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Shaquille O'Neal: "I'm like President Bush. You may not like me, you may not respect me, but you voted me in." |
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HoopsHype.com Articles Dampier
whets All-Star appetite
1997 also marked Latrell Sprewell’s third trip to the NBA All-Star game as a Warrior. Well, seven seasons and one infamous coach choking have since passed and Golden State fans are still waiting for their next All-Star announcement. But if the Warriors’ towering center Erick Dampier continues to have more games like he did Monday night, when he scored a season high 23 points, grabbed 22 rebounds and added a season-high 7 blocked shots in a heart breaking 115-113 double overtime loss to Memphis, he may force the Western Conference selection committee to end the Warriors All-Star drought soon. Though Dampier making the All-Star team is still a long shot – Shaq, Yao Ming and Brad Miller would probably get the nod over him – it’s easy to make a compelling case for the Warriors’ 6-foot-11, 265 pound big man. Dampier ranks in the NBA top ten in both field goal percentage and rebounds per game and his 153 offensive boards rank second in the entire NBA. And if the all-star choosers need any more swaying – all they have to do is survey the Warriors dressing room. “Erick is very deserving of an All-Star berth. He’s been our rock,” said Warriors forward Mike Dunleavy. “Since game one of season he’s been pretty much a dominant force in the post. In the Western Conference, Damp is among the elite centers, no doubt about it.” And if you need anymore convincing, give Memphis coach Hubie Brown a call. While Brown stopped short of calling Dampier performance against his Grizzlies the most dominant by an NBA center this season – the seasoned coach said it was pretty darned close. “Look at his numbers: 22 rebounds, 10 coming offensively. Those are some staggering stats,” Brown said. “It was one of the best games we’ve seen all season from an opposing big guy. Anytime you put up 23 points and grab 22 rebounds, you know that your center is playing.” All talk of All-Star game rosters aside, Dampier, now in his eighth NBA season out of Mississippi State, is just happy to be getting so much playing time. Totally healthy after past seasons dragged down by a series of knee injuries, the big center is finally playing the way the Warriors had envisioned when they traded one of their all-time great players and fan favorites, Chris Mullin, to Indiana in exchange for Dampier and Duane Ferrell prior to the 1997-98 campaign. “I’m just trying to give it my all. Obviously, we have to win games, that’s how ultimately we will be judged,” said Dampier who has yet to experience a winning campaign – let alone a playoff minute in Golden State burnt orange and blue. “I just have to keep hitting the boards and blocking shots. I have a lot of time invested here and I want to make it work.” Early this season, the bar was set high for Dampier when fellow Warriors center and good friend Adonal Foyle was shelved with a balky left knee. After splitting the No. 5 position with Foyle over the past six seasons, Dampier knew more than ever would be expected of him in the key. The in-the-paint situation became even more intense when power forward Troy Murphy went down with a foot injury in training camp. Foyle has not played a minute this season and Murphy still hasn’t fully returned yet. As Dampier scanned the Warriors dressing room on opening night against Dallas, the faces that looked back at him – which included new additions Nick Van Exel, Clifford Robinson and Calbert Cheaney – looked back expectantly. Dampier vowed not to let them down. “The biggest thing for me is going into every game knowing I’m going to play 30-plus minutes each night as opposed to last season when I didn’t know if I was going to play 20 or 25 minutes,” Dampier said. “With all the injuries, I knew I would have to carry a significant portion of the load and I looked forward to that. Plus with all the new faces on the team, I wanted to show what this team was all about. I didn’t want to let Nick and Cliff and all those other guys down.” Though Dampier and Eric Musselman had their differences last season – upset with his minutes Dampier was once quoted as calling him Coach Musselhead – the second year Warriors coach has had nothing but praise for the 29-year-old Dampier, who’s very active in Warriors charity programs and enjoys clothes shopping and jet skiing when he’s not cleaning NBA glass. “He doesn’t have anybody playing behind him. With Foyle and Murphy not being out on the floor, we need Damp in there,” said Musselman. “He feels comfortable with his teammates and his teammates look to get him the ball in the block and he’s playing through. He’s not getting in foul trouble so that’s helped him be able to play more minutes.” And even if a troop of healthy Warriors big men were to show up on Musselman’s front door – center Evan Eschmeyer has also been on injured list all season after knee surgery – that doesn’t mean Dampier would spend more time modeling Warriors sweats. “Somebody would have to steal Damp’s minutes away,” Musselman said. “Because he’s one of the leading rebounders in the NBA. It would be crazy to take his minutes away.” At the Warriors practice facility in downtown Oakland, the retired jersey numbers of former Warriors greats – including the Hall of Fame centers Wilt Chamberlain and Nate Thurmond – hang from the rafters, so it’s no surprise that Dampier has gained much of his inspiration and blue collar work ethic around the hoop from a former Warrior. But it’s not Thurmond or Rick Barry or Al Attles that Dampier credits most for his advancement as a center. Instead it’s Clifford Ray, the undersized 6-foot-9 man in the middle for the 1974-75 Warriors, the only Golden State club to win an NBA championship. The pair first hooked up when Ray worked as a Warriors assistant coach in 2001-02 and soon became friends. “I came into camp this season in the best shape of my life and I credit Cliff for working with me all last summer. He even came to live with me over the summer back in Mississippi. I have to credit Cliff with a lot of my success,” the humble big man said. “Cliff, he always told me, ‘Damp, everything that you have, I didn’t have. All you have to do is believe in yourself and work heard everyday.’ No matter what happens in my career or life, he’s always going to be there for me.” With a little luck, Ray may find himself at Staples Center in Los Angeles on the 15th of next month watching Dampier play alongside the other deserving Western Conference All-Stars. AJ Hayes is a San Francisco-based sports writer and a regular contributor to HoopsHype.com Tell us what you think about this article. E-mail us at HoopsHype@HoopsHype.com _____________________ |
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