Can Damonte Dodd Be The Center Maryland Needs?

(Discuss over at the BSL forums here)

Since losing Alex Len, the Maryland Terrapins have had a carousel at the center position. The heir apparent, Shaquille Cleare, is now halfway across the country at the University of Texas playing. The undersized rebounder performing spot-duty, Charles Mitchell, is now with former ACC rival Georgia Tech as a result of, basically, a trade for Robert Carter. And the new kid on the block, four-star center Trayvon Reed, well, he was booted off campus before even stepping foot on the court.

So Maryland has thrust Damonte Dodd into the center of the ring, the three-star bouncy big man from Virginia who no one expected to be starting this early. Dodd came into College Park after spending a year in prep school readying his body for the rigors of D-I basketball, and was considered a four-year project at best. Instead, here he is in year two of his short career, the unqestioned starter at center. The job is his to lose.
The bigger question at hand, however, is a trickier one:

Is he ready?

Last Season

If we’re making honest assessments about players, then this necessitates being objective about what we have. Damonte Dodd played 166 minutes of basketball last season, and there were only about 14 minutes worth of basketball that one can actually say was even decent.

Against N.C. State, he went 3-for-3, pulled down 4 rebounds, and recorded a block. That’s it, really. He also had a seven-minute stint against Duke that most agreed was a decent showing, but his final stat line isn’t indicative of his decent play.

For the rest of that time, Dodd looked pretty lost out on the court. ACC basketball is a whole lot faster than rural hoops in Massannutten, Virginia, and it showed with Dodd’s play. More often than not, his teammates and coaches were tutoring him on a possession-by-possession basis, which isn’t a bad thing because Dodd willingly listened.

But were Dodd ready last year, he’d have played. Maryland needed a rim protector, and there’s no question Dodd wanted to provide that, but his play would have made the team worse. It would have been unfair to saddle him with that burden.

Rim Protection, Steals, Rebounds

The good news is that no matter what, Dodd is going to be able to provide rim protection that Maryland lacked last year. The advanced statistics show that Dodd blocked at a decent rate (5.9% of opponent shots were blocked while he was on the floor), just a little off Alex Len’s own numbers. Dodd has a lot of athleticism and length, and it’s not difficult to envision him sending back three shots a game.

I compare him to a guy like Chris Obekpa over at St. John’s. Absolutely bereft of much polish elsewhere in his game, but a shot blocking extraordianire who can provide the occasional dunk. Dodd isn’t going to be asked to do anything this year but stay out of foul trouble and alter shots inside the paint. The thought of being blocked is just as powerful as the actual block, and Dodd should have the ability to excel there.

He’s also going to provide some intangibles, it looks like. Dodd may have only had three steals on the season, but for a big man who only played a few minutes, that’s actually encouraging. Len played almost three times as many minutes and recorded four steals total. Those type of things usually translate, and anything Dodd can provide will be a big help.

He’s also an alright rebounder. Not great, and certainly not dominant, but passable. He’s not like Josh Smith over at Georgetown bad, but he’s also not as good as Len, Jordan Williams, or even Jonathan Graham. He may never be a double-double guy, but if he can read angles a little better he might get close.

Foul Trouble

Sometimes, numbers aren’t very accurate. But when it comes to foul rates, advanced numbers almost always translate out to be correct. Dodd picked up foul rates at an almost laughably high rate last season, which is bad news for a big man striving to be productive. Dodd averaged about 9.5 fouls per 100 possessions, or 6.3 blocks per 40 minutes.

Dodd needs to learn to control himself better, and avoid the ticky-tacky fouls beneath the basket on the defensive side that just aren’t worth picking up. That can be the single-most limiting factor for some big men, and oftentimes even NBA centers have difficulty not picking them up. From what we saw last year, this is going to give Dodd problems all year, much like it did Shaquille Cleare. As a result, we’re going to see more Graham and Cekovsky.

Little offensive improvement, but steady growth

If you’re looking for encouragement, know that Dodd managed to improve steadily throughout the year (albeit very incrementally). His player efficiency rating (which knocks defensive players more than offensive guys) went from 4.4 overall to 10.5 during conference play as the competition increased.

Dodd getting better overall defensively is necessary, because his offensive output will be negligible enough to make one consider whether he is playable there. Dodd does not have great touch on the ball, and that’s evident by his atrocious free throw shooting (12% from the line). Dodd was actually great at getting to the line, but once he was there things didn’t go well.

He’ll have a couple dunks, and perhaps a putback or two (although he did not show great touch with those either), but as we saw with Shaquille Cleare, it’s hard to play a guy who cannot provide any offense. It puts a lot of pressure on all the other players on the court to exceed expectations, and allows defensese to hone in on other guys since they can essentially ignore one.

Outlook

As a personal opinion, even as Coach Turgeon suggests that Dodd is the most improved player over the summer, I question whether Dodd is ready for the starting gig. His play last year was encouraging for a four-year player, but for a year-two starter? Not at all. He’ll be going up against big men who know how to fill it up as opposed to the wing and guard oriented ACC, and that will be a tough assignment for Dodd.

If he has improved, and can stay out of foul trouble while also knocking down his own foul shots, then Dodd will be a big plus for the Terps. He’ll get to sop up minutes, and that will put Graham on the court less and give Cekovsky even more time to grow into a hybrid guy. But if fans were frustrated with Shaquille Cleare all last season, they’re going to be just as disappointed with Damonte Dodd on a daily basis. It only took a few games for folks to start clamoring for Dodd, and I have a feeling it may only take a few games this year for folks to start begging for Cekovsky.