https://youtu.be/4c_vZ97pDvQ
P.J. Dozier played two games in his rookie season with the Thunder, and then six games in his second season with the Celtics. Not a lot of players start off their career playing an extremely minimal, bordering on nonexistent, role for two separate teams and then manage to stick around for very long past that. I would give you some examples, but I don’t actually remember most of those players because their time in the NBA was so fleeting that even I, the ultimate walking encyclopedia of all things scrub, have no recollect of them. I think J.J. O’Brien might be an example of this type of player.
Anyway, Dozier has bucked the trend by not only sticking around after a tumultuous first few years, but actually carving out a role for himself as a primary backup guard for one of the better teams in the league. Jamal Murray being out with an unfortunate injury makes Dozier’s role even more prominent. Now it seems that he’s on his way to a long (or at least medium-length) NBA career when most of us would have written him off just by looking at his worrisome early-career stats on basketball-reference. I should really get out of the habit of using basketball-reference, and basketball-reference only, to make such sweeping judgments about players, but I can’t stop. I’m addicted. Somebody help me.
What better way to acknowledge and celebrate Dozier’s emergence as a legit player in this league than by watching a video of him scoring a career high in points while probably also getting a career high in dunks? To make the festive festivities complete, you can pour out a glass of your favorite alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage to enjoy while you watch Dozier dominate an extremely undermanned Rockets squad with a wide variety of jimbos (both the middy and non-middy variety) as well as bigtime dunkaroonis. Viewer satisfaction guaranteed.