To me it's all about maturity. Dawkins is very immature and until now it's been very easy for him ( basketball wise). I mean he got into one of the best BB programs in the country. Maybe he didn't have to work very hard to do it. His talent got him to Duke. One day he will mature, wake up, whatever. It could still happen.
I'll try and qualify my comments. Maybe I should have said "on court maturity' or missing ingredient or something but anyway, I absolutely do beleive that Dawkins has the talent to be like a Ray Allen in the NBA. I hope he can somehow make it. I know I'll always be supporting and looking out for him.
Release.
It's a training camp deal. Good experience, though.
Very interesting timing of the announcement. Sheesh...
Let's see if he can make the final 15.
Yes- Andre will need to up his game in a very big way. While never a star in college- he had some very big moments and even great 25pt+ games. I think his work ethic kept him from fully realizing his potential as a player. It is very rare for a person to develop those work skills out of nowhere- but not impossible. We shall see. The kid had a beautiful stroke and that is a good place to start building.
The Heat have four rookies left for one roster spot and Andre just might be the guy.
From the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale:
The final three cuts likely will come from a group of four rookies: forwards Khem Birch and Shawn Jones, and guards Andre Dawkins and Tyler Johnson.
Dawkins seemingly helped his chances with a pair of 3-pointers in Saturday's 122-119 overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Rio de Janeiro.
"He had a terrific summer for us and spent the whole summer in our facility with summer league, and kept on better and better," coach Erik Spoelstra said following Monday's practice at AmericanAirlines Arena of the undrafted guard out of Duke. "It's probably the best shape he's been in in a long time. He's a smart kid. He picks up things on how to play off of people and stay within his own lane. And he has a great shooting stroke."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/m...314-story.html
The beat writer for the Sentinel predicts Andre makes the team...
"Heat still need to cut 3. Early prediction: Shawn Jones, Khem Birch and Tyler Johnson (with Andre Dawkins kept because of 3-point shooting).
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) October 13, 2014"
It certainly is an interesting question. Of course, it's important to note that (if Dawkins does make the team) 3 of the 7 NBAers on that team were freshmen, and 2 of those 3 were REALLY not ready yet. And of the 4 non-freshman NBAers, 2 were only fringe NBA guys (Smith and Thomas) and a third (Miles Plumlee) was a very late bloomer.
If we were talking about the upperclassmen versions of Kelly, the Plumlees, and Dawkins to go along with upperclassmen versions of Singler/Scheyer/Smith/Thomas/Zoubek, then I'd agree. That group should absolutely not have lost 5 games. But so many of those guys were very different players as they progressed than they were as freshmen/sophomores.
Dre with 16 tonight on only 8 shots.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400583994