School: UCF
Year: Junior
Height/Weight: 6’6 205 lbs.
Strengths:
The redshirt junior is a professional scorer, who might be one of the lethal scorers in the country if he is HOT. Ask Duke. A transfer from Michigan to UCF to play for his father, Aubrey has shown his growth on both ends of the ball since arriving in Ann Arbor in 2014. Dawkins is an elite shooter from deep and has a solid release coupled with a unique gift to understand how much distance he needs from the defender to make sure he can get his shot up at a successful rate. Once he gets it going and hits a couple shots, his off the dribble game looks elite.
The Durham native also possesses the talent of being an elite slashing scorer who has shown a variety of ways to score around the rim. His wingspan helps his finishing ability, and his length is another reason he has high-level potential at the next level. He keeps his opponent in front of him with his solid footwork and pesky length. He is an above average athlete so he also will jump with his opponents at the rim and on shots on the defensive end.
An underrated trait Dawkins possessed was his solid rebounding due to his length. According to sports-reference per 100 possessions the forward averages 10 rebounds even with a 7’6″ teammate in Tacko Fall which is pretty impressive.
Aubrey is also a very solid free throw shooter as well at almost 90% which is a good indicator in determining just how good of a shooter he’ll be at the next level, particularly from deep.
Weaknesses:
Dawkins is an impressive scorer when he is hot, but when he is not he can become an offensive liability if his set-shot is not falling. He is an elite free throw shooter, but he has to do a better job of drawing fouls on offense. His shoulder injury gave him some time to analyze his game for sure on film.
He must make sure he improves his playmaking ability to a point that he is performing at a high level. With the more talent placed around him, he has to be willing and able to provide opportunities for his teammates.
He has the length to become an elite defender if he finds ways to accumulate more steals and blocks as well, but he’s just not there right now (Although he has shown glimpses). His length gives him a clear advantage over another player of his size, but he must truly find a way to become a better defensive player to sneak into the late first round.
Dawkins can often make the mistake of trying to get teammates involved too often when he’s hot and must find a way to tune out the noise and just put an absolute scoring barrage day in and day out like he showed he was capable of against the Blue Devils in the NCAA tournament.
Future Outlook:
Dawkins is a solid shooting forward that has the potential to become a solid pro if he finds a way to become a better playmaker with the ball in his hand and a more aggressive slasher so he can get to the free throw line. Defensively he must become a smarter defender and more aggressive in the passing lanes with his length and show NBA scouts he has the potential to become a steal for them.
As for now, if he declares this year, I can see him really impressing scouts at the combine and falling in that early second round range given how deprived this draft is of scoring wings who can shoot the ball.
