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Dunn spent two seasons at Virginia before the Suns drafted him this past summer. He only played 13.0 minutes per game off the bench as a freshman, but he became a starter during his collegiate season and played well enough to get drafted. Dunn was arguably the best defender in the draft, but his offensive limitations resulted in him falling to the Suns at pick 28.
He has started in five of his 11 appearances so far this season and averaged 7.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, 0.5 steals, 0.5 blocks and 1.5 triples per game. The elite defensive numbers from college haven’t translated yet, but his improvement on the offensive end has been mind-boggling.
Dunn was one of my favorite prospects in this draft class, but I don’t think anyone could have possibly predicted that he would be hitting 3-pointers at this rate just 11 games into his career. To a lesser extent, this is the NBA’s version of Josh Allen’s development. Every fan is going to want to draft an elite defender that can’t shoot the ball because Dunn was able to make such a drastic leap immediately. Don’t fall for it! This is an incredibly unique case. Not to say a player won’t ever make a significant shooting leap from college to the pros, but Dunn made 12 threes in 65 games at Virginia. He has already hit 17 this season.
The early returns of this draft class haven’t been great (which was expected), but there have been plenty of flashes here and there. However, this development from Dunn is loud and in your face. The defensive numbers haven’t shown up yet, but those will come eventually. The main question about Dunn entering the draft was whether or not the defensive contributions would be worth the offensive liability. Well, he has answered those questions early on.
Shooting/scoring
Dunn didn’t enter the league with a polished offensive game, so any production on that side of the ball is great to see at this point. He isn’t a creative scorer, but on a team with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, it’s entirely acceptable to not create your own offense. They have enough guys that can do that. 27 of Dunn’s 31 made shots this year have…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy-basketball-dyansty-weekly-ryan-165419508.html
Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-11-14 16:54:00
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