Tobi Lawal brings an unmatched athleticism into his first season in the NBA.
DALLAS - If we've learned anything about Masai Ujiri through his first series of moves as the Dallas Mavericks president, it's that he's consistent with the types of young players he targets.
He's been known to prefer long, athletic and defensive-minded forwards who have traits of offensive potential.
That formula was apparent in Dallas' first-round selection of No. 9 pick Morez Johnson Jr. out of Michigan. It can also describe the Mavs' second-rounder, No. 48 overall pick Tobi Lawal out of Virginia Tech.
Lawal measures with a 40.5-inch standing vertical leap, which charted as the second-highest vertical ever measured at the NBA Draft combine. With a running start, Lawal soared to a vertical measurement greater than 45 inches.
General manager Mike Schmitz, who used his extensive scouting experience to spearhead these draft decisions, spoke highly of that God-given ability after Lawal was officially a Maverick.
"Tobi is one of the most explosive athletes, if not the most explosive athlete, in the draft in college basketball," Schmitz said. "Just his energy, his motor, his toughness."
With the Hokies last season, Lawal averaged 12.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. The 6-8 forward shot 54 percent from the field and a somewhat respectable 76 percent at the free-throw line.
Aside from his reel of electrifying dunks, Dallas targeted his versatile defensive ability, which Johnson also possesses.
"He defends multiple positions, he plays as hard as any young prospect that you’ll see," Schmitz said of Lawal.
"So we’re really excited just to bring that level of energy to our program."
In charge of putting the pieces together will be new head coach Dusty May, who conducted a strong defense with Johnson at Michigan last season as the Wolverines won the national championship.
"Coach Dusty had us very close last year," Johnson said at his introductory press conference. "That was the closest team I’ve ever been a part of. And I know coach May is going to focus on great defense. We were the No. 1 defense in the country last year."
A rival Big Ten coach, Illinois Brad Underwood, said similar things about May's ability to grow relationships, along with his NBA-ready schemes.
"Very, very good coach," Underwood told Mavs.com about May. "... I couldn’t be happier or more excited for him. I’ve gone against him for a while. I played his FAU teams twice and then played him twice [at Michigan]. Very, very, very good coach. Very good X and O guy.
"He’s a great connector of people. He molds teams, gets them to play together, play for the right reasons. Success just doesn’t happen without good leadership and he’s obviously a very good leader of people. ... But he’ll adjust just fine. Very, very smart."
Of course, when May officially takes over, he'll be fielding a roster featuring Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving among other Mavs returners, but Schmitz is confident that Lawal and this draft class has the tools to make the coach's transition - and their own - even smoother.
"It's a very exciting group of prospects," said Schmitz, who also told reporters that the Mavs coveted prospects with "competitiveness, resilience, toughness, work ethic, coach ability, adaptability."
"Each one brings something very different to the table," he added. "Obviously, we spoke about Morez yesterday, his toughness, his energy, he’s someone who is going to change our culture and be a culture driver with his mentality and his versatility, and then to add a guy like Tobi and Sergio [De Larrea] kind of rounded out this draft class."
