Clippers buy No. 56 pick Branden Dawson from New OrleansPelicans

The Clippers bought the No. 56 pick in the NBA draft Branden Dawson from the New OrleansPelicans on Thursday evening.

Dawson, a 6-foot-6 guard/forward from Michigan State, averaged 10.1 points on 55.9% shooting and6.9 rebounds a game over his four-season college career. In 2015, he was named to the Big Ten all-defensive team and he was second-team All-Big Ten.

The Clippers were the only NBA team that didn't have a pick in the 2015 draft. The team hadexpressed interest in buying a second-round pick.

The Clippers said that they had been watching Dawson all year, and Clippers General Manager DaveWohl said he likes his mentality.

"The biggest thing is his toughness, he's a winner," Wohl said. "He's not a guy you kind of just lockinto a position. I think he can play a couple of different positions, he can defend a number ofpositions. When you watch him play a lot, I think one of the things he does is he makes multiple-effort, game-defining plays a lot of times -- he'll get his hand on a loose ball, he'll save a loose ball,

he'll dive on a loose ball, he'll go over to bigger players and grab a rebound. He's a little rawoffensively, but we love the competitiveness and the toughness about him."

Follow Melissa Rohlin on Twitter @melissarohlin

Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/la-sp-cn-clippers-buy-pick-branden-dawson-new-orleans-20150625-story.html