2010 Free Agent: Erick Dampier

[Bruno]

http://www.nba.com/media/act_erick_dampier.jpg
Born: Jul 14, 1975
Height: 6-11 / 2.11
Weight: 265 lbs. / 120.2 kg.
College: Mississippi State
Years Pro: 13

Info (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/erick_dampier/career_stats.html)

$13.1M non-guaranteed contract. He could end up as a FA after being waived this Summer or this Fall.

[will_spurs]

Moved to the Bobcats with Najera and Carroll (for Chandler and Ajinca)

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=5377055

Unclear what the Bobcats will do with him, but it looks like they want to use his expiring contract in another trade.

[intlspurshk]

IF he is released, SPURS should sign him and he can give what Splitter can't provide and give Tim more rest.

[MavDynasty]

He is a good Defensive big who can guard slower centers but he is severely challenged offensively. He has stone hands and misses layups but he is a great offensive rebounder.

[coyotes_geek]

The Spurs need to give this guy a phone call.

[MI21]

Decent bench big. Wouldn't hate him at the Spurs. Much of his rep as a shit player was due to his outrageous contract.

You wouldn't want to trot them out together often, but Blair/Dampier would be a helluva offensive rebounding frontcourt!

[Spurs Brazil]

No chance. The guy started a bunch of games last season, he won't accept be a 6th big now.

[Shifty]

Thanks to whoever added my post here. I totally missed this.

Anyway. If we don't sign anyone else...


Disclaimer: I'm not rooting for this, I'm just letting people know we have the option. This would apply to any veteran big that is on the market.

Now that the Bobcats have signed Kwame Brown. They are said to be looking to unload Dampier's huge non-guaranteed 13mil contract (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Bobcats-sign-Brown-and-will-try-to-trade-Dampier;_ylt=AjesnnswlgPbBhZKr03Rn5S8vLYF?urn=nba-265020). Either by the Bobcats or the team that trades for him, Dampier will be waived. No way anyone keeps him at that salary. After that, he should be available at a fairly decent price if he wants to stay in the league.

Now, why should we care? While I'm not a fan of Erica, he is big, sometimes not completely useless and we need that 6th big. Although all of our PF-C are above average to good one way or another (yes, even Bonner), we can all agree we are vulnerable to one thing: size. Also, while being relatively deep by having 5 rotation bigs, we are 1 injury away from very thin in quality (we could say we already are). Sure, I'm aware quality and Dampier don't belong in the same sentence but at least we would have a deeper rotation.

I could make a long list why we shouldn't sign him but I'll leave that to you.

[mountainballer]

he might be old and he was never half as good as his salary, but I agree that he is not yet a minimum player, who takes the role of the 5th or 6th big on any club. he can still be a solid back up big for a good team.
(if he signs for the minimum, it will be with a team like the Lakers. would even make some sense there, as they can never count on the heath of Bynum)

[Chomag]

If he could be had at a good price that the Spurs can afford I think that he would be a very good fit to back up slitter. And also having the versatility when Spurs play up against large center Like bynum, Howard, etc that splitter would have a tough time guarding.

It also wouldn't be bad to have a tough physical player that Splitter can scrimmage against at practice to get him used to the NBA physical play.

[Bruno]

Dampier isn't a realistic target at all.

Getting a behemoth is also far form being Spurs' biggest priority. For example, the SF situation is way more worrisome and it's far from sure Spurs' do somethign to fix it for financial reasons.

The only case Spurs would need another 7 footer is against Lakers if Bynum is a dominant offensive player. I wouldn't consider this case as likely given that Bynum has been nowhere near 100% in 3 consecutive postseasons because of injuries. Spurs can wait until March to see if Bynum doens't get injured and plays well. If Bynum is still in the picture just before the playoffs, Spurs can sign a random 7 footer to have some size and meat inside.

[Shifty]

He was waived and is now a free agent.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5572694

[024]

getting a big defensive center never hurts.

[TimDunkem]

getting a big defensive center never hurts.
Would he even get minutes over Bonner?

[8FOR!3]

No need for a 6th big and I'd think Erick would still want a little better of a role than that with another team, he's not that terrible yet, almost there though.

[will_spurs]

He's going to Miami anyway.