It takes someone comfortable in his own skin to say he’s had a man-crush on somebody for several years.
The infatuation with Daniel Gafford started in his rookie season when he was with Chicago. And it has grown ever since.
That’s what happens with players who (almost) never miss a shot whenever I see them.
And Gafford has been about as close to perfect as you can get whenever I’ve been at a game when he’s played.
The center that the Mavericks traded for on Thursday has played 10 games against them, most of them as a member of the Washington Wizards, including earlier this season when he had 10 points and nine rebounds on Nov. 15.
In that game, he made five of six shots.
In his career, he’s made 38-of-44 shots against the Mavericks. That’s a mere 86.4 percent. He never missed more than one shot in any of those 10 games.
To put it in nerdy terms, the 6-10 center had an offensive rating of 175 against the Mavericks. He was not higher than 151 against any other team in the NBA.
Now, he’s a Maverick.
P.J. Washington rightfully gets the bigger part of the spotlight in the Mavs’ draft-day dealings. That’s what a lottery pick (12th overall in 2019) deserves. And he will be a solid addition in many areas.
But in Gafford, who was the 38th pick in the second in that same draft as Washington, the Mavericks are getting a bouncy big man who can protect the rim and rebound. He’s smaller than Dereck Lively II, but has a lot of the same qualities.
And he’s only 25, as is Washington.
“Big-time rim protection, adding depth to our frontcourt,” general manager Nico Harrison said of Gafford. “I can just imagine him and Luka and Kai in the pick and roll and what that’s going to bring.”
What Gafford brings is the ability for the Mavericks to play much the same way when any combination of Lively-Gafford-Luka Dončić-Kyrie Irving are on the floor together. They can run the pick-and-roll with Gafford and he knows his strengths.
He has shot just one three-pointer in his career (a miss). But he is a weapon close to the basket, and with Dončić’s ability to compromised the defense, Gafford figures to get a lot of the same easy buckets that Lively has thrived on in his rookie season.
And Gafford’s presence should cut down on the situations when Jason Kidd has to manufacture small-ball lineups to compensate for an obvious lack of big men because of injuries or whatnot.
Gafford played 78 of 82 games last season and missed just five of the Wizards’ first 50 games this season.
Washington will help in that regard, too. He’s a versatile, 6-7, 230-pound forward who can pitch in at center or on the wings if need be. And he’s missed precious few games in his career.
Washington’s three-point shot is part of the reason why he was such a hot commodity leading up to the trade deadline. He had never shot below 36.5 percent – until the last two seasons. He slipped to 34.8 percent last season and this year it’s down to 32.4 percent.
Of course, the Hornets have been a dreadful team the past two seasons, including 10-40 before the trade deadline.
With the Mavericks, there should be no shortage of clean looks for Washington. And it’s reasonable to expect the law of averages to level out and for him to get back to his normal shooting numbers.
Through it all, the Mavericks know they have two proven big men who should be upgrades. But will it happen in the final 30 games of the season?
“I would like to ask everyone to have some patience, because any time you add two new pieces or maybe three new pieces, it takes time to get a rhythm and to understand each other,” coach Jason Kidd said. “But we’re very excited to have those two. So we got to get to work.”
What the Mavericks did with their deadline deals is admit that Grant Williams’ acquisition wasn’t working the way they had hoped.
That doesn’t mean the 6-6 forward was a bust. He had games when he showed the same skills that made him a team favorite in Boston, particularly in the playoffs, when it came to guarding tough opponents.
But it just wasn’t working here.
And it’s not all bad for Williams. Both he and Seth Curry get to return to their home state of North Carolina and that could energize both of their seasons.
For the Mavericks, it’s the start of a new look. Washington and Gafford will be instant parts of the rotation, perhaps starting on occasion.
Let’s just hope the fit is as good as some of us have envisioned for so long.
X: @ESefko
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