Duke’s Andre Dawkins: The Country’s Top Recruiting Recruit
Words. Jason Jordan
Atlantic Shores Christian School (Va.) star Andre Dawkins is a rare commodity.
He can do a 360-dunk with the same minimal effort he uses to drain a 3-pointer from a foot behind the NBA line. He’s the leading scorer on one of the most storied AAU programs on the circuit – Boo Williams Summer League – and he’s the No. 4 rated shooting guard in the class of 2010.
Still, as skilled as Dawkins, a 6-5 guard, is on the court it’s his ability to persuade that may trump everything else…
HighSchoolHoop: So we hear that you’re gonna just bypass playing at Duke and become lead recruiter instead.
Andre Dawkins: (Laughs) Hey, you never know… No, I’m just trying to convince a few guys to come on down to Duke with me. I’m trying to have the best class possible.
HSH: Are you the best recruiting recruit in the game?
AD: (Laughs) Well, I don’t know. I’m just a talkative guy. I’ll talk to anybody. That’s just my personality. That helps I guess.
HSH: So we’ve seen and heard about a lot of coaches’ sales pitches and we’ve surmised that currently Florida head coach Billy Donovan is top dog. Convince us that you’re top dog, as far as recruits go?
AD: OK, well one of my recent ones was at the NBA Camp. Kyrie (Irving) was wearing a royal blue jersey, and I went up to him and told him that he looked real good in that royal blue. You know you’ve always got to be ready to say something.
HSH: Impressive. But at the end of the day it’s all about results, so give us your closing percentage.
AD: Well, Josh (Hairston) and Tyler (Thornton) committed after me, so…
HSH: So you’re telling us you’re 2-for-2?
AD: I guess that’s what I’m telling you.
HSH: Who’s on your wish list?
AD: Well, Harrison (Barnes) is No. 1 right now. Then we’re looking at another point guard so I talk to Ray (McCallum), and Kyrie and Brandon (Knight) all the time.
HSH: Who of those three point guards do you think you have the best shot at landing?
AD: I don’t know honestly. I try not to pressure them too much. That’s not my style.
HSH: Do you ever see someone from another school trying to out-recruit you?
AD: Kendall (Marshall) is always trying to recruit our guys. Whenever I see Kendall around Harrison I have to run on over there. He’ll just be talking about North Carolina, and I’ll just say how bad they are. Like Harrison’s a really smart guy so I always tell him that he can get a better education at Duke. That usually works.
HSH: There’s a lot buzz that your class could be one of the best that Duke has had in more than five years.
AD: Yeah I’ve heard that too, but I don’t really look at it like that. We’re just gonna come in and try to win games. That’s why they’re giving us the scholarship. We can’t say that we’re the best anything. That’s for guys like you to decide down the line. I don’t put pressure on myself or any of us. We have enough pressure coming to Duke. Until we go out there and prove it, it’s just people talking. Our goal isn’t to be one of the best classes ever. We’re just trying to go there and win games. That’s it.
HSH: Duke has a shortage of guards for next season. Do you wish you could’ve graduated early and played now?
AD: (Laughs) You know that would be a great opportunity to play right away, but things happen for a reason. I think we’ll be fine regardless.
HSH: Gerald Henderson leaving for the NBA was a forgone conclusion, but did it shock you when Elliot Williams transferred because his mother was sick?
AD: Well, I had heard about Elliot’s situation so I wasn’t as shocked when it came out. It’s just an unfortunate situation.
HSH: Where will you fit in to the rotation?
AD: I’ll have to be ready to play as soon as I get there. We won’t have a lot of guards. Jon’s (Scheyer) a senior and, like you said, we don’t have many guards now. I’ll have to be ready to go from day one.
HSH: People compare you to Gerald…
AD: Yeah I hear that all the time.
HSH: Do you agree with the assessment?
AD: No, I don’t agree. Gerald is a great player, and I think people look at it like we’re both athletic. But he was more of a “get to the basket” guy and I’m more of a “jump shot” guy. I do understand because a lot of our game centers around our athletic ability.
HSH: Yeah we’ve seen your hops. What’s your vertical?
AD: You know what … I don’t even know. I’ve never measured it. I don’t really think that verticals mean that much as far as guards go. Think about it, most of the time, if you’re a guard, you’re gonna get a running start.
HSH: That’s a great point. We just re-released our top 50 and you made a mild jump from No. 22 to No. 21. Thoughts?
AD: A lot of players look at the rankings and feel like they’re being disrespected, but they don’t mean as much to me. If you look over the past few years there were guys in the top 10 that didn’t really pan out, but then you have a guy like Stephen Curry who wasn’t even ranked, but had a great college career and went on to be a lottery pick. So you can’t put a lot of stock into rankings either way. A lot of times you have guys who have never picked up a basketball in their life trying to tell people who the best player in the country is.
HSH: Well, we’ve got skills on the court.
AD: (Laughs) OK, not you guys then. You’re good.
HSH: Your jump shot has improved a lot over the past two years. What types of drills do you do?
AD: I do a drill where I have to hit three in a row before I can move to the next spot. I try to make those three in a minute or a minute and a half. Then I have to hit 10 before I can move to the next spot. I do that from four different spots.
HSH: What’s the biggest thing you want to improve on?
AD: A lot of people feel like I can’t handle the ball so I’m trying to improve on that. I feel like my passing’s gotten better as the summer has progressed. I’m working better on the pick-and-roll and my decision making is getting a lot better. It’s fun when you can actually look at your game and see that things are getting better.
HSH: The knock against Duke for the past few years is that they’ve been a step or two slow on the perimeter. Do you think that the 2010 class will change this perception?
AD: I definitely think that one of the things that they’re addressing in our class is more athleticism. If you look at the better teams in the country they’re very athletic on the wing. Hopefully we can be better there this year and our class can just add to that.
HSH: What are you averaging with BWSL this season?
AD: About 20 points per game.
HSH: Are you recruiting any of your teammates?
AD: Yep. James McAdoo.
HSH: Never ends huh?
AD: Hey, I’ve got to do my part.
I cant wait untill this kid hits the campus, I love his attitude already. He is in the right frame of mind, we can use more kids like him.
You can do it… get those other guys to Duke with you
[...] week we asked Atlantic Shores Christian (Va.) guard Andre Dawkins if he wished he could come to Duke early, given the Blue Devils’ thin backcourt situation – just two scholarship guards (Nolan Smith [...]
[...] Many have touted the 2010 recruiting class as one of the Duke’s best in some time, but in an interview with HighSchoolHoop.com, Dawkins doesn’t buy it: …I don’t really look at it like that. We’re just gonna [...]