Mavericks Going As Far As Chandler Parsons Takes Them

The Dallas Mavericks remain void of a superstar player, so that leaves forward Chandler Parsons with the role of elevating this team the remainder of this season.

For the first time since sometime last season, small forward Chandler Parsons drove the bus for the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night. His 30 points were a welcomed sight, especially in the absence of all-world power forward Dirk Nowitzki, who sat out an overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It’s been along road back for Parsons following knee surgery he underwent early last May. Even though Parsons has played virtually the entire season this year, there’s been minutes restrictions, missed shots and obvious signs of frustration from a very good basketball player that knows he can do more.

If Wednesday’s victory over the Timberwolves was any indication of things to come, the Mavericks will be in much better shape than they’ve been so far this season.

Don’t look now, but Nowitzki is not a sure thing for Dallas’ next contest against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night at American Airlines Center. As a matter of fact, there’s a better chance than not that the 7-foot German will sit this game out well.

More from Sports Dallas Fort-Worth

From there, who knows?

This means that Parsons has to play as big as he can down the stretch.

While it’s early to say that the recovery process for Parsons is fully complete, he has looked better and better over the last couple of weeks, even if there’s still some rust.

Parsons’ best attribute is his ability to drive the lane and score near the rim. When his shots are falling the Mavericks are quite a force to be reckoned with, but even when it’s not, those points in the paint are badly needed.

Parsons averaged 15.7 points per game last season, his first with Dallas. The year prior he averaged 16.6 in his final season with the Houston Rockets.

Simply put, the Mavericks need more of that kind of output from Parsons, as opposed to the 10.3 he’s posting this year.

Now might be the point where he starts to push that average back up.

Parsons has never been the biggest offensive rebounding machine, but he’s not too bad in the defensive area with a career average of four per game. Even despite this seasons limitations, Parsons sits at 3.5 defensive rebounds per game, not bad when considering the number of total rebounds that center Zaza Pachulia is pulling in.

It’s not clear at all whether the Mavericks are going to reel in a major superstar talent to pair with Nowitzki during the twilight of his career. This might be fine when considering how this team, still without a star greater than Nowitzki, punished the NBA during the 2011 post season en route to it’s first NBA Finals victory.

Next: Mavericks: Please Ditch The Green Uniforms At Once

Head coach Rick Carlisle brings his attacks in waves, something all teams with multiple superstars aren’t able to do under the salary cap. Carlisle believes that even if he doesn’t have the best starting lineup, he can still win with the best roster night in, night out.

If this ideology is to hold true again, Parsons has to essentially lead the way, especially with the possibility that Nowitzki might miss some time during the second half of the 2015-16 season.

Home/Dallas Mavericks