Dunk City loses its top gun


When center Dewayne Dedmon announced Wednesday that he was forgoing his senior season and entering the NBA draft, you couldn’t help but wonder what new head coach Andy Enfield thought of the move.

Many believe there is a very small chance that Dedmon, who averaged 6.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game last season, will get drafted. And Enfield, with four years of NBA coaching experience, must have known this before Dedmon made his decision.

But my guess is that Enfield’s primary concerns were with his own team, not Dedmon’s potential next one.

Enfield arrived in Los Angeles with one main goal: to generate some excitement about the USC basketball program that has been anything but exciting in recent years. Florida Gulf Coast’s “Dunk City” moniker has inevitably followed Enfield to the West Coast, and in his introductory press conference, Enfield expressed his desire to continue his fast-paced, above-the-rim style at USC.

But with Dedmon’s announcement, Enfield’s plans might need some re-thinking.

At FGCU, much of the credit for the Eagles’ high-flying style was given to senior captain Sherwood Brown and point guard Brett Comer, who led the team in scoring and assists, respectively. But FGCU’s thunderous throw downs were only made possible because of bigs, such as Chase Fieler and Eric McKnight, who could run the floor and make dynamic finishes off of lobs and no-look passes.

The only player the Trojans had who fit that description just left the building.

In Dedmon, USC had a player that fit perfectly into Enfield’s style. Already at 7-feet tall, his long arms, leaping ability and strong motor would have made him an alley-oop waiting to happen in an up-tempo system. Now, though, the Trojans will struggle to find players who fit that type of play.

Junior center Omar Oraby figures to see the biggest increase in minutes, but he struggled with stamina last season and implementing a fast pace would only seem to make it tougher for him to stay on the court. And forcing him into playing more when he’s fatigued would make Oraby an even bigger liability on defense, where the Cairo, Egypt, native averaged 2.1 fouls per game despite playing only 14.6 minutes per contest.

After Oraby, the cupboard gets pretty bare in the frontcourt. The next-tallest player on the team is 6-foot-9 freshman Strahinja Gavrilovic, who played just 11 total minutes last season and is very much an unknown. Next is freshman Zach Banner who, also at 6-foot-9, is an offensive lineman for the football team and, at a listed weight of 335 pounds, should not figure to take well to Enfield’s style.

After those two, redshirt junior Ari Stewart is the team’s only forward. At 6-foot-7, he could be a valuable stretch-four and will most likely thrive in an up-tempo system, but having such an undersized player at the power forward position would be a huge detriment.

As far as incoming players are concerned, the only big man that USC has signed for its 2013 class is Nikola Jovanovic of Serbia. He’s 6-foot-10 but, at only 215 pounds, should not be expected to make large contributions during his first season with the program.

So what is Enfield going to do now that one of his main assets has left? I think he should stay the course. “Dunk City” might not happen for the 2013-14 season, but the best thing for an undersized team to do is run, run and run some more, and that’s still Enfield’s main goal.

USC definitely still has the personnel to get up and down the floor, with Stewart, junior guard J.T. Terrell (who made his share of highlight-reel dunks last year) and sophomore guard Byron Wesley all coming back next season. The Trojans also have a pair of freshman guards returning in Chass Bryan and Brendyn Taylor, as well as a trio of incoming perimeter players in Kahlil Dukes, Julian Jacobs and Gatorade California player of the year Roschon Prince.

But this team still has plenty of struggles ahead of it. USC had the luxury of three seven-footers last season, and that number has now dwindled to one. Having the ability to essentially use Dedmon and Oraby as a platoon at center instantly gave the Trojans a leg up on every other team, but now they are left with only one experienced big man who might not even fit in with Enfield’s style.

In addition, the Trojans will break in a new starting point guard next season with the loss of team captain Jio Fontan, but no one knows exactly who that will be. FGCU had Comer to run the show and figuring out who will play that role at USC next season should still be Enfield’s top priority.

Fans should still be excited to see what Enfield can do with this small-ball type of lineup, but if they are expecting to see Dunk City take over the Galen Center, they might just have to keep waiting.

 

“Inside the 20s” runs Thursdays. To comment on this story, email Nick at [email protected] or visit dailytrojan.com.