“Not to sound arrogant, but I always feel my shot is on” ~ Andre Dawkins
Duke no doubt has one of, if not the, deepest backcourt in college basketball. And I say this with the knowledge that Kyrie Irving will be out for a “long time”. One of the more important members of that backcourt is Sophomore Andre Dawkins, who is plugging minutes at both the shooting guard position and the small forward spot, and doing so in one of the most productive ways in the country.
According to KenPom.com, Andre has the 2nd highest Offensive Rating in the country at 144.6. As defined by Pomeroy, Offensive Rating is the personal version of Offensive Efficiency, which is points scored per 100 offensive possessions. So, for every 100 possessions that Andre Dawkins is a part of, he has scored 144.6 points. He also has a very low turnover rate, at 8.1, which ranks him 26th in the nation.
How Is Andre So Efficient?
Besides Doron Lamb of Kentucky, Andre is the only player on a Top 25 team in the Top 40 3-point FG% in the country. Shooting 53.6% from 3-point land, Andre is 2nd in the ACC to only Gary Clark of Wake Forest, but has nearly made as many threes as Clark has taken. Not only is Andre deadly behind the arc, he is shooting at an incredible clip inside as well, at 61.9%.
As Duke looks to Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith to take over the scoring and leadership roles left void when Kyrie Irving went down with an injury, don’t be surprised to see Andre’s minutes go up as he can score points in a hurry.
It’s easy to forget that Andre gave up a prep year last season to come in and give Duke another guard when they only had two on the roster. Factoring that in, it is amazing that he currently has the 2nd highest career 3-point FG% at 43.7% (behind Laettner’s remarkable 48.5%), has only 6 less threes than all of last year, and is scoring in such an efficient manner in such a short period of time.
Check out the chart below to see how Andre’s ridiculously high Effective FG% compares to JJ Redick’s from his Sophomore year:
Without Irving, Where is Andre Playing?
I pulled these lineup configurations from DukeBasketballReport.com. The numbers to the right of the players are, in order, score while this lineup is on the floor, number of times used, and the +/- differential using this combination of players.
Interestingly, Andre has been used in a number of different combinations, and has an overall +/- of +191 and a +/- of +28.72 per 40 minutes. He has played small forward 55 times, shooting guard 38 times, and has even provided spot duty at power forward twice. Look for Andre to be used a bit more at the two guard spot while Kyrie is out as he will be counted on to replace the young guard’s nearly 29 minutes a game.
Smith-Curry-Dawkins-Singler-Miles (51-18, x10, 33)
Smith-Curry-Dawkins-Singler-Kelly (27-6, x6, 21)
Smith-Dawkins-Singler-Mason-Miles (46-30, x9, 16)
Curry-Dawkins-Singler-Kelly-Miles (26-13, x6, 13)
Smith-Dawkins-Singler-Mason-Kelly (18-9, x4, 9)
Smith-Curry-Dawkins-Mason-Miles (8-0, x1, 
Smith-Curry-Dawkins-Hairston-Mason (9-3, x1, 6)
Smith-Dawkins-Singler-Hairston-Kelly (8-3, x2, 5)
Smith-Curry-Dawkins-Hairston-Kelly (7-2, x1, 5)
Curry-Dawkins-Singler-Mason-Kelly (11-7, x2, 4)
Curry-Dawkins-Singler-Hairston-Mason (8-4, x1, 4)
Smith-Curry-Dawkins-Hairston-Miles (6-2, x3, 4)
Curry-Peters-Dawkins-Hairston-Miles (4-0, x1, 4)
Thornton-Curry-Dawkins-Mason-Kelly (4-0, x1, 4)
Thornton-Curry-Singler-Mason-Miles (4-0, x1, 4)
Smith-Curry-Dawkins-Singler-Mason (31-28, x12, 3)
Smith-Dawkins-Singler-Hairston-Miles (15-12, x3, 3)
Thornton-Curry-Dawkins-Hairston-Kelly (13-10, x1, 3)
Thornton-Curry-Dawkins-Hairston-Miles (16-14, x3, 2)
Smith-Dawkins-Singler-Kelly-Miles (15-13, x3, 2)
Thornton-Smith-Dawkins-Singler-Kelly (4-2, x1, 2)
Curry-Dawkins-Singler-Hairston-Miles (2-0, x2, 2)
Thornton-Smith-Curry-Dawkins-Hairston (2-0, x1, 2)
Smith-Curry-Dawkins-Mason-Kelly (1-0, x1, 1)
Thornton-Dawkins-Singler-Mason-Miles (1-0, x1, 1)
Curry-Dawkins-Singler-Mason-Miles (2-2, x2, 0)
Thornton-Peters-Dawkins-Hairston-Kelly (0-0, x1, 0)
Thornton-Smith-Dawkins-Hairston-Mason (1-2, x2, -1)
Thornton-Smith-Dawkins-Kelly-Miles (7-9, x2, -2)
Thornton-Dawkins-Singler-Hairston-Miles (5-7, x2, -2)
Thornton-Curry-Dawkins-Mason-Miles (2-4, x1, -2)
Thornton-Curry-Peters-Dawkins-Hairston (0-2, x1, -2)
Thornton-Smith-Dawkins-Hairston-Kelly (0-2, x1, -2)
Thornton-Curry-Dawkins-Hairston-Mason (13-16, x2, -3)
Smith-Curry-Dawkins-Kelly-Miles (5-9, x3, -4)
Thornton-Curry-Dawkins-Kelly-Miles (0-4, x1, -4)
Thornton-Dawkins-Singler-Mason-Kelly (0-5, x1, -5)
