Erick Dampier is maddening. He has the size and strength to be a top center in the NBA. When fired up he's a force for the Mavs on defense, dominating the glass and blocking shots. There are games when he plays with great alacrity and tenacity. Use last night's win against Detroit as an example where he went 5-7 from the field and 6-8 at the line to score 16 points while contributing 16 boards and 3 dimes. However more often that not the self proclaimed "2nd Best Center in the League Behind Shaq" hits his season average of a 5.5 Points and 7 boards a game.
I did some research on how Dampier's individual performance affects the overall team performance. In games where Dampier takes at least 6 shots, the Mavs are 8-3 and the 3 loses came in consecutive games during the Mavs 2-7 start. The sample size is rather small for there to be a true correlation, but I firmly believe the Mavs need Dampier on the court and he cannot be an offensive liability. Without Dampier in the game for long stretches the Mavs have been getting killed on the boards. The last 3 games the Mavs have lost the battle on the boards -10, -9, and -9. The Mavs desperately need his defensive presence.
As was pointed out on the DMN Mavs Blog today, some guys are just a bad matchup. Pau Gasol abused Dampier on Sunday which essentially took him out of the game. If the Mavericks could find a way to get Dampier a few offensive touches in the low post each quarter and put him in a situation where he can post up Gasol and and wear him down they can get away with keeping him on the floor and possibly tire out Gasol a bit on the defensive end. When a guy is essential a non-factor on offense, it helps his defender because they don't need to exert any energy in guarding him.
Dampier appears on the surface as a very "moody" player where his enthusiasm and excitement is a direct result of this involvement in the game. Getting him some touches is not only going to pump him up offensively, but also when he's on defense.
It is true that Dampier has many flaws in his game that can be exploited but the Mavericks only seem to exploit two of his strengths, pure size and brute strength, and they only use it in a defensive capacity. Let's get one thing straight, I am not proposing the Dampier become the focal point of the offense. What I am proposing is integrating him more into the offense, especially when Dirk is resting. The Mavs only need to get him 2-3 touches per quarter in order for him to be effective on the offensive end.
Let's say he get's 3 touches a quarter, which is 12 for the game. I am confident that he can go 45-50% from the field when in the post and get to the line at least a couple of times a game. That is easily 10-11 points per game which is all this team needs from him to stay efficiently in the lineup.
The main flaw of the Mavs is that they have very little inside scoring. They are and will continue to be a jump shooting team as long as Dirk and JET play for them. Getting some inside scoring from a position that to this point has contributed very little offensively can do nothing but benefit this team.
Problem is Shiff, Damp lacks the offensive skills to do what you ask (though he did have a very nice fake left, fake right, go left sequence with his back to the basket last night...even though he missed the shot, the move was tremendous). I go hoarse yelling at the tv for Dampier to move to the open space and ask for the ball. I remember one time down the court v. the Lakers on Sun when the ball rotated to Terry in the corner on the weak side, and Damp was FRONTING his man on the strong side on the other side of the basket. If Damp takes one big step towards Terry, Damp is in perfect position to receive the ball and at worst be 1:1 vs. his man, with his back to the basket, just a few feet from the rim. Instead Damp starts to BLOCK OUT his man rather than look for a pass. He did a good job of it, except that he was underneath the basket such that the shot came off to the strong side and Damp's defender had an easy defensive rebound.
ReplyDeleteI get what you are saying Shiff, and I agree with your thought, but Damp isn't gonna change any. I'd rather invest time looking for another project 5. If we had a Mark Gasol or Chris Kanan right now, we'd be legit challengers to everyone else save the Lakers.
Btw - Ammanuel dropped a "Fat Joe left Atlantic" on his mom last Sat night around 1:30am. It was genius.
ReplyDeleteI have seen him go to the post and front a guy, get the ball and make a basket, so I don't think this is asking too much. All I am asking is for them to run it two or three times are quarter and hope he makes half of them.
ReplyDeleteAre you saying that this is not reasonable?
Ammanuel Fat Joe'd his mom at 1:30? That is awesome. If I called my parents at 1:30 they wouldn't answer the phone b/c they would just assume I was in jail and needed bail money
ReplyDeleteGreat points Shiff, but I agree with Kevin. That's just not the kind of player stonehands is. It would be great if he can bring that kind of energy to the end of the season and the playoffs, but I'll believe it when I see it. Good post.
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