Robert Dozier can live with the indignity of being the last player taken in the NBA Draft.
There are plenty of others, he says, who would have loved to have had their names called at all in the league's two-round, 60-player selection. But there is one affront he never saw coming from the very team that selected him: Going to visit his new Miami Heat teammate, Mario Chalmers, and seeing himself "posterized" just inside the door.
As it turns out, Chalmers hit a three-pointer for Kansas with 2.1 seconds left that tied the 2008 NCAA Championship game against Memphis. Watching the shot go in, in the paint, was Robert Dozier - immortalized in a 2-feet by 3-feet poster-sized photograph that Chalmers keeps in his house. Kansas went on to win the game 75-68 in overtime.
"I've got two of them at the house,"
Chalmers said. "You can't miss it."
As the Heat's minicamp ended Thursday, Chalmers, Dozier and free-agent guard Antonio Anderson, also a Memphis alum, found themselves in a sort of national championship reunion. It's a memory that Dozier said is still raw.
"Aw, man, I don't want to be reminded of that, not with Chalmers in here,"
Dozier said. "He says something about it every day in practice."
Those are eternal bragging rights. And, now that Chalmers is a veteran with the Heat after starting all of last season at point guard, the rookie Dozier will have to get used to it.
"I didn't know it existed in his house. But I can't blame him. If I had made that shot, my house would be the same way,"
Dozier said.
But what Dozier can learn from his one-time opponent, who was selected 34th overall in last year's draft, is that a rookie can make a difference right away. Although Dozier is slight for a forward by NBA standards at 6-9, 215 pounds, the Heat loves his tenacity and reach.
With a 7-3 wing span, Dozier blocks shots, is always around the rim and sets strong picks before going to the basket to finish a play, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra noticed in his first hands-on experience with Dozier.
The Heat is working him out at small forward and power forward, and says time will tell where his skills are best suited. He could be sent to play in a developmental league, but Spoelstra is eager to see how much Dozier improves in two months of training camp with the Heat.
"A player like that, eventually their game tells you what they are,"
Spoelstra said. "He's already improved a lot in last few weeks."
In that regard, Dozier knows he has a future in the league, despite where he was drafted.
"I didn't get too down on myself. I told myself even if I don't get drafted, I'd be playing on somebody's team,"
Dozier said. "I was hoping my name would get called. I wish it hadn't been 60, but that works. I'm happy to be here."
If earning a spot in the NBA means he has to take a little ribbing from Chalmers, so be it, Dozier said. In the meantime, he might want to avert his eyes when he enters Chalmers' house.
"They tease me every time I walk in the house. 'How do y'all lose that game?' "
Dozier said. "I hear that every day."
