04 February 2013

Who is Eric Dawson?

Eric Dawson
Former San Antonio Spurs Eric Dawson was called up by the Meralco Bolts to beef up its roster in the coming Reinforced Conference in the hopes of finally ending several disappointing finishes. The 6-foot-9 Dawson isn't the tallest and the highest-profiled player in his batch, but he is bringing a good reputation of being a winner.

"The most important thing about getting Dawson is his winning reputation," coach Ryan Gregorio said. "He has won in almost every tournament he has played in."

Dawson’s winning reputation proved to be his ticket to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He led the Austin Toros to the D-League championship and emerged as the Impact Player of the Year. He also helped his respective squads in Korea and Japan win championships.

Dawson doesn't have a name, a pedigree, the "look" or anything else that the majority of the players have, but he's stuck around the D-League long enough to show San Antonio he's worthy of an opportunity.

The 26-year-old has played for the Toros every season since coming out of Midwestern State University, a school that sounds made up but is actually apparently a Division 2 school located in Wichita Falls.

The 6-foot-9 bulldozer has only played a total of 67 games over five seasons in the Spurs' system, but he's shown the skills necessary to earn the opportunity everyone in the D-League dreams of getting.

The former Spurs' Summer Leaguer hasn't stuck with the D-League completely throughout his five seasons of professional basketball -- as the 67 games over five seasons indicate -- but he's made the most of his time in the NBA's official minor league. Between collecting solid paychecks while playing in Asia and South America, he concentrated on getting better while playing in an NBA system down in Texas.

Dawson wasn't a name coming out of college, he didn't have prior NBA experience to catch the eye of NBA talent evaluators and he's not some extremely athletic 7-footer that makes everyone's jaw drop when he steps on the floor. He simply continued to refine his game while playing against solid competition, developing it to the point that the Spurs saw him as a suitable replacement when Splitter went down due to injury.

2 comments:

  1. hoping that he will play again as a meralco Bolts Player :)

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  2. what they need is an athletic, all-around, go-to-guy big man who can dominate the paint. they are short & lacking in height, other teams are not afraid attacking them from the inside becoz of a lack of legit shotblocker. so pls get one and kick smc teams ass with that

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