Ayo Dosunmu approaching NBA Draft Combine like a job interview
Ayo Dosunmu approaching this like a job interview
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About Ayo Dosunmu
• Ayo Dosunmu is an aggressive scoring guard who built on a breakout sophomore year by emerging as one of the best guards in the country as he made strides as a shooter and passer as a junior at Illinois. Widely regarded as one of the top-35 prospects in the class of 2018 following his senior year at Morgan Park High School (IL), Dosunmu earned a spot at the Jordan Brand Classic and on the United States team that took gold at the FIBA U18 Americas Championship before enrolling at Illinois.
• The Chicago native emerged as an instant contributor for Head Coach Brad Underwood averaging 13.8 points, 4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game to capture All-Big Ten Honorable Mention honors as a true freshman. Averaging 16.6 points per game as a sophomore as the Illini made major changes to their style of play to emerge as contenders for a regular season conference title, Dosunmu made an even more significant leap as a junior. Averaging 20.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game, the 21-year old guard led the Illini to a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament and captured Consensus All-American 1st Team honors in the process.
• Standing 6’4 with an improved 200-pound frame and a 6’8 wingspan, Dosunmu has good size for a shooting guard. He is a fluid athlete with impressive open court speed.
• An improved scorer and heady passer, Dosunmu blossomed in a massive offensive role as a junior. Ranking among the most prolific open-court scorers in college basketball, playing on the ball more frequently than he did as a sophomore, making strides as a pick and roll passer, scoring prolifically from the midrange, finishing steadily around the rim, and carrying the Illini for stretches when his jumper was falling, Dosunmu was a workhorse on the offensive end.
• Competing with a good activity level to complement his length on the defensive end, Dosunmu was more consistently solid off the ball and active on the glass last season than he was as an underclassman. Making strides with his frame, he held his own guarding multiple positions.
Advanced Stats
• Operating with considerable offensive freedom on a team that leaned on his consistency, Dosunmu shined in transition, but used almost half of his possessions in pick and roll, hand off, and isolation situations as he created his own shot extensively off the dribble. Serving as an x-factor for the Illini on his best nights, he did much of his scoring inside the arc attacking the rim aggressively to finish or find daylight in the midrange.
• Among the most opportunistic fast break scorers in the country last season, Dosunmu averaged 1.26 points per transition possession [84th percentile] and ranked among the national leaders in transition points per game. Relishing opportunities to push the ball himself and run the wings, he kept things simple finding success attacking the rim aggressively with rangy footwork whenever an opening presented itself
• In the half court, Dosunmu was similarly steady in his efforts to get downhill and scored 1.16 points per shot around the rim [55th percentile] when he could find an angle to the rim. Smoother than he is explosive with the ball, he changes speeds well and has very good touch and body control as a finisher, but has an easier time getting downhill sometimes than others.
• With 45% of his shots in the half court coming on pull-up jump shots and floaters, Dosunmu did not hesitate to rise and fire when he could not turn the corner last season. Scoring 0.88 points per pull-up jump shot in the half court [69th percentile], he is capable of making shots from all over the floor. With more than half of his jump shots coming inside the arc, Dosunmu has room to become a more prolific three-point shooter, but showed improvement from beyond the arc in limited attempts.
• Averaging 1.00 points per catch and shoot jump shot in the half court [52nd percentile], Dosunmu did not slide off the ball often as a junior, but was far more reliable with his feet set than he was as a sophomore.
• Showing improved vision as a passer, as aggressive as Dosunmu was looking to score, he moved the ball out of the pick and roll prolifically, threw some pinpoint lobs, and made sound decisions with the ball in the open court.
Defensive Analysis
• A diligent defender with good positional length, Dosunmu held his own last season doing a nice job fighting over screens, showing a sense of urgency closing out shooters, and sticking with plays. He allowed 0.67 points per one-on-one possession [59th percentile] but was able to contain the ball more consistently in some matchups than others.
• Chipping in on the glass and showing some timing off the ball, Dosunmu is a solid, well-rounded defender whose physical improvement should ease his transition to the next level.
— Profile by Synergy Sports
