by Malik Vincent
DeJuan Blair, D.J. Kennedy, and DeAndre Kane—all Schenley alum—are some of the last players from the City League to receive a rare Division I scholarship for basketball.
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JUSTIN DOBBS
(Courier Photo/William McBride/File) |
Former Allderdice star Justin Dobbs joins that elite company with his commitment to play at Grambling State University (GSU), a historically Black college/university (HBCU) in Louisiana.
“I know I have the skills and ability to rise to the top again,” said Dobbs, a two-time New Pittsburgh Courier City League Basketball Player of the Year. “It took blood, sweat, and tears. Literally. And I’m willing to give the same effort and, hopefully, the same results.”
One thing that Dobbs is looking forward to is working with his GSU coaching staff.
“The thing that helped me pick Grambling was the fact that I never heard from an assistant,” Dobbs said.
His head coach, Joseph Price, was a former standout guard at Notre Dame and played professionally for 13 seasons in eight different countries.
“I think that Justin is coming into a great opportunity where he can come right in and get some playing time and to help us get to the top of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC),” he said.
All of Price’s assistants played Division-I, two of them at Notre Dame, and have been key in recruiting some notable NBA prospects.
“Accumulatively, my assistants and I have recruited names such as George Hill (Indiana Pacers), Kenneth Fareid (Denver Nuggets) and former greats like Nate McMillan (Seattle SuperSonics) and Wally Szczerbiak (various teams) to name a few,” Price added.
Dobbs finished his senior season as the city’s leading scorer, averaging over 20 points per game. As a sophomore, he played the unlikely hero in the city championship for the Dragons who would go on to win two more after that.
This past year, Dobbs mainly played the small forward position. At 6-foot-3, he’s expressed enthusiasm about having an opportunity to playing point guard; and in Price’s motion offense that will give him an opportunity to display his ability to score.
“I’ve already proven that I can handle the ball,” Dobbs said. “Now, I’m looking forward to having an opportunity to develop into a guy who can read a play and distribute the ball.”
“We’re looking forward to having (Dobbs) come down and to receive the mentorship and film study that’s necessary for him to become more of a point guard,” Price said. “We like the fact that he’s a scorer, naturally, and how he’ll add depth to our offense around the perimeter.”
A graduate of Allderdice, with honors, Dobbs also fits the profile of what Price wants academically and off-the-court.
“(Justin) is interested in going to class, carrying himself with integrity, and earning a degree,” he said. “We need to change the perception of our program and we’d like to do that with our incoming freshman class. He is a great model of how we’d like to do to accomplish that.”
(Malik Vincent can be reached at mvincent@newpittsburghcourier.com or on twitter@malikvincent.)
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