In spite of the Chicago Bulls 112-102 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers to close out their road trip on Sunday, Ayo Dosunmu continues to impress and show off his evolving skill set.
Scoring 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting with three made three-pointers, Dosunmu continues to light it up from beyond the arc since the turn of the calendar. Over those 31 games, he is hitting 43.9 percent of his 4.5 attempts per game.
But wait, there’s more! Over the last 20 games, he has increased his volume without sacrificing much in the way of efficiency. He’s holding steady at 42.7 percent but upping the volume to 5.5 attempts per game.
This season, only 17 players in the NBA are shooting 40 percent or better on 5.5 attempts per game. It’s sharpshooters like Duncan Robinson, Grayson Allen, Luke Kennard, Donte DiVincenzo along with the predictable stars: Stephen Curry, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Lauri Markkanen, Jalen Brunson and Jamal Murray.
Those numbers are impressive in and of themselves. But in the context of who Dosunmu was as a shooter over his first two years — 34.4 percent on 2.4 attempts per game — the improvement is even more drastic.
“The way the NBA is going, threes are like, not mandatory, but you see each and every night the best teams are mostly shooting a lot of threes,” Dosunmu recently said. “So I just want that to be in the arsenal of my game where I can rely on it.”
Dosunmu has gone on the record crediting work with his dad and brother, Director of Player Development Peter Patton and other player development coaches.
But at a certain point, he’s the one putting in the work.
And it’s showing.
“Work. I’d say it’s a lot of work,” Dosunmu said. “I pretty much simulate all those game-like situations in the morning with my player development guys or at night. And then pregame so when game comes I try to go game speed in those pre game situations. So when the game gomes, it’s just like a regular rep.”
“Treating each gym rep like its a game rep,” he continued. “Like it’s 20,000 people there. So then when I come out there and there really is 20,000 people there that rep just feels so effortless and it allows me to have confidence shooting threes and making them.”
Dosunmu has improved in both volume and accuracy, over this stretch in particular. Whether or not he sticks above 40 percent as a shooter the rest of his career, the volume is the more encouraging piece.
“I wouldn’t want to say I really had to shoot a certain amount of number (of threes per game),” Dosunmu said when asked if he had a target number for attempts. “Of course, my I wanted my volume to go up because I wanted to be a weapon to help the team…But I wouldn’t say I had a certain amount of number, because with goals like that, I never never want to set a cap to it. I want to always just set my goals with ‘the sky’s the limit’ to be able to accomplish anything.”
The way he’s shooting, defenses can’t sag off him the way they may have in the past. Now, they need to get out to him on the catch and get a hand up so he doesn’t burn them. And when that happens, he’s able to put his speed with the ball in play.
His ability to attack closeouts has improved, and he’s able to capitalize with the way teams now have to defend him.
“I definitely feel like the last game, they were closing out a little bit harder than usual,” he said. “But that’s an advantage for me now to be able to get downhill, get to the paint and now everything is much more open. So, I mean, that’s a good thing, whenever you have a team closing out to you like that, it’s about making the next read, whether it’s getting downhill, getting to the pain or spreading it out against someone else a better shot.”
It’s not just his shooting that has improved, Dosunmu is developing his decision making and his change of pace and that’s helping him be a more versatile scorer in half-court offenses. As a result, he’s seen more opportunity to create with the ball in his hands. Not just attacking closeouts, but initiating offense.
“That’s the next step,” Dosunmu said. “You want to always have areas where you can grow at and be more comfortable at.”
“That’s just coach putting his trust in me to be a playmaker,” he said. “Not necessarily shooting the ball, but creating a shot for someone else, getting downhill or pushing the pace in general. And that’s why I continue to work.”
Whether or not Dosunmu continues to get reps on the ball down the stretch, he has, at the very least, developed his skill set into being a very solid complimentary player with his improved shooting and attacking.
Most importantly, as he continues to progress, he has been a major contributor in helping the team get its season back on track.
“I just want to win pretty much,” Dosunmu said when asked what else he wanted to improve the rest of the season. I just want to win. I want to do whatever it takes to win.”
