this level now.
- I think most minutes will be allocated to Spike, Caris, Derrick, Zak, Kam, Donnal, Ricky, and others will fight for spot minutes. Think it will be a very good squad second half of the year, especially if our two bigs bring their lunch pales night in night out. Their consistency in all areas or lack there of will really be a big determining factor this year in my opinion. Liked Ricky’s activity level on defence.
Was Dawkins running with the first team in the scrimmage portion of the practice that you posted on the main page? He was on the team with Walton, Irvin, LeVert and Donnal.
I never got the sense that there was a complete first team or second team to be honest. There definitely wasn’t when they scrimmaged at the end of practice (not in the video)…
Irvin has really transformed his physique and added athleticism. Doyle moved well and showed a good motor. He has trimmed down and looks great. Walton’s shot was money in that practice. Chatman has good hands and touch around the hoop. Some very encouraging signs.
No it was Walton, LeVert, Irvin, Chatman & Donnal
And there is no way MAAR has more long term potential then AD.
A 6’6 wing who is crazy athletic and can shoot? Interested to see his ball skills. He is barely scratching his potential.
MAAR will be good, but at 6’3-6’4, not overly athletic and not an elite shooter I see him as a solid overall player. Not wonderful, not average… Just good.
No it was Walton, LeVert, Irvin, Chatman & DonnalAnd there is no way MAAR has more long term potential then AD.
A 6’6 wing who is crazy athletic and can shoot? Interested to see his ball skills. He is barely scratching his potential.
MAAR will be good, but at 6’3-6’4, not overly athletic and not an elite shooter I see him as a solid overall player. Not wonderful, not average… Just good.
Crazy athletic is a bit strong. Crazy athletic is Russell Westbrook - meaning that a player has elite verticality, lateral movement, straight line speed and strength.
At this point Dawkins has only shown that he has good (not elite) jumping ability. He certainly doesn’t have elite lateral ability and is below average in terms of strength.
MAAR has good straight line speed, average verticality and average/slightly above average strength for his position. What MAAR also has is above average ability to change speeds with the ball, although his change of direction could use some work. He is also an above average rebounder at his position. Has shown the ability to create for himself off PnR.
At this point, MAAR has more tools to work with in relation to Dawkins, who is really just a good vertical athlete that can shoot in catch and shoot situations. His game is really limited. If MAAR can add a respectable jumpshot I could honestly see him being an all Big 10 type player in a few years.
This year Dawkins will have more utility than MAAR out of necessity because we need him to backup both the 3-4 spots, whereas MAAR is going to find minutes hard to come by with Walton, Levert and Spike taking the bulk of the minutes.
Long term though, it is hard to imagine Dawkins having more potential than MAAR in an offense that is so heavy on pick and roll creation and Dawkins has no ability at all in that regard whereas MAAR does. GR3 set the precedent, if you can’t handle the ball in a creator role it’s simply going to be difficult to thrive at UM as a primary option. As a junior I fully expect MAAR to be one of the best guards in the conference as a primary contributor whereas Dawkins will most likely be a third or fourth option
Far too many assumptions in this post based on highlight videos.
Especially marking down MAAR as an All B1G player already & having hardly seen anything from Dawkins. Quite the expectation for MAAR.
I see that you over-analyze quite a bit, and that’s fine, this is not in any way an attack on you, just an observation from your posts.
Bottom line for me is this:
Dawkins has the much better upside based on what he brings to the table in terms of athletic ability, shooting, defense vs MAAR.
And, so far, I believe the practice reports, from any outlet that had any kind of access since the Fr arrived would be in agreement.
No it was Walton, LeVert, Irvin, Chatman & DonnalAnd there is no way MAAR has more long term potential then AD.
The ability to handle > the ability to jump high. If Dawkins were 6’9’’ with a 7 ft wingspan, it’d be a different story.
Honestly, the only utility verticality has in a UM offense is if the player is a 5, meaning that the player will finish off a PnR pass or if you are the ballhandler looking to finish off the pick. Other than that our 3s and 4s are pretty much spot shooters in our offense. Of course the verticality helps on D as well. For example, I think increased verticality would’ve helped Jmo tremendously whereas it might only make a very marginal difference for Irvin.
No it was Walton, LeVert, Irvin, Chatman & DonnalAnd there is no way MAAR has more long term potential then AD.
The ability to handle > the ability to jump high. If Dawkins were 6’9’’ with a 7 ft wingspan, it’d be a different story.
Like DJ Wilson? 
But we really don’t know if Dawkins can handle or not, specifically why I said I need to see more in that dept from him. But if he plays the 3 spot, he won’t be depended on to carry the load re:handeling the ball.
He would need to be coached on the in’s n outs’s of a pick n roll situation, in which he is a above average long range shooter. And I’ll make a lesser assumption he will be able to take it to the hole
Hardaway Jr is a decent example. Even though he brought the ball up on occasion (I don’t think we will need Dawkins to do this) he never had anything close to good on ball skills, whether in the half court or fast break.
He could “jump high”, shoot the ball, and was half way smart wing with the ball.
I’ll take Dawkins.
On top of this, personally I think a kid like MAAR is common. This is nothing against him in any way, and I support him because he plays for UM, but I just think he is/will be an average-good B1G player. His skills for a 6’3 combo guard are not unique in anyway.
Who knows… Time will tell
Dawson’s verticality off of one foot does not just look “good”. His verticality looks “very good” and leaning toward elite. Are you assigning a “good” grade based on something else? Is he not very good off of two feet?
“the only utility verticality has in a um offense is if the player is a 5”
That is an interesting point of view. I always thought being able to jump high was useful in basketball games.
"the only utility verticality has in a um offense is if the player is a 5"That is an interesting point of view. I always thought being able to jump high was useful in basketball games.
How is it useful if you don’t have the opportunity to use it? Instead of picking and choosing my quotes, how about you placing it in proper context?
Would it be useful for Irvin to stand in the corner 3 line and simply jump for the sake of jumping? Because Zak isn’t going to be handling the ball and attempting to finish over defenders in the paint, verticality for him doesn’t mean as much for him as it does Walton, Levert, Donnal, Doyle. It may help him in getting a clean look off a midrange jumper but for the most part he’s a catch and shoot player that shoots when Caris or Walton draw a double. Translation - increased verticality is only helping him marginally on a practical basis. Lateral movement would help him much more
Being able to jump high , especially in the case of a Dawkins/GR3 type will also aids in rebounding, having the confidence of teammates to throw an oop, allows the player to finish easier when going to the hole ect… There are plenty of benefits of being able to jump higher then others.
Being able to jump high , especially in the case of a Dawkins/GR3 type will also aids in rebounding, having the confidence of teammates to throw an oop, allows the player to finish easier when going to the hole ect... There are plenty of benefits of being able to jump higher then others.
You pretty much made my point…increased verticality is tremendously helpful for those that are penetrators and rebounders, hence the point that increased verticality only helps Irvin marginally because he does neither. Also, verticality never helped GR3 rebound, his rebound rate actually decreased despite an increased vertical from his freshman to sophomore campaigns. Again, increased verticality only helps if you can, and actually do apply it on a practical basis in a game situation
Verticality is useful for a basket player in almost all facets of a game except free throws and wide open shots. How many wide open shots do you think Irvin gets? Even in the scenario you have handpicked (when Irvin receives a ball after a guard is double teamed) he usually has a defender (often possessing verticality) closing out on him very quickly.
Does anyone know when Robinson can join the team?
Verticality is useful for a basket player in almost all facets of a game except free throws and wide open shots. How many wide open shots do you think Irvin gets? Even in the scenario you have handpicked (when Irvin receives a ball after a guard is double teamed) he usually has a defender (often possessing verticality) closing out on him very quickly.
Irvin is already a great catch and shoot player, so how much can increased verticality really help him in that regard?
It will only help him in conjunction with a HUGE improvement in his ballhandling ability - in which case he would then be attempting to finish at the rim, but Irvin is nothing more than a catch and shoot player at this point