Jermaine Dixon Update

It's been widely assumed that Pitt will not miss a beat next year with the departure of Jermaine Dixon, likely its best defensive player.  That's yet to be determined, but is there an NBA career in his future? The chances are probably against him and he likely won't be drafted. But he's at least getting into pre-draft workouts - starting with one for the Milwaukee Bucks:

Babbitt was in Milwaukee on Thursday to work out along with Pittsburgh's Jermaine Dixon, Hawaii's Roderick Flemings, Milwaukee's Ricky Franklin, St. John's Anthony Mason Jr., and Michigan State's Raymar Morgan.

He might not get selected, but I could see him getting into someone's camp after the draft. My guess is that he'll be overseas or possibly sneak onto an NBDL team.  Dixon said he needs to work on his long-range shots and passing the most and also commented on his workout for the Bucks' website afterwards:

It was good. It was something like I expected. You have to be in shape when you go into these workouts, but it went well. This was my first one, getting my feet up under me and getting ready for the next ones that I have.”

The Rookie Wall caught up with Dixon lately.  Among other things, he discusses working on his point guard skills, already switching agents, and planning on working out for Denver and some other teams.  I was a bit shocked to find him discussing how the system negatively hurt his numbers:

TRW: Do you think that playing in the Pitt system hurt your ability to score more points and shine individually as a player, or did it not really affect you?

JD: Yea, you know, Coach Dixon’s system is a grind it out defense and slow it down on the offensive end, and that’s not the way I play. So, I wasn’t able to do a lot of the things that I’m capable of and I guess you could say my numbers weren’t great. Coach Dixon is about winning and even though I wasn’t able to do the things that I know I was capable of doing, I just wanted to win. It kind of took away from it, but my ultimate goal was winning.

While I think he has a point to a degree, he still had more than his fair share of opportunities.  Despite not being a player known for his offensive abilities, he still averaged more than ten shots per game - the only Pitt player to do that besides Ashton Gibbs.  He also didn't make the most of those shots, shooting under 39% from the field and just over 20% from three-point land. 

The system may have hurt him slightly, but Pitt also focuses on taking good shots and being patient on offense.  So that should, in theory, lead to better shots.  I would also argue that he transferred to Pitt, already knowing their style of play.  But to his credit, he said it was all about winning and he certainly helped Pitt do that.

His defensive ability should give him a look this summer in someone's camp.