Observing Daulton Hommes

May 25, 2019

This time around, I set out to watch Point Loma’s 6-8, redshirt junior forward Daulton Hommes, as he is a skilled basketball player that has gained some traction as a draft prospect this year, and he ended up being the 2018-19 Division II player of the year. I decided to watch him play against Chaminade in a regular season game that was played on January 17th, with thanks to YouTube via preston Beverly. I also took the time to see him play in the Division II National Championship game that took place on March 30th against Northwestern Missouri State, with thanks to YouTube via BearCAT TD. Here is my assessment of his skills from watching both of those games combined, as well as how his game may translate to the NBA.

Daulton Hommes is a good shooter that can knock down jumpers in a variety of ways. He can run off the ball and off screens, as he was able to do so to knock down a couple of corner threes, and he moves fairly well off the ball on offense. He also likes to use a series of moves to create separation between himself and his defender. He will utilize crossovers, jab steps, and step backs moves to take pull-up jump shots, which he can occasionally make from long distance. He also has plenty of range on his shot, and he also can make a contested three-pointer from way out.

On the other hand, Hommes doesn’t tend to shoot the ball right away when he has space to do so, as he seems to prefer to dribble around for a while, make a move or two, and size up his man, which can lead him prone to taking plenty of questionable shots from deep. He will sometimes force up tough, contested shots, which can lead to misses. In a traditional spot-up role, he would likely have to speed up his clock, and adjust to more of a catch and shoot role, but he also has shown the ability to excel as a shooter on the move.

He also does a good job of knocking down pull-up jumpers from just inside the arc. Hommes can use ball fakes and a series of dribble moves to create separation. He also showed a decent ability to score on drives to the basket. Hommes has above average gifts and is a subtly quick player that can get to the rim, as he was able to score on a two-handed dunk off of a high post drive early on against Northwestern Missouri State. Hommes can also draw plenty of fouls upon his defenders, though he can sometimes get away with colliding into or pushing off of them in the process, and he also tended to receive some favorable foul calls. However, he doesn’t have an overwhelming first step or can be too reliant on scoring on straight-line drives when taking the ball to the basket, which can lead him to commit offensive fouls or miss a shot in traffic when he doesn’t get foul calls.

Hommes also showed an adequate ability to score in the post, and he has good footwork and scoring touch down low. He tends to set up far away though, so he will need to add strength to get deeper position on the block, but he can still make face-up jumpers from just inside the arc. He also excels at scoring on cuts as well as in transition. Hommes picks and chooses his spots to dive to the rim, and he can score on quick cuts, as he can score on emphatic dunks afterwards. Though he doesn’t possess great foot speed, he is a patient player that can score on a strong drive in transition when he is able to beat his man down the court.

As a playmaker, Hommes looked to be about average. He is an unselfish player that will look to find the open man, but he tended to make simple, cursory passes out on the perimeter, and so he often seemed limited to being able to make safe reads on offense. Hommes did occasionally throw outlet passes to set up scoring chances for his teammates in transition. He did make one good pass, as he was able to use a behind the back dribble move off of a drive before throwing a drop off pass late in the contest against Chaminade, as he showed off solid court vision on that particular play. Hommes also can handle the basketball, and he will set off-ball screens for his team. Sometimes though, he would commit turnovers, as he can struggle to protect the basketball. He can tend to get sloppy with his footwork and ball handling, and he can tend to struggle to handle the ball in traffic. He also can sometimes struggle to create separation, which can lead him to be called for pushing off of defenders, as that can cause him to commit offensive fouls and turnovers.

However, he will also likely need to improve his rebounding. Hommes is an area rebounder that can leap up to get rebounds, especially if he has space to get them or if balls get tapped to him, and he will sometimes push the ball up the floor to create transition scoring opportunities or early offense for his team. However, he can struggle to get boards in traffic, as he can occasionally allow opponents to get rebounds in his area.

Defensively, he looked to be about average. For the positives, he can be an effective weak-side shot blocker even though he doesn’t possess extraordinary physical gifts, as he has good timing, anticipation skills, and motor to swat shots off of drives, and he also will keep balls in play to allow his teammates to get them. He also will deflect passes, and when he is able to stay in front of his man on drives, he will position himself in ways where he can contest the shot to force misses.

On the other hand, Hommes’ roaming tendencies can make him prone to giving up scores to his man. He would often tend to over-help in the paint, which would cause him to leave his man open, which would lead to scrambling situations, as he would often allow opponents to score on three-point shots or on shots around the basket. He also had some trouble defending opponents out on the perimeter, as he would tend to get beat off the dribble to his right to give up baskets. He also can be too aggressive on close outs, which can lead him to committing fouls when contesting shots or to biting on pump fakes to end up being out of position defensively.

In general, Daulton Hommes is a skilled offensive player that could project into a shooting specialist role if he makes his way to the NBA. However, he may have to adjust to a lower volume role at that level, as he’s accustomed to getting a considerable number of touches on offense and towards having plays run for him. He’ll need to speed up his decision making ability though, as he can tend to take too long to set up his moves, and against more athletic defenders at the next level, it could lead him to take tougher, more difficult shots on the floor. He also will need to show that he can consistently defend on the ball against upper echelon players. Right now, he is probably a borderline second round prospect. Early in the year, he was building some momentum towards being a draft selection, due to the story of him working out and drawing praise from Boston Celtics’ forward, Gordon Hayward, and then later earning 2019 Division II Player of the Year honors.

Despite having declared for the draft, he was not at either the G-League Elite Camp or the NBA Draft Combine, even though his Division II counterpart, 6-5 junior guard Amir Hinton from Shaw participated at the G-League Elite Camp recently. Even so, Hommes’ game may have a fairly polished offensive skill set if he can show he can adjust to more of a supporting role in the NBA. He is a solid shooter that can score the basketball in a variety of ways, which could potentially allow him to thrive off the bench for an NBA team at the next level.