The Michigan State Spartans got a big boost for next season when junior forward Branden Dawson announced he would return for his senior year on Tuesday.
Branden Dawson’s return key for Michigan State
The junior forward for Michigan State won’t enter the NBA draft this year and will return for his senior season.
Kevin C. Cox
Dawson missed 10 games this past season, most because of a broken hand, but his return helped the Spartans start to peak at the right time. He was named the MVP of the Big Ten Tournament and averaged 16.3 points and 8.8 rebounds during the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
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With Tom Izzo in his ear, Dawson made the decision to return and try and boost his draft stock. Although he raised eyebrows with the best play of his collegiate career to finish the year, Dawson still likely needs one full year of excellent play under his belt to make serious waves among NBA circles. With that, he could potentially be a first round pick.
It looks like Dawson never seriously considered making the jump. Izzo said in a press release that before he could even get deep into his information gathering process for Dawson’s draft stock, Dawson and his mother told Izzo of Dawson’s desire to finish out his senior season and graduate from college.
This makes Izzo's coaching job that much easier next year. Keith Appling and Adreian Payne are set to graduate and Gary Harris has declared for the draft. If Dawson followed suit, the Spartans would have lost four out of five starters.
Dawson provides someone who can easily slide into either the three or the four spot as an efficient scorer. He fights for rebounds and is a solid defender. Dawson’s true shooting percentage of 62.2 percent was the highest of his career. At 6’6, he is a little undersized to consistently spend the entire game as the power forward, but with his 225 pound build, he is hard to move. He is one of those players with an eye for the offensive glass. Dawson pulled down 83 of his 233 rebounds last season on offensive end, and grabbed an estimated 13 percent of available offensive rebounds while on the floor, the highest mark on the team.
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Without Dawson, the pickings were a bit slim for any sort of post presence for Michigan State. Sophomore Matt Costello stands at 6'9 and freshman Kenny Kaminski stands at 6'8. The combo of the players would be fine if they filled just one rotation, but to have both on the floor at the same time would be a stretch for the Spartans. With Dawson available, Izzo will be able to play his younger players according to their strengths and not leaving them out on the court to watch their weaknesses get exploited. It also means that incoming freshmen Javon Bess and Marvin Clark won't be pressed into action they might not be ready for yet.
From Izzo's standpoint, Dawson gives him critical senior leadership on a team that is asking for big things next season of its role players. Izzo loves his senior leadership more than any coach out there, and nothing says team effort like the guy who skips out on the NBA draft to return to school.
Most importantly, Dawson returning gives him a chance to fulfill all the hype and promise that circled around him when he committed to the class of 2011. Dawson was a five-star recruit who some hailed as the best rebounder in his class. He put up good numbers for a freshman in his first foray into college hoops, but regressed quite a bit his sophomore year. His points total barely increased despite a jump in minutes. He shot the ball worse, turned it over more and had a hard time consistently displaying his talent.
Dawson started to clearly assemble the overall package this past season. He’ll have a future playing professionally somewhere a year from now. Izzo is probably just happy he gets one more turn to lean on the 6’6 forward.
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