In 2015-16, Memphis forward Dedric Lawson took the American Athletic Conference by storm. He had the basketball hoops’ number whenever he went to the foul line. He owned the three-point arch. And he sunk most of his jump shots like it was no big deal.
That’s probably because it wasn’t a big deal. Not for an athlete who is in the zone and knows who he is. He even had a commanding presence when he did time on the Memphis bench. Which didn’t happen a lot. I’m not so sure the D-1 level of college basketball was ready for an athlete of Lawson’s caliber to take the court.
No more so than Davidson College basketball and the neighboring teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference were ready for Stephen Curry to make his presence known. Be that as it may, Curry was happening for Davidson and the NCAA Division 1 whether it was ready for him or not.
Last year, Memphis’ Lawson was nothing short of a magician on the court. He smoked the opposition’s best starting five long before they could pull back and draw. Or try to properly defend the rim.
The no-nonsense 6-foot-8, 195-pound forward is coming off a 2015 season in which he led the Tigers in scoring (15.8 points per game) and rebounding (9.3 rebounds per game), while shooting .409 percent from the field, .350 percent from three-point range and .709 percent from the free-throw line.
It’s almost like he was playing all by himself out there. You could probably make a case for that, somewhere.
That boy had some kind of freshman outing.
For his efforts, Lawson was named American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year, in addition to being named to the 2016 Kyle Macy Freshman All-American team, as was announced by CollegeInsider.com.
This standout young basketball player is going places. Or, so he thought.
According to sources familiar with the situation, Lawson had declared for the NBA draft. Now, Lawson has pulled himself from the NBA Draft.
Memphis forward Dedric Lawson is withdrawing from the NBA Draft, his father, Keelon Lawson, told @CBSSports.
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) May 19, 2016
Mr. Lawson. What in the world?
Lawson’s father, Keelon, who will be director of player development in his third season on Memphis’ staff this year, enlightened us.
“We were testing the waters,” said Keelon, according to The Commercial Appeal. “We talked to (NBA personnel) and they told us basically the timing isn’t right. He still needs to mature because he’s just supposed to be a senior in high school. They said all that. He can go back to school and play college basketball, which is probably better than him being in the (NBA) D-League because he won’t get lost. Then come back next year and have a chance to be a lottery pick instead of a late first-rounder or second-rounder.”
Lawson’s return to school is certainly good news for new coach Tubby Smith. The coach could employ a wide open, clutch forward with mad basketball skills as he tries to excite a sliding program at Memphis.
It seems the freshman hadn’t signed with an agent just yet, taking advantage of a newly legislated NCAA rule that pushed back the date by which men’s basketball players must remove their names from the NBA draft to 10 days after they finish their exercises at the draft combine in Chicago.
NCAA athletes in Lawson’s situation can gauge their next-level stock value after receiving feedback from the NBA Draft Advisory Board.
Well, alright then. That’s forward thinking. He has time to develop himself and up his stock value. Really, he has all kinds of time. The NBA will still be there when he has done some time at the D-1 level and he thinks he is ready to play with the big boys.
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