Note: To look back on summer workouts and ahead to fall practice, GoldandBlack.com is taking a player-by-play look at the Purdue basketball team's 10 scholarship players. We were going in alphabetical order, but just screwed things and now we're out of alphabetical order. Now, it's pure chaos. Up: Dakota Mathias
Dakota Mathias is going to have a chance to play a lot this season, there's just no way around that.
Can't claim to be able to go in-depth on what kind of summer had - in the three workouts he saw, he looked fine - but I know a bout with mono didn't seem to set him back all that much and I know people in the program are just as enthusiastic about him as ever.
When it comes to the simple needs of skill, unselfishness, commitment and smarts, Mathias is right out of central casting, and I'm basing that on his total body of work in high school and the summers more than what he did this summer.
Is he a great athlete? No, but he is a high-level shooter and maybe an even better passer. I can't recall Purdue having a true shooting guard who's been as good a passer as Mathias, which is pretty intriguing in a motion offense that needs, when it's working, almost everyone to be a decision-maker.
Mathias should be a dangerous enough shooter to command respect. That's where his passing and atypical-for-a-shooter ball-handling skills might be most intriguing. He might be able to really attack a close-out with passing over penetration to discombobulate a defense.
It will be interesting to see how his shooting translates. He won't have to shoot 25 times a game any more, and he probably won't be dribbling into as many shots as he did before, not being his team's alpha ball-handler anymore. It stands to reason to suggest he'll generate more shots away from the ball than he did in high school, but we'll see. No reason to think that'll impact him adversely, just saying it might - might - be a little different.
That said, though, less shots might equal better efficiency, more good looks, and efficiency has never been an issue for Mathias, whose percentages in high school were exemplary for a high-volume jump-shooter.
The 6-foot-5 Mathias is not a point guard at this level, but with that position sort of being a question mark for Purdue, maybe he can walk the ball up every now and then. He does have some requisite point guard characteristics. In high school and AAU - yes, I know, this is a big jump - he was always excellent in ball-screen offense. Mathias is no E'Twaun Moore so I don't know if Purdue will ever just run that for him with Hammons the way it once did with Moore and JaJuan Johnson, but you never know.
To sum up, Mathias makes Purdue a better shooting team and a smarter, better passing team just with his presence, and his work ethic is thought to have set a great example for everyone else this summer. It's difficult to imagine there being anyone more immersed in basketball than Mathias, a self-made player who has never been able to stay out of the gym, literally.
There will be bumps in the road. His limited athleticism at a position played by athletes will be one obstacle. Defensively, he'll have to be smarter than opponents, because he's not going to be faster or quicker or jump as high. Zone might help some, especially if he and Kendall Stephens are going to play together, but we'll see how much Purdue uses it.
But it's not going to easy for any freshman, and Mathias has a long history of finding a way.
It doesn't matter all that much right now what Mathias isn't, though. It matters most what he is: Exactly what Purdue needs right now on a number of fronts.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2014. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
Dakota Mathias is going to have a chance to play a lot this season, there's just no way around that.
Can't claim to be able to go in-depth on what kind of summer had - in the three workouts he saw, he looked fine - but I know a bout with mono didn't seem to set him back all that much and I know people in the program are just as enthusiastic about him as ever.
When it comes to the simple needs of skill, unselfishness, commitment and smarts, Mathias is right out of central casting, and I'm basing that on his total body of work in high school and the summers more than what he did this summer.
Is he a great athlete? No, but he is a high-level shooter and maybe an even better passer. I can't recall Purdue having a true shooting guard who's been as good a passer as Mathias, which is pretty intriguing in a motion offense that needs, when it's working, almost everyone to be a decision-maker.
Mathias should be a dangerous enough shooter to command respect. That's where his passing and atypical-for-a-shooter ball-handling skills might be most intriguing. He might be able to really attack a close-out with passing over penetration to discombobulate a defense.
It will be interesting to see how his shooting translates. He won't have to shoot 25 times a game any more, and he probably won't be dribbling into as many shots as he did before, not being his team's alpha ball-handler anymore. It stands to reason to suggest he'll generate more shots away from the ball than he did in high school, but we'll see. No reason to think that'll impact him adversely, just saying it might - might - be a little different.
That said, though, less shots might equal better efficiency, more good looks, and efficiency has never been an issue for Mathias, whose percentages in high school were exemplary for a high-volume jump-shooter.
The 6-foot-5 Mathias is not a point guard at this level, but with that position sort of being a question mark for Purdue, maybe he can walk the ball up every now and then. He does have some requisite point guard characteristics. In high school and AAU - yes, I know, this is a big jump - he was always excellent in ball-screen offense. Mathias is no E'Twaun Moore so I don't know if Purdue will ever just run that for him with Hammons the way it once did with Moore and JaJuan Johnson, but you never know.
To sum up, Mathias makes Purdue a better shooting team and a smarter, better passing team just with his presence, and his work ethic is thought to have set a great example for everyone else this summer. It's difficult to imagine there being anyone more immersed in basketball than Mathias, a self-made player who has never been able to stay out of the gym, literally.
There will be bumps in the road. His limited athleticism at a position played by athletes will be one obstacle. Defensively, he'll have to be smarter than opponents, because he's not going to be faster or quicker or jump as high. Zone might help some, especially if he and Kendall Stephens are going to play together, but we'll see how much Purdue uses it.
But it's not going to easy for any freshman, and Mathias has a long history of finding a way.
It doesn't matter all that much right now what Mathias isn't, though. It matters most what he is: Exactly what Purdue needs right now on a number of fronts.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2014. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
