Extreme Makeover: Dallas Mavericks' Center Edition: Part I

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

No one can argue that the Dallas Mavericks need to make over the center position.

There is no denying Erick Dampier has been a "serviceable" center. There is no denying he has been a workhorse, and the very fact he stayed healthy all season long was an asset by itself. 

But for the Mavericks to be Championship contenders, they need more from the center position.

What did we get from Dampier this past season? Keep in mind he only averaged 23 minutes a game. He did give us 80 games, which is remarkable for a 33 year-old center.

Dampier also gave us an average of 5.7 pts per game. His touches were an average of 3.5, and have been on the decline since he has been with the Mavericks. His shooting average was up a bit, which I'll credit that to Jason Kidd's passing.

Dampier gave us 7.1 rebounds per game last season; 2.7 on offense, 4.4 on defense.  Those are also numbers that have been declining every season since he has been with the Mavericks.

The only numbers that have increased for Dampier are the ones on his paycheck. He boasts the third-highest salary on the Mavs' roster—$11.5 million for the past season. I don't think we got our money's worth.

To have his 2010-11 salary guaranteed, Dampier has to play 2,100 minutes this coming season. It averages out to only 25.6 minutes a game, that is assuming he plays 82 games a year. He averages 25.2 minutes per game for his career, and that number has gone down the last few years.

Dampier's postseason game really wasn't that great when you think about it. In the first round he played against Tim Duncan who had two bad knees. Dampier should have easily been able to beat Duncan, but he only barely did. Worst of all, Dampier could not keep Tony Parker out of our paint. But we survived that round.

In the second round against Denver, Dampier quickly proved to be outmatched by the much more athletic Nene. How many time did we see Nene and the other Nuggets score a back-door dunk in Dampier's face? Let's face it, Dampier was a liability against Denver's big men.

Let's take a moment to define serviceable: Good enough to get you through the regular season, but won't get you an NBA ring.

The Mavericks have never had a "dominant" center. Their current offense doesn't require much scoring from that position.

Our center's job is to anchor the defense, protect the paint, but most importantly grab rebounds. Any scoring is just added gravy.

To quote head coach Rick Carlisle: "Transition offense starts with defensive stops."

So most of our transition offense start with a defensive rebound, sometimes a block or a steal. The rebounder then flips the ball to the point guard, who passes on to the wing position. 

Only in the half-court set does the center come into play in scoring.

The center will set screens for pick-n-roll plays by drawing or blocking his defender away from the ball handler. That is important to open up the scoring lanes and minimize double teaming.

A few scoring plays are mixed in for the center, too, such as rolling to the basket off a pick-n-roll, or a slam dunk off an alley-oop pass.

So we don't expect much point-wise, from our centers. What we demand is rebounding. He should marshall the paint like he owns it.

Rebounding by committee just doesn't work well for the Mavericks. Our shooters should be more focused on scoring their shots than making rebounds. The bottom line is if the center is not going to create points, he better be a double-digit rebounder.

The following commentaries are presented in round table-style between Janet Kessler and Alex McVeigh, two Dallas Mavericks Community Members, on some available centers. 

Will the Mavericks find that ultimate center, for their quest to the top of the league?

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