Charlotte’s Devon Dotson wanted to be Derrick Rose. Now he’s one step from guarding him
The summer before Devon Dotson’s sophomore season at Providence Day School, the Chargers held a team camp to get a look at new and returning players. Dotson, a 6-foot-1 point guard, was transferring after playing his freshman season at nearby Providence High.
It didn’t take long for Chargers head coach Brian Field to know he had a special talent.
“I remember our staff saying, ‘That kid is going to be a pro someday,’ ” Field said Tuesday. “He had this quickness and speed. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen. Other than (former Oak Hill High and North Carolina star) Ty Lawson, I’m not sure I’d ever seen a kid more explosive than that.”
Over the next three seasons, Dotson became Providence Day’s all-time leading scorer and finished his four-year high school career with 2,607 points. He became a three-time all-state pick, a two-time Charlotte Observer player of the year in Mecklenburg County, and was named a McDonald’s All-American his senior year.
After two equally impressive years at Kansas, Dotson, 20, has declared for the NBA Draft. Most mocks have him going early in the second round.
Dotson grew up a huge fan of Derrick Rose, first watching Rose play in high school in Chicago, where Dotson lived as a young boy. Dotson wore No. 1 like Rose, and the same style of thick Adidas ankle braces Rose used to wear. Most of all, he attacked the basket — even when he moved to Charlotte nine years ago — like a mini-version of his favorite player.
Now he could play against Rose next season.
“In the back of my mind,” Dotson said, “I envisioned it. I always just kind of imagined, pictured myself, like I’m gonna be there (in the NBA with Rose) one day. I’m not there yet, but seeing the opportunity of what could be in front of you, it’s amazing.”
At Kansas last season, Dotson was a second-team All-American. He led the Jayhawks and the Big 12 conference in scoring at 18.1 points per game. A first-team all-conference pick, Dotson averaged four rebounds and 4.1 assists for Kansas, which finished No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. The Jayhawks likely would’ve been the No. 1 overall seed for the 2020 NCAA Tournament, which was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Jayhawks coach Bill Self told the Wichita Eagle, a sister paper to the Observer, that he felt Dotson was the best point guard in the country. Self also said he supported Dotson leaving Kansas early for the pros.
“We are all so proud and happy for Devon and what a year he had,” Self said. “We support and believe this is the correct decision for him to make.”
Self said if Kansas had been able to win a national title, there would be a case for Dotson as the best Jayhawks’ point guard in his 17 seasons in Lawrence.
“Devon and Tyshawn (Taylor) and Frank (Mason) would be three of the fastest (guards) we’ve had,” Self told the Eagle. “You look at all the different ways Frank scored. He would be more versatile than ‘Dot,’ but it didn’t matter. ‘Dot’ still got where he wanted to go. That was what to me was amazing about him. No matter what you tried to take away, he still got there. I think that’s something God-given — speed. His natural ability to put both feet in the paint, I think, will do wonders for him moving forward.”
Dotson, however, is a unsure of what the immediate future looks like.
Teams are reportedly asking the NBA to push back the draft date from June 25 to Aug. 1. The league reportedly is not allowing teams to host or attend in person workouts for any draft-eligible player. Teams also cannot request or view film of draft-eligible prospects, live or recorded, that was shot after April 6.
Dotson feels that since teams have a lot of college film on him, the restrictions could help his draft stock over other lower-level college or foreign prospects who might otherwise move up on a team’s radar.
“That’s what people are kind of hinting towards,” Dotson said, “that it can help you out, but you just never know. You could also (in the usual format), go have a good workout and shoot it well and that can move you up. But they’re saying, ‘You had a (good) enough season to build off that,’ but we’re kind of waiting and seeing.”
Field said he is “bursting with pride” that a second player he’s coached has a chance to make the league.
Grant Williams, a former two-time Charlotte Observer player of the year, was drafted in the first round by the Boston Celtics in 2019.
Williams and Dotson played together on the Chargers’ 2015-16 team. That season, Providence Day beat High Point Christian in an N.C. Independent Schools state championship game that featured 12 Division I recruits, nine all-state players, two McDonald’s and three NCAA All-Americans. One of them was High Point’s future first-round pick, Bam Adebayo, now an NBA All-Star with the Miami Heat.
In Providence Day’s starting lineup, along with Williams and Dotson, were Trey Wertz (a rising junior at Notre Dame) and a pair of forwards finishing their senior years in college — Josh Howard (Brown) and Isaac Johnson (Appalachian State).
“Whenever I would talk to college coaches back then or NBA scouts now,” Field said, “they would ask me one word to describe Devon. I always say ‘bulldog.’ That kid loves to compete and he’s willing to work on his game all the time. He was a joy to coach. And I’ve been incredibly fortunate to coach guys like Grant and Devon, two pros, and all the other guys from that team, too. I was very blessed. And every time I think about those kids, I get a smile on my face thinking about how they are getting to live their dreams — and just how special that is.”
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 5:36 PM.
