May 28, 2015
Dawkins a tempting target
Who is Josthin Dawkins? Try a 6-foot-4 junior wing out of Columbia playing travel ball in the spring and summer with 1Team1Dream 17 Elite and repping Modesto Christian High (MCH) during the winter.
Growing up playing baseball and soccer as well as basketball, it's the latter that's his focus now. “My goal is to reach a high level in basketball,” Dawkins explained. “I want to earn a scholarship.” He is looking to major in mechanical engineering.
His introduction with the sport was a family affair. “I used to play with my Dad and my brother and they would teach me.”
Dawkins see a couple of elements as the best parts of his game right now. That's “attacking the rim—I'm really good at it, and my first step.”
With MCH, his role is to help out any way he can as he came off the bench this past season. But with 1Team1Dream, it's “pretty much doing everything.”
1Team1Dream 17 Elite Coach Jordan Jones, who also assists at Modesto Junior College, offered this analysis: “Josthin is very athletic, strong and long with a quick first step. He's very quick with a good first step and can finish at the rim. He can handle the ball and go coast-to-coast. He has been working hard on his shooting.”
Richard Midgley, who helms the MCH varsity, similarly described his player: "he's an excellent athlete who is in the gym a lot working hard on his ballhandling and shooting. Josthin's behind in his skills set but is very coachable.”
After witnessing Dawkins in the April SoCal Hoop Review event, Lior Schwartzberg wrote: “the 6’4” Columbia native guard did not have a specific skill set, but he was a player. He was able to get to the rim using his length and athleticism, as awkward as it might have looked. I guess they do teach the Euro-Step in Columbia.”
So the plus physical attributes are present with work being done to raise the skills set. The crux of the question remaining is will he be someone who blossoms and then surprises in college?
Time will tell. Watch to see if someone jumps in and offers based on Dawkins' ceiling?