Thoughts on Diamond Stone’s performance against Illinois
By Andrew Ford
After losing three of their last four contests, the Maryland Terrapins needed a victory to stop their downward slide and regain some momentum before the NCAA Tournament rolls around. That’s exactly what they got against an abysmal Illinois Fighting Illini squad on Thursday. The Terps secured a 81-55 win, and they did it without much assistance from featured big man Diamond Stone.
Stone got the start but played a meager 12 minutes. Fellow big men Robert Carter and Jake Layman provided more of the spacing and ball movement that the Terps needed against the Fighting Illini’s oft-employed zone defense, and getting in foul trouble by picking up his second personal around the five minute mark of the first half didn’t help Stone’s cause. In the limited time Stone was on the floor, he played a key role in a handful of plays that provided a glimpse into how his skill set might or might not translate to the NBA.
Now, to breakdown the plays.
Tip-in
After a brick by Carter, Stone gets a tip-in over an Illinois defender attempting to box him out. It’s significant because it was his only bucket he scored all game. It might have been a generous call to even credit the tip to Stone, but it’s positive to see him fighting on the offensive glass. A ground-bound player like Stone will need to be able to clean up on the offensive glass in order to have staying power in the NBA, because an ample amount of his buckets are likely to come on put backs off of his own misses that were a result of being bothered by a defender’s length.
Poor shot selection
Stone does not excel from midrange, and he shouldn’t be taking a long 2-pointer with 22 seconds left in the shot clock. He eats up a lot of Maryland’s possessions without getting any other teammates involved in the play, and that’s certainly been a factor in the Terps’ recent offensive struggles. His form on his jumper isn’t bad, but Stone has to have the awareness to keep the ball moving in that situation. The NBA team that drafts him will count on his range expanding to midrange, but he’s not able to make jumpers with much consistency from most zones right now with the one exception being from the right short corner, where he’s shooting 53 percent, according to Shot Analytics.
Pass out of double team
Sheer size makes Stone a tough 1-on-1 cover for many college big men. That forces teams to frequently send double teams when Stone catches the ball in the low post. Against Illinois, Stone did an excellent job passing out of a handful of doubles. Some passes weren’t on the money, but there were enough passes like this one that Stone placed right in the shooting pocket of Layman which demonstrates his recognition and ability to serve as a fulcrum for an offense out of the low post if he chooses to serve in that capacity.
Stone is not always a willing passer, and that’s something he’s going to have to work on when he gets to the NBA. But just knowing that Stone has the ability to think quickly and make tough passes like this one might be enough to make NBA teams believe that they can break him from some of his selfish habits with relative ease.
Power move after offensive board
On this play, Stone is gifted with an easy offensive rebound after a bad miss from Carter. Stone’s decision to take one power dribble before going up to finish is not a bad one, but he doesn’t use his size to his advantage. As he takes the power dribble, he should be able to sense the defender on his back and use his butt to drive that man back a little bit in order to create more room and a better angle to get off a clean shot.
After the power dribble, Stone finds himself too deep under the rim. He gets bailed out by a body contact foul from an Illinois player, but he could have easily been cleanly blocked against better shot blockers. His girth and average athleticism limit his vertical, so developing ways to use his body to create that extra pocket of space in the paint will be key to his efficiency as a post player at the next level.
Allows offensive rebound and bucket
Illinois is ranked 344th in the country in offensive rebounding percentage, per KenPom. So it doesn’t reflect well on Stone that he gets moved out of the way so easily here and gives up an offensive rebound. Additionally, he also ends up picking up his second foul of the first half in the process after biting on the pump fake and gambling for the block.
In this situation, he must stay on the ground and utilize his length to stay vertical to contest the shot. With a 9-1 standing reach, there’s no need for Stone to get up in the air. A poor defensive rebounder (15.2 DREB%, per KenPom), Stone doesn’t often put in the necessary work when the initial shot goes up to position himself well for rebounds, either. For example, he doesn’t start jockeying for position until the ball is at least halfway to the rim on this play. He has to get his backside on a guy early and seal him off to become better on the glass.
Stone’s not mobile enough to guard a lot out on the perimeter and he’s too slow to defend face up bigs particularly well. Both deficiencies could pose huge problems for Stone in the NBA. He’s going to need to add value somewhere defensively, and the easiest way to do that might be improving his rebounding fundamentals.