Extreme Makeover: Dallas Mavericks' Center Edition: Part I

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?

Zaza Pachulia:  An unrestricted free agent. His salary last season was worth $4.0 million. 

Alex:  Zaza Pachulia is pretty good, though he doesn't play much, so it's hard to tell if he could be a legit center. He's 25, pretty athletic, a good shooter, and good on the boards, and I think he's 7 feet.  Although, when he started for Atlanta in 05-06 and 06-07, he averaged about 12 PPG, but only 7-8 rebounds.

Janet:  Pachulia has been the Hawks' primary backup to starter Al Horford. He has made it known that he wants to stay with the Hawks. He's a nice young, athletic seven-footer. Just don't think he is the rebounder we are looking for.

Mikki Moore:  An unrestricted free agent. His salary last season was $5.784 million.

Alex:  I've always liked Mikki Moore back to his days in New Jersey. He is 33 though, so I don't know if he could play starter's minutes anymore. He certainly didn't this year.

Janet:  Playing behind someone like Kevin Garnett won't get you a lot of playing time anywhere. I tried looking at games where Moore had good minutes, I just don't see an improvement over Dampier. Who's next on the list?

Brian Scalabrine:  Unrestricted with one season left on his $15 million contract.  Last season paid him $3.2 million.

Alex:  As far as Scalabrine goes, I would stay away from him. Aside from his obvious deficiencies (he's a big, slow, red-headed whitey), he can't do much other than take up space on the floor. I don't think he rebounds or shoots very well. The Celtics used him last season as their "human victory cigar" he used to come in during the garbage
time. I know he played some meaningful minutes for the C's in the  play-offs with KG out, but I don't think he's worth trading anyone away, not even Matt Carroll.

Janet:  Ooo, that's really strong Alex. Apparently the Celtics are thinking the same thing too (almost). According to their team site, they're willing to put up Scalabrine, Allen, and Giddens for a good backup for Paul Pierce. He is definitely not what we are shopping for.

Nazr Mohammed: Unrestricted, and on his final year of contract that netted him $6 million last season. 

Alex:  I think Mohammed is a decent enough center. His numbers look pretty similar to Dampier, though I think he's pretty good on the offensive glass. He's 31, so he's slightly younger, but he didn't play much this year, I'm not sure if that's a reflection on him, or the Bobcats' big men. He's got good FT numbers for a big man though.

Janet:  Mohammed has made it clear to the Charlotte front office: Play me or trade me. He'll be 32 at the start of training camp. I don't know, only slightly younger than Dampier.  Looking past last seasons stats, they are no better than Dampier's. Let's keep shopping Alex.

Jerome James:  An unrestricted free agent. Last season salary was worth $6.2 million.

Alex: Jerome James is one of those players that you can't believe pulls down $6.2 per year. He's 33, and 7'1", but he only played in two games this season. his best year was 2004-05 with the Sonics, when he averages 24.9 PPG and 10.2 RPG. Since then, he hasn't averaged more than 10 minutes per game, and hasn't averages more than three points and two rebs per game.

I'm not really sure why the drop-off, apparently he was in a contract year in 04-05, and once the Knicks signed him to a big deal, he showed up out of shape, and hasn't done anything since then.

Side note on James, he also played in only two games in 07-08, but made one field goal and two free throws in the game, giving him a 1.000 FG% and FT% for the season. Also, he was paid $5.8 million that year, meaning he got around $1.45 mil per point. Not a bad gig.

Janet: He's been injured the past three seasons. His last injury may be career ending; he ruptured his Achilles' tendon. Also his age is a factor, he is 32. I would stay far, far away from this guy. There is still a lot of shopping to do.

Zyndrunas Ilgauskas: Unrestricted free-agent, with a player option. His last season salary netted him $10.8 million.   

Alex: Zyndrunas used to be one of my favorite players to watch. He could shoot the mid range jumper like crazy, and he was always a decent rebounder. This season, however, he has been like a corpse, plus he's pretty injury prone being so big, and I believe he exercised his player option for something around $11-12 mil.

Janet:  This 34 year-old has made it known he wants to stay in Cleveland. He is fun to watch, with nice scoring numbers. His rebounding numbers aren't much better than Dampier's, though. 

Oh well, I don't think we'll see "Big Z" in a Mavericks uniform anyway. Who's next?

Stay Tuned for Part II...