Nerlens Noel only scored nine points in his Mavs debut, a 96-83 win against the New Orleans Pelicans, but he had a pretty major impact on the offense nonetheless, and that’s not going to change any time soon.
Noel has the potential to become a very dangerous big man in the pick-and-roll due to his athleticism and above-the-rim finishing ability. He’s already drawn some comparisons to Tyson Chandler from his head coach, and those who remember Chandler’s playing days in Dallas will remember why: Elite roll men open up so many opportunities for their teammates, especially shooters.
“Today’s game — if you’re going to put four shooters out there — you’ve got to have a guy who’s an impact guy rolling to the rim that’s a threat,” head coach Rick Carlisle. “Tonight’s a difficult night to throw lobs because you’ve got two monsters out there who were eating them up. But there were other situations where he rolled, drew attention, and it opened up other shots. That’s an important weapon to have. We’ve got some guys that roll well, but we don’t have that kind of elevation.”
We hear a lot of talk about Dirk Nowitzki’s gravity, how his presence on certain places around the floor influence the way the entire opposing defense functions. Big men are afraid to leave him open, and point guards are terrified of switching onto him, and that usually creates quite the dilemma.
But good roll men have gravity, too, and Noel’s impact showed strongest on one play toward the end of the third quarter. He set a screen in the middle of the floor for Yogi Ferrell and took off toward the rim, absorbing the weakside defense with him.
[wp_hyena imageurl=’https://www.mavs.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Noel-roll-gravity.gif’ data_hyena='{“slate”:”300,0.10,15″,”player_fade_speed”:”500″,”control_opacity”:”0,0.9″,”fade_speed”:”250,250″,”style”:2}’]
It just so happens that the weakside defender was responsible for defending Nowitzki, the best mid-range jump-shooter in NBA history. There aren’t many things that can draw an opponent away from Dirk, but a potential alley-oop is one of them.
“It just opens stuff up on the perimeter. Obviously, we’ve got some good shooters around,” Nowitzki said. “If you have a lob threat, the defense has got to suck in, otherwise it’s a lob and a dunk. It opened up a few shots for me today.”
While the trade for Noel, just 22 years old, is as strong an indication as ever that the Mavericks are planning for life in the post-Dirk era, the Nowitzki-Noel combo is going to be vital for this team until that time comes. The 38-year-old Nowitzki has played center almost exclusively for two months, as the Mavs have relied primarily on small-ball to generate points. But Noel’s presence can push Dirk back to power forward, where he’ll face less pressure to constantly set ball-screens, and he’ll have a sidekick who can collapse the defense and make life easier spotting up.
Despite not knowing a single page of the playbook until this morning, Noel showed surprisingly good instincts in just his first game playing next to Nowitzki. During one play in the first half, he sprang Dirk loose for a jumper by targeting and then screening the German’s defender as Nowitzki caught the ball.
[wp_hyena imageurl=’https://www.mavs.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Noel-pindown-for-Dirk.gif’ data_hyena='{“slate”:”300,0.10,15″,”player_fade_speed”:”500″,”control_opacity”:”0,0.9″,”fade_speed”:”250,250″,”style”:2}’]
Noel also appears to be a good fit next to Harrison Barnes, who’s been much better at 4 than the 3 in his first year with the Mavericks. Noel brings a shot-blocking and rebounding presence that can help Dallas overcome potential size mismatches Barnes will face — like tonight, for example, when he was up against Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins.
It also means that now, as Barnes will probably play almost 100 percent of his minutes with either Nowitzki or Noel on the floor, that he’ll be used less as a screen-setter to generate switches and more as a perimeter guy who can attack bigger, off-balance defenders who check down (or up) to help against either Noel or Nowitzki. Any two of those three guys can play together and the Mavs will maintain versatile, effective offensive options at both 4 and 5.
“It’s really interchangeable with Dirk and Harrison being as versatile as they are, and I’m able to switch some things up defensively,” Noel said. “Just being able to open some things up for the guys on the pick-and-roll is something I take pride in.”
As for Barnes, it means he could have more opportunities to drive, or perhaps to even handle the ball. It wouldn’t be out of the question to see somewhere down the line — assuming the Mavericks re-sign Noel this summer, as he’ll be a restricted free agent — Barnes handling the ball in pick-and-rolls of his own, one of the only things that hasn’t been asked of him yet.
“We’ve all gotta learn how to throw lob passes,” Barnes joked. “That’s the biggest thing now.”
In addition to Noel, the Mavericks also still have Salah Mejri and Dwight Powell, each of whom can score efficiently in the spread pick-and-roll. Dallas can now have above-average roll presence on the floor for 48 minutes if it so chooses, and that’s going to make things easier for everyone else on the team. Case in point: Dallas shot 12 of 26 on 3s, and Nowitzki scored 18 points on just 12 shots.
These kinds of nights could begin to happen more often the rest of this season and, most importantly for the suddenly young Mavericks, the years to come.
Share and comment