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Former Maryland Terrapins shooting guard Dez Wells was not selected in the 2015 NBA Draft, but he will get his shot at the NBA this summer. Wells will be coming in and playing with the Washington Wizards in the 2015 NBA Summer League.
Wells, in his days as a Terp, showed leadership. Anytime the Terps were down at any point in the game, you would always see him barking at his teammates or getting them to calm down when the opponent was changing the momentum of the game.
When there was a mass exodus after the 2013-2014 season with former Terps such as Seth Allen, Nick Faust and Roddy Peters to name a few leaving the program, things looked bleak for the men's basketball program. Terps head coach Mark Turgeon had a lot of work to do with the incoming class for the 2014-2015 season. Turgeon by the way, worked wonders with this team this past season as the Terps had a great year in their first season in the Big Ten.
But even though point guard Melo Trimble and small forward Jake Layman were certainly more than helpful this past season, Wells being the leader of the team was a big key for the Terps maintaining their focus throughout the season.
"Following a loss, I'm always going to be the guy to try to be the catalyst, be aggressive to be in the right frame of mind if they're not going into the game," Wells noted earlier this past season via the BaltimoreSun. "[Thursday] I'm going to let the game come to me and do what my team needs me to do to get this win."
Wells is just a student of the game and his progression from his freshman year to his senior year speaks to it. In Wells freshman year with the Xavier Musketeers, he averaged 9.8 points per game.
Then, when Wells transferred from the Musketeers to the Terps, he averaged the following:
- Sophomore season- 13.1 points per game.
- Junior season- 14. 1 points per game.
- Senior season- 15.1 points per game.
Each year he gets better. Wells' effort is what he brings to the table.
On the basketball court, Wells is just a bully to opposing guards. His primary goal is to drive the ball to the basket with contact. He loves the physical style of basketball. In this day and age where guards like to play along the perimeter and work their way to the paint area, Wells does just the opposite. He can back guards down in the post and decide to be aggressive to draw a foul or he can step back and use his fade away jumper.
The best asset Wells has to me is his ability to drive to the basket on a fast break. The way he runs in open space shows that he has NBA talent as he knows how to weave his way through traffic so fluidly. And he isn't afraid to dunk on your head at a moments notice.
The one area of Wells game that he has worked on and has gotten better with after his senior year with the Terps as he prepared for this moment in the NBA Summer League was his ability to handle the basketball in traffic and with double teams. He will continue to get better with that because he is a pure student of the game. At the very least, Wells is the type of player every NBA team needs to win a championship. And the team won't regret it.