DALLAS – Harrison Barnes has been the Dallas Mavericks’ go-to player the last two seasons. But with the Mavs now owners of so many accomplished playmakers, that may not necessarily be the case this season.
So said coach Rick Carlisle after day two of training camp Sunday at the Lympo practice facilities.
“He’s a good player, but I’m not going to get into talking about one guy needing the ball and one guy needing to get shots,” Carlisle said of Barnes. “We’ve got to get off of that.
“We’ve approached it a little bit like that the last couple of years and we’ve had horrendous results. We’ve got a better all-around roster this year, Harrison is still going to be one of our most important guys, but we want to have a nice balance on this team.”
With Dennis Smith Jr., Luka Doncic and Barnes among the candidates, the Mavs know they have a few options they can turn to when they need a clutch basket. And don’t forget, trusted 40-year old Dirk Nowitzki still remains a viable clutch-basket option.
Nowitzki, who for nearly two decades was the Mavs’ primary go-to player, will more than likely come off the bench this year for the first time in his career, according to Carlisle. Either way, Barnes knows Nowitzki will be a major factor on this team in some form or fashion this season.
“I think whether he starts or comes off the bench, I think the role he plays will be the role he’s been in the last couple of years,” Barnes said. “His ability to stretch the floor, his ability to make defenses stay honest on him with spacing whether it’s DeAndre (Jordan) rolling, Dwight Powell rolling, whoever it may be, having that stretch presence there is huge.
“Whether he’s starting, whether he’s coming off the bench, he has great chemistry with both of the point guards. So I think he’ll be effective regardless of where he is.”
During Barnes’ two seasons with the Mavs, he’s learned a lot from Nowitzki. He’s learned how to be a leader on and off the court, he’s learned how to take over games, he’s learned how to put in the extra work when the mind and body wants to go home, and he’s learned how to mentally move on to the next game following a loss.
These are some examples of what Nowitzki has taught Barnes since the latter signed a four-year free agent contract with the Mavs in the summer of 2016.
“The work that you put in goes a lot farther than anything that you can say,” Barnes said in describing what Nowitzki taught him. “Guys see you putting in the work, they see you competing every day in practice, they see how you’re laying it on the line ever single night, games, whether, you’re hurt, injured, whatever it may be.
“I think that is a bigger testimony than anything that you can say.”
With Nowitzki’s role being much lesser than it was when he was in his prime, Barnes knows being a team’s go-to player comes with much greater responsibilities. That’s why he’ll be depending on his teammates – particularly Dennis Smith Jr. and Luka Doncic – to make life easier for him whenever he’s called upon to take a game-deciding shot.
“Those guys, they can create a lot of problems,” Barnes said of Smith and Doncic. “They can cause a double-team.
“They can get me open shots that require me to have less isolations, and throughout the course of the season that can make a huge difference.”
For 20 years, playing alongside talented teammates made a world of difference for Nowitzki. The 13-time All-Star was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2007, and the MVP of the NBA Finals when he led the Mavs to their only championship in 2011.
Before he joined the Mavs, Barnes marveled at what Nowitzki was able to accomplish. He heard the stories of his workaholic attitude, of his being the consummate teammate, and his self-deprecating ways.
Now, Barnes has seen it all about Nowitzki first-hand. And it has resonated with him and with others who have also witnessed it.
“I think it’s just a testament to the care that he takes of his body, the time that he’s put in,” Barnes said. “Everyone has the same amount of time in every day.
“So for him to achieve that level, I think it speaks to how much dedication he’s had.”
In a way, that dedication is what’s going to help Barnes lead the Mavs to the promise land. But with the Western Conference as talented and deep as it’s ever been from top to bottom, he realizes it won’t be an easy task.
“You look at the top of the West, Golden State is still going to be a great team, Houston’s going to be a great team,” Barnes said. “Whether it’s OKC, Utah or Portland, teams are going to be stacked still, so I think for us the focus just goes back to internally just competing every night.
“I think we’re, like I said, on paper, we’re getting better, but that time to develop that chemistry is huge for us. Other teams have had a little bit longer time to develop that than we have, but I feel confident in the guys that we’ve added that, personality-wise, they’ve meshed seamlessly. They’ve bought into what we’re trying to do here.”
Barnes led the Mavs in scoring the past two seasons with averages of 19.2 points and 18.9 points, respectively. And with more playmakers on the roster, he may get some better looks at the basket than he did the past two years.
“Harrison’s been our go-to guy the last two years, so not a lot is going to change,” Carlisle said. “We want to strike a real balance with our team, we want to use all of our playmakers so that there’s not huge stress on just one guy.
“Sometimes at the end of games our best offensive situation is going to be to run some kind of a team action and see where the best shot is created. But we’re still evolving. This is day two (of training camp). We’ve got a long way to go, but so far very positive.”
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