Breaking News
Rapid Reaction: Knicks Snag Experienced Versatile Scorer in Damyean Dotson
Knicks select troubled SG Dotson out of Houston with the 44th pick.
I’ll give you the bad news first. And it’s very bad. Damyean Dotson, along with former teammate Dominic Artis, was suspended and later dismissed by the University of Oregon following a forcible rape charge in May of 2014. The entire police report is available to view online. Charges were eventually dropped due to “lack of evidence,” but this is the last thing Knicks fans want to hear after enduring an entire season of Derrick Rose’s on-going investigation.
Dotson sat out the 2014–15 season before returning home to play for the University of Houston where he produced a solid two years of pure scoring for the Cougars. In his junior year, Dotson averaged just under 14 points per game on 66 percent shooting and 37 percent from three. Dotson elevated these stats in his senior year, improving to 17 points per game on 44 percent shooting from the perimeter. He’s strictly a shooter, making 4.2 threes per 40 minutes, per DraftExpress.
At 6'6" with a 6'9" wingspan, Dotson has good size to guard PGs and SGs at the pro level. Initially, the 23-year-old’s play style focused on transition and slashing to the basket, but as he has matured (on the floor) as a basketball player, he’s developed into a knockdown shooter off the dribble and from the spot up. He’s not super effective creating his own shot, he’ll need someone to create for him and will likely rely on screens and pin-downs to find space on the floor. Good thing the Knicks just drafted a nifty-passing French PG to create for others!
The Knicks need some bench scoring and guard depth. Dotson will look to earn his minutes behind Courtney Lee as a bucket-getter off the bench. He should be able to hold his own on defense, he averaged 1.1 steals per 40 minutes, though he’ll probably never reach the defensive status of players like Lee. Not a bad idea to snag a pure-scorer with the 44th pick.
— Brendan Duball, staff writer
Follow The Knicks Wall on Facebook and Twitter for more breaking news about the team, and listen to the TKW Podcast on SoundCloud!
