Michigan Basketball Position Preview: Wings

facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 5
Next

Mar 12, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Michigan Wolverines guard/forward Aubrey Dawkins (24) reacts after dunking the ball against the Illinois Fighting Illini during the first half in the second round of the Big Ten Conference Tournament at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

2014 Stats:

GP GS MIN AVG PTS AVG AST AVG REB AVG FG% 3-PT%
30 13 35.8 20.7 0.4 2.1 0.478 0.438

Along with fellow freshman Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, Aubrey Dawkins was a revelation late in the season. Dawkins deserves a lot of credit for Michigan even performing somewhat admirably in Big Ten play. The biggest reason is simple: the man can shoot the ball.

He saw few minutes early in the season, but an inspired performance against Illinois in the conference opener assured him more playing time. If Michigan needed a clutch three, Dawkins was the go-to player.

He developed a nice cut to the basket as well. His contributions to the team were almost entirely threes and dunks, but it was effective. He had the ability to bring life back into the offense almost immediately.

As teams have experience with Dawkins, he’ll have to expand his game. He never had more than two assists in a single game, so he might have to work on his passing. Even then, he should have plenty of opportunities as teams focus on the Walton-LeVert-Irvin trio. Dawkins will get his wide open shots.

The biggest question for Dawkins is if he can improve on defense. He did improve over the year, but he was never more than adequate. He began to cause more turnovers for opponents in the last few games, so there is definitely a bright side, especially if he’s gotten stronger in the offseason.

Dawkins is likely the starter at the three right now. His offensive skill is just too great to keep him off the floor. Unless Chatman has drastically improved and pushes Irvin back to the three, Dawkins will see plenty of playing time to start the year.

Next: Duncan Robinson