Dallas Mavericks: Who’s the third scoring option?
By Reid Hanson
Without a third star player in sight, who might be the Dallas Mavericks third-leading scorer this upcoming season?
For the first time, in a long time, the Dallas Mavericks have two budding young superstars on their team. Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis aren’t just good players, but they’re potentially transcendent players.
Aptly named, “the unicorn”, KP has one of rarest combinations of size, athleticism, and skill ever seen. Doncic, who won rookie of the year last season in a tremendous landslide, had arguably the best rookie season since LeBron James. There’s simply no question as to who the top two players on the team are. It’s Luka and KP. But behind them, things get pretty murky…
After failing (again) to lure a top-flight free agent this summer (And if we’re being honest, the Dallas Mavericks failed to even lure secondary or tertiary free agent options when they missed out on Kemba Walker and Danny Green), there isn’t an obvious choice as to who the third scoring option will be.
The Mavs signed Seth Curry and Delon Wright earlier in the month. But neither of them is a lock for that third spot.
Curry was able to stay healthy all of last year (an impressive feat given his history) but only managed 7.9 points per game off the bench. Wright averaged a career high, 12.2 with Memphis, if he can build on that he could be the third scorer.
The Mavs also return Tim Hardaway Jr and Dwight Powell, two players who had double-digit scoring totals last season with Dallas. In fact, Hardaway’s 18.1 is the second highest average of his career. By the numbers he must be the favorite for the No. 3 option on this offense.
Joining the battle is re-signed Dorian Finney-Smith (7.5 pts), Jalen Brunson ( 9.3 pts), and Maxi Kleber (6.8 pts). Could any of those three progress to the point of becoming that third star?
Maxi was one of the most offensively efficient centers in the NBA last season and looks to take an increased role this coming season, so he could easily vault into double digit territory. But be the third option? Probably not.
Brunson was a joy to watch and big part of this Mavericks team going forward. He could also take a big step up in production on the second unit. Especially with J.J. Barea still on the mend. But the third scorer is probably a stretch if Tim Hardaway plays with the second team as much as we expect him to.
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DFS could play a big role this season. He’s a versatile player and his strong defense makes him an asset. But can he double his averages this season? Probably not.
At the end of the day it’s likely to be Tim Hardaway Jr who becomes the third scorer on this Dallas Mavericks team. His numbers took a dip when he joined Dallas and until he improves his shot selection, they probably won’t improve.
Since Rick Carlisle isn’t going to tolerate Hardaway taking opportunities from Luka or KP, there’s a good chance he’ll be logging majority of his time on the second team. With an dynamic and ever-changing lineup, everyone will get their opportunities, but Hardaway just seems best positioned to cash those opportunities in.
Next. Free agency was disappointing but not fruitless. dark
Ideally it would be “third scorer by committee”, and occasionally that will happen. but for now, we should probably bank on Tim Hardaway being the third option on this team
- Published on 07/23/2019 at 11:01 AM
- Last updated at 07/22/2019 at 14:37 PM