With the proliferation of the stretch big in the NBA, the big men of today have grown up watching their older counterparts increasingly fade from the rim rather than dance around down low en route to a basket.
But for junior center Aday Mara, his game hasn’t quite followed his recent predecessors.
With the loss of the centers Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf this offseason, the No. 6 Michigan men’s basketball team looked to the transfer portal to round out its frontcourt. The additions of forwards graduate Yaxel Lendeborg and sophomore Morez Johnson Jr. restocked the squad, but neither were the true center the Wolverines needed.
Then in came Mara. At 7-foot-3 with a 7-foot-6 wingspan and proven skills during his years with UCLA, Mara fit the bill. Flashing potential in his minutes during exhibition play, Mara upped the ante with his recent performance against Oakland, proving why he’s Michigan’s anchor at the five.
From the get-go against the Golden Grizzlies, Mara played smart inside the paint. With Oakland struggling to shift down low in their 1-3-1 zone concept, Mara lurked near the basket, letting his teammates pull defenders away to get himself a pair of easy back-to-back dunks.
Not just a lob-target, Mara created his own shots in the paint as well. Following a missed turnaround jumper, Mara got another try 12 feet out from the hoop. Guarded by star Oakland forward Tuburu Naivaluru, Mara faked a low left shoulder before spinning to the right for an easy lay up.
Mara finished the night with 12 points in 20 minutes on 67% true shooting. Bolstered by the fact he didn’t commit a single turnover and committed just two personal fouls, Mara played to his strengths.
“Aday is such a good runner,” Wolverines assistant coach Mike Boynton said Sep. 30 at Michigan Media Day. “He’s so good around the rim and then he’s a great passer on the perimeter. So if you want to play some delay action, or you want to get him into a flash catch and now make decisions and play make for other guys, he’s elite at that as well.”
While it’s still possible to just play back-to-basket offensively as a big man, defensively centers need to be able to guard at all three levels, something that the Michigan coaching staff has been stressing.
“We’re trying to get Aday to think more like a basketball player, versus just being a rim protector and paint clogger,” Wolverines coach Dusty May said Nov. 3 after the Oakland game. “… We can’t just have him play against centers, he’s got to be able to guard smaller, quicker guys and perimeter shooters.”
In the first level and even encroaching on the second, Mara dominated the Grizzlies. With five blocks and 11 defensive rebounds — the game leader in both categories — Mara again played classic big basketball. Staying close to the basket as much as possible, Mara’s sheer frame limited usually high-percentage shots, resulting in just 26 points for Oakland in the paint.
Though in the third level, Mara still has work to do in order to better guard the perimeter. When faced with players like Naivaluru and St. Johns’ forward Zuby Ejiofor who can stretch the floor, Mara slightly struggled when forced to come out from under the basket.
“I can do much, much better,” Mara said post game when asked about his perimeter defense against Oakland. “They got me on those open threes. I was trying to just try not to let them shoot, they were getting me on all those shot-fakes, but I can do much better.”
With a matchup against Wake Forest who utilizes 6-foot-7 forward Tre’Von Spillers as their five, Mara has to be ready to pop out to the arc and be deft on his feet near the basket. In such a switch-heavy defense and against such a small starting lineup, Mara has to leverage his height and wingspan to contest deep shots.
Perimeter defense aside, Mara has competed and defeated. Brought in to score within 10 feet of the basket and to reject anything in that vicinity on the other side of the court, Mara has executed the center role to satisfaction.
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