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1 - Dominic James

5-11, 180 Point Guard
Marquette Senior
Birthday
10/05/86 (37.5 yrs)
Hometown
Richmond, IN
High School
Richmond
Team Site Profile
Statistics
Athleticism
10
Size
5
Defense
7
Strength
7
Quickness
9
Leadership
7
Jump Shot
6
NBA Ready
7
Ball Handling
8
Potential
7
Passing
7
Intangibles
6
86 Overall:

NBA Comparison: Anderson Hunt

Alexander Kaftan & Jon Stepp – 1/16/2007

Strengths: With his insane hangtime, leaping ability, and long arms, hes able to play bigger than his 5-11 size. He also enjoys tremendous lower-body strength, as is evident with his explosive aerial maneuvers, his agility, and ability to absorb contact. His upper-body strength is very good for a college sophomore, and should only get better. James has long arms for his height. He uses his wingspan effectively to deflect passes and gather steals. He is also a surprisingly good rebounder, which is probably mostly due to his agility, hops, and instincts. His arms also enable him to get shots off over bigger opponents. He possesses terrific quickness, aggressiveness, footwork, and anticipation. James shows good patience, and usually does not commit silly fouls. Defensively James could become a very effective full-court presser in the NBA. He also persistently shows a very good effort when fighting through screens or chasing his man around. He also is fairly good at stealing, and is very good at leaking out after a turnover. Offensively, His first step is amazing, which enables him to blow by any defender at the college level. Even in the NBA, he will likely be quicker off the bounce than most point guards. His agility and strength lets him finish very well, especially for a player his size, near the hoop, either on an aggressive drive or backing his man down after a rebound. He also excels at pulling up for midrange j’s, which he hits at a high clip. His half-court passing ability is hard to figure out since he plays off the ball so often. James is a tremendous athlete. Period. He excels at all facets of athletic ability, including speed, agility, leaping ability, hangtime(!), and explosion. Hes simply one of the best athletes in college basketball … James exerts a good effort on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. He is so naturally gifted on the fast break that he seems to glide effortlessly. He works hard to gain position, especially off of inbounds near the hoop, as he often out-hustles and outsmarts his defender, which enables him to get a quick bucket off the inbounds.

Weaknesses: At 5’11" roughly three-four inches shorter than the average NBA point. His lack of size will make him be a half-court defensive liability, as bigger point guards will easily post him up or shoot over him. James long arms and jumping ability do somewhat mask this weakness in college, but he will have a much harder time hiding it at the pro level. His outside shooting ability is very streaky. Although he is a better stationary shooter then off the dribble or off the catch. James often forces his shots. His free-throw shooting is below average, especially for a 1. He runs the floor extremely well on the fastbreak, usually making good decisions, however, his half-court offense needs much work, as he often rushes shots and sometimes is overaggressive driving. In the NBA, his height will not allow him to see over taller defenders, and the strength and agility of the typical pro guards will disallow him from making the plays that he often makes in college. Despite this, James figures to be an average to slightly above average NBA offensive player, especially if his range and consistency improves. James athletic ability is very useful, but occasionally he gets out of control and turns the ball over While Dominic James occasionally plays the two at Marquette, he lacks the size and shooting ability to do so in the NBA. He will be forever confined to the point James intangibles have come into question. He carries himself with confidence that borders on cockiness, often appearing stubborn. To his credit though, he shows a great deal of emotion and has at least an average basketball IQ.

Notes: Was considered a top forty player by most high school publications, and was runner-up top Greg Oden for player of the year in Indiana. James started at point guard at MU the minute he set foot on campus, taking over for Travis Diener and performing exceptionally well. He was considered one of the top freshmen in the country, winning Big East Freshmen of the year. He entered this season, which almost certainly will be his last, as one of the most heralded guards in the country. He however has somewhat disappointed. He remains an unpolished half-court player that should add some muscle to his upper body.

Aran Smith – 9/16/2006

Strengths: Gutsy floor general capable of high flying dunks (a cut above athletically) A blur. His amazing quickness and deadly crossover allow him to get by defenders at will Loves to penetrate into the key (drive and dish) and is not afraid to go all the way to the basket A fireplug, his great strength and quickness is too much for most college level guards to contain Mentally tough. Competes hard, and showed great maturity in just his first college season Excellent PG skills, ball handling and passing and shows a good feel for the position Showed very good decision making with a 1.92 A/TO ratio as a freshman. He should improve upon that figure with a year of experience under his belt A real ball hawk, averaged 1.6 steals per game as a freshman An excellent rebounder (due to his toughness and leaping ability), especially considering his size

Weaknesses: Hes on the short side at just 5-11, but his tremendous athletic ability and pit bull aggressiveness help to compensate for it His ability to get by defenders allows him to get a lot of shots in close to the basket, but he needs to polish his mid range jump shot as well as shooting from behind the arc Needs to become a better outside shooter (shot just 30% from 3 last season). Also needs to improve from the free throw line (64%) Needs to become more comfortable in slow down (half court set type) games. Shot just 2/15 versus GTown in the 2005-06 Big East tournament

Notes: One of the most productive freshman in the country. Earned Big East Freshman of the year honors averaging 15.3 ppg and 5.4 apg helping lead Marquette to a 7 seed in the 2006 NCAA Tournament … Will be asked to take on a larger role offensively with the departure of Steve Novak, and should step up to the challenge and become one of the elite point guards in the nation.

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