The Oklahoma City Thunder are matching up with the Indiana Pacers in this year’s NBA Finals, headlined by OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton. Those guys get a majority of the credit for their respective teams’ success, but there’s one guy for OKC who fans in Arizona will be watching closely: Lu Dort. The first-time All-Defensive team player is competing in his first NBA Finals in his sixth season since leaving Arizona State as a one-and-done.
For ASU head coach Bobby Hurley who coached Dort in his lone collegiate season, it’s been a thrill to see Dort’s career take the route it has.
“I was texting with Lu, and texting with someone who was very close to him and his process and his decision making, about the meeting where he sat in my office and talked about the possibility of Lu coming to Arizona State,” Hurley said. “Kind of reminisced on that some, and just got reflective to good memories when Lu was in the program and he was a fighter, and we had a great season together, and he’s just battled his way and kept climbing.”
Jeff Ayres (formerly Pendergraph), who was recently named as an inductee to the Sun Devil Hall of Fame, did not play with Dort at ASU, but has a championship to his name as a member of the 2014 San Antonio Spurs. He offered words of wisdom for Dort who’s appearing in his first Finals.
“Enjoy the moment, man, like, don’t think too much,” Ayres said. “Just have fun with your teammates, they’re like your best friends right now. So enjoy the moment. Experience it all, take it in, and then just have fun. Trust all the work y’all put in, all season, all the ups, the downs, the trials, the tribulations. And just have fun. Enjoy the moment, man, because you might not get another one.”
In his year at ASU, Dort featured many of the qualities that have made him into the professional player he is today. He remains grounded and is able to be a superstar within his role, knowing what he does well, and exceeds the expectations put before him. Coming into college Dort was ranked as a five-star recruit. For him it could’ve been easy to say ‘give me the ball and get out of the way’ but he instead stuck to what makes him great: his defense.
“You could see that when we recruited him, and he just had that real desire to get after it on defense, a big part of why we were attracted to bring him here,” Hurley said. “I would imagine the guys really love playing with Lu. I’ve enjoyed watching the playoffs and seeing his growth and development the last couple years.”
Coming into college Dort studied how pros such as Donovan Mitchell, Russsell Westbrook and other explosive guards played, so he could better prepare himself for the high level of play in college. But instead of carrying a heavy offensive load, Dort was asked to be the point of attack defender, and watching that film probably helped him defend at a high level too. His defensive aptitude is what got him noticed by NBA scouts and has been his calling card.
“I think a lot of guys try and be something that they’re not instead of just embracing who they are, and I think that’s what Lu’s done,” Hurley said. “He just rolls up his sleeves and he’s ready for everything.”
During his ASU tenure, Dort averaged 16.1 points a game with 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals with plenty more deflections and defensive plays that don’t show up in the box score along the way. As a result, he was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, was named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team and was also named to the Second-Team All-Pac-12.
“He’s a pro’s pro man, there’s a reason why certain people get success and are successful in life, and that’s one of the reasons I feel Lu is like that,” Ayres said. “He was a great team player, great high character guy.”
Hurley added: “Lu certainly was on a mission when he came here. He wanted to watch film with me on his own. He wanted to spend extra time working on his game. He was as competitive as any guy I had for that one year. When I went into Tucson with Lu Dort, man, I felt pretty good.”
One would think with his college resume he’d have been drafted by an NBA team. He was told he’d likely go anywhere from the 20th to the 35th pick, but ultimately went undrafted. Since then, Dort has been proving those NBA front offices wrong by becoming a premier 3-and-D player, starting all but one game for the Thunder the last five years. With his high-arcing jumper and by putting defenders in the ‘Dorture Chamber’ Lu Dort has become a pivotal piece to what could potentially be the Thunder’s first NBA championship. But it all started at ASU.
