Originally Posted by
FellowTraveler
After lighting up FSU in the first half, Dawkins got very little playing time down the stretch in the second half, then got a total of 21 minutes of playing time in the next two games. I don't know whether Dawkins thinks the coaches have no confidence in him, but if he does, I can see why.
No, Dawkins didn't look particularly good today. (He wasn't alone in that -- Thornton, for example, was on court for much of the second-half meltdown, one highlight of which was Tyler dribbling the ball off his own foot, out of bounds, to help prolong Wake's run. He remained on the court.) Dawkins did have some poor defensive play -- and he also played very good defense on at least a couple of possessions, one of which unfortunately ended with his man hitting a very tough contested fallaway jumper as the shot clock ran down. And no, he didn't shoot poorly; he made 1 of 3 three-pointers, which is the number you'd expect him to make given three attempts.
Most of all, though, he just didn't play enough to assess his performance. I reject the idea -- popular among announcers, fans, and, I suspect, Duke coaches -- that you can tell in his first 180 seconds of court time whether Dawkins is going to play well or poorly going forward. Players are not robots. They do not perform perfectly consistently. A few minutes do not tell us with any real certainty how they are likely to perform over the next 25 -- particularly if they are not primary ball-handlers and thus have relatively little control over what happens in those few minutes.
I know, I know: With Andre, it's different. You can just tell whether he showed up that day based on his first couple of minutes. Like against Michigan State. Ah, but in the first 2.5 minutes of the Michigan State game, Dawkins missed a three and a layup. Two minutes later, he turned the ball over. Eight minutes into the game, he was 2-5 shooting with a turnover. That's the kind of start that leads a lot of people to conclude "he doesn't have it today; he doesn't deserve PT." He finished with 26 points on 15 shots. Against Clemson, Dawkins missed his first three shots. He just didn't have it that day; better bench him -- except that he then hit 7 of his next 9 shots to finish with 24 points on 12 shots. In the first three minutes of the first Wake game, Dawkins had a turnover and was 0-1 shooting. Ten minutes in, he was 1-3 with a turnover. His head clearly wasn't in the game; better sit him until he becomes more consistent. Oh, wait -- he finished the game with 21 points on 13 shots.