ESPN ON DJ...

[LastWarrior]

8th rated point guard and 41st rated overall prospect... a late first to early second round pick. 


Dominic James
Point Guard (Rank: #41) | 5-11, 175 | Age: 20
Marquette (Sophomore)
Hometown: Richmond, IN

Season Averages
YR    GMS    MIN    PTS    REB    AST    TO    A/T    STL    BLK    PF    FG%    FT%    3P%    PPS
2006-07   34   33.2   14.9   3.1   4.9   2.6   1.9/1   1.9   0.1   2.1   .384   .651   .272   1.14
2005-06   31   32.5   15.3   4.5   5.4   2.8   1.9/1   1.6   0.4   2.4   .431   .641   .301   1.17
· View full player card

Draft Projection: Late first to early second

Positives: Super quick, über athletic point guard. Relentless penetrator and excellent finisher around the basket. Strong for his size. Excellent energy. True point guard who sees the floor well and makes good decisions. Tenacious defender. Really racks up the steals.

Negatives: Undersized for the position. Decent perimeter shooter, but very streaky from long range. Poor free throw shooting is an issue because his style of play often has him on the line.

Summary: In a draft weak on point guards, James has drawn a ton of interest from scouts. He still has some rough patches to work out in his game, but scouts are high on his potential. A huge shooting slump in the second half of the season has done some major damage to James' stock, but he's still a potential first round pick.

[muwarrior87]

if he is drafted in that position, he'll be back. I highly doubt he's going anywhere unless he's at least a mid-first round pick.

[mosarsour]

True point guard who sees the floor well and makes good decisions.

Are they being serious??

[muarmy81]

True point guard who sees the floor well and makes good decisions.

Are they being serious??

Maybe they mean he sees the open man at half court and makes the "good decision" to try and get him the ball.  Now we all know that by trying to get him the ball that usually entails an alley-oop pass from mid-court that lands in the 3rd row. 

[mu03eng]

IF this holds true DJ will be back.  I would think he will wait until next year when the draft is weaker and he has another year to improve and hopefully won't have to worry about an awful shooting slump.

[Murffieus]

DJ may NEVER be a mid first round pick!

[DAtruth]

a 3 month slump-sreak, and we quickly forget...if it werent for dj his fresh year, we might have won 8 games...novak was..HORRIBLE...at start of the season and games where he just disappeared...when novak was "on" dj knew his role and looked like a true point guard indeed..dj is a star but he cant be "the star", a threat form outside that shoots good % or a big man with some sort of offensive mindset (any at all) would greatly improve his play...

was this the article that went on to say that he was "a less than average shooter but still, an above average scorer for the nba?"

[Big Papi]

The kid made some bad decisions in his shot selections this year when there wasn't anyone else on the court willing to step up unlike the year before with Novak.  That forced DJ in his mind to jack up some God awful 22 feet plus shots.  I thought he did more of that during the middle of the season than at the end of the season.  He still is a pretty good defender and has the ability to blow by defenders with his quickness.  Its obvious to everyone that he needs to work on some deficiences but he doesn't suck as bad as some of you make him out to suck.  If the paid professional scouts think he is worthy of being drafted in the best league in the world than I think he is pretty darn good. 

It sounds like DJ is dying to make that leap up to the NBA.  I just hope he comes back for selfish reasons as I believe we are a top 10 team with him at MU.  If he feels it is in his best interests to make the jump than good for him.  I would imagine even if he is a second round player he still will get a contract like Novak and Diener.

[ecompt]

I think if he's assured he goes in the first round, he's outta here. No way can he pass up guaranteed money. He could hurt his chances of being drafted at all with a bad junior season. 

[muarmy81]

I think if he's assured he goes in the first round, he's outta here. No way can he pass up guaranteed money. He could hurt his chances of being drafted at all with a bad junior season. 

Rest assured he'll get drafted next year regardless of performance.  The only way he'll drop is if 5 or 6 more PGs improve next year and decide to come out, thereby diluting the available PG pool.

[ecompt]

He will drop if he continues to shoot the way he did the second half of the year, and if there are a couple of freshman point guards who come in and play like Conley did this year. "Potential" only lasts so long.

[Murffieus]

Remeber Chris Thomas of ND-----he was slated early 2nd round after his Soph year, but turned down the opportunity------never improved and fell out of the mocks altogether.

This past season was not a good sign for DJ----should have been able to take it to the next level-----no Novak and playing against a lot of zones didn't help!

[Coobeys Oil Depot]

Remeber Chris Thomas of ND-----he was slated early 2nd round after his Soph year, but turned down the opportunity------never improved and fell out of the mocks altogether.

This past season was not a good sign for DJ----should have been able to take it to the next level-----no Novak and playing against a lot of zones didn't help!

Hell, forget Thomas. How about Fazekas? This kid was a lottery pick 2 years ago and now is rated in the 30s for some projections. And that's at 6'10'' (we all know the fascination with height in the NBA). Imagine it at 5'10''?

[muarmy81]

Regardless of height you need athleticism and I don't think Fazekas could take my grandmother off the dribble.  DJ on the other hand, can blow by anyone and can get to the basket.  I don't know who said it but i like this quote on him "Not a great shooter but a good scorer".  His shot will come and improve I mean look at DWade.  Wade's shot was average at best in college, he was a slasher/scorer and he worked on it when he got to the NBA and now he's a great shooter (still not a great 3 pt shooter).  If you don't have athleticism you need to be a great shooter.  The NBA always looks for guys who can stroke it from range which is why Novak was drafted and that guy from Italy who was taken by Toronto last year, in fact I think that's why alot of those foreign players get selected, they can shoot and pass very well. 

[DAtruth]

if he leaves its because of the negativity surrounding him in milwaukee..i dont think hes going  to wow anybody in the pre draft workouts and i dont think he will  be a 1st round pick.. im almost certain he will go in second round..good money not great but a good chunk anyway..

decision to be made..go to nba where every1 questions his abilities, and make a some descent money..or come back to mu and get the same treatment and make no money

last home game i attended was d-wade jersey retirement..generally speaking i like the upper deck..more my kind of people..most the time im in lowers im bored to death...wine and cheese crowd..i was like 5-6 rows from floor across from providence bench..after dj missed his first 3 shots people were sayin "get him out of there",  "i wish he'd stop shooting," and my favorite that made me turn to my brother and say.."this is dj's last year here", lady said "i bet he's taken 20 shots already"...we're 4 minutes into the game and we are harrassing our leading scorer...not a good idea...

[RawdogDX]

True point guard who sees the floor well and makes good decisions.

Are they being serious??

I think they are basing that on some stat, like his assists to turn overs.  Hate it when scouts use facts.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

True point guard who sees the floor well and makes good decisions.

Are they being serious??

I think they are basing that on some stat, like his assists to turn overs.  Hate it when scouts use facts.

I think DJ does need to score to be effective (it's part of his game), but I'm starting to wonder how he would do on an NBA team where he was told "don't shoot unless you have to".

His ballhandling and a/t.o. are already at an NBA level. I would argue that his size and his shot are his only weaknesses (those are pretty big weaknesses though)

BUT, if you tell him not to shoot (because you have other scorers) that takes shooting out of the equation.

I'm still not sold on him as a NBA player, but he is intriguing as a pass first kind of a guy... although most PG's in the NBA are scorers as well because you need somebody that can score off of the pick and roll and/or hit open 3's on a kick out.

I guess I just talked myself in and out of picking him. Oh well.

ALSO: if you had to chose a PG to have on your roster for the next 3 seasons, would you chose Travis right now or DJ?

I think I would lean towards Travis. I don't think either player is really a starter type, but at least you know travis can come in and handle the ball and shoot it. DJ is more of a wildcard because of his freakish athletic ability.

[DegenerateDish]

For what it's worth, Katz recently said "all indications are Dominic James will be back at Marquette".

[muarmy81]

That's got to be the first time Katz reported anyone Staying At marquette

[tower912]

Katz has him staying?    Damn.  So long, DJ, it has been fun.

[bartmiller#1]

DAtruth,

Second round picks don't get guaranteed a contract when they're drafted.  Frequently teams cut their second round picks and they don't get anything. 

Novak and Diener are both rare exceptions in that they got guaranteed money.  But there are a ton of second round picks over the years who end up FAs trying to catch on to a team after being cut during camp or after the summer league. 

If DJ is a second round pick, he'd be really stupid to leave. 

[DAtruth]

with the apparent lack of depth at pg in this draft, id say whoever drafts him will do so on a need basis..if hes taken in second id say its a guarantee he'll make a team..of the 40 whatever picks in first 2 rounds, only 5-6 will be at pg spot