The Dallas Mavericks need some help in the outside shooting department, and it didn't take one of their overlooked sharpshooters to get some love during Dusty May's press conference on Monday.
Mavericks president Masai Ujiri made sure to shout out John Poulakidas in his opening statement in May's introductory press conference as he referred to him and the other players like Cooper Flagg, Dereck Lively II and Morez Johnson Jr. as bringing "something special" to Dallas.
Poulakidas has been one of the underrated talents out of nowhere. The undrafted Yale guard was signed on a two-way contract, and it was well deserved considering he finished shooting 40 percent from deep, averaging 8.8 points in 13 games.
Fans know that this wasn't the ideal season, nor was the season before, thanks to Nico Harrison, but one of Dallas' glaring weaknesses has been 3-point shooting. The pickup of Spanish sharpshooter Sergio De Larrea will help a lot, but the Mavs need as much as they can get, and Poulakidas is a must-watch on the full-time Mavericks roster.
John Poulakidas should be heavily involved in the Mavericks' rebuild
It helps that Poulakidas showed up to May's press conference, but even if he wasn't noticed by his team president in that moment, he still needs to be involved in the Mavericks' plans moving forward. The Yale guard put up a career-high 28 points in a late-season win against the Chicago Bulls.
Poulakidas can easily turn into the breakout shooter of the league. Someone like Duncan Robinson came out of nowhere in the 2019-20 season as a key contributor to the Miami Heat that season. It's a long way to go from there if we're talking about it right now, but that can be the ceiling for Poulakidas if he's focused on deep-range shooting.
With Klay Thompson's future up for grabs, Poulakidas may be very needed during the season. Luckily, the Mavs have one of the best playmakers in the league in Flagg, and he can get Poulakidas some good looks from deep next season.
Max Christie has been growing as an overall player since being traded from the Los Angeles Lakers in the infamous Luka Doncic trade, but as we said earlier, the more the merrier for 3-point shooting in this league. You can never have too many of them.
Poulakidas may not be someone the NBA media will bring up often, but Ujiri sounded like he will be involved in the Mavericks' plans. He already made a great first impression. Now, he needs to keep that momentum going.
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