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Clippers buy No. 56 pick Branden Dawson from New Orleans Pelicans

Michigan State guard/forward Brendan Dawson celebrates late in the second half of a Big Ten conference tournament quarterfinal game against Ohio State on March 13.

Michigan State guard/forward Brendan Dawson celebrates late in the second half of a Big Ten conference tournament quarterfinal game against Ohio State on March 13.

(Nam Y. Huh / Associated Press)
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The Clippers bought the No. 56 pick in the NBA draft Branden Dawson from the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday evening.

Dawson, a 6-foot-6 guard/forward from Michigan State, averaged 10.1 points on 55.9% shooting and 6.9 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 had expressed interest in buying a second-round pick.

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The Clippers said that they had been watching Dawson all year, and Clippers General Manager Dave Wohl 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 lock into a position. I think he can play a couple of different positions, he can defend a number of positions. 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 raw offensively, but we love the competitiveness and the toughness about him.”

Follow Melissa Rohlin on Twitter @melissarohlin

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