It’s time to continue our series breaking down the Mavericks’ roster.
Rather than just running down the assets and debits of each player, we’re going to approach this year’s roster evaluation a little differently.
With a sound track.
Since the Mavericks reached the Western Conference finals last season and have made it clear that championships are the only measuring stick they will use moving forward in the Luka Dončić era, it’s time to analyze what they need from each player to someday make that a reality, preferably sooner than later.
And there’s a theme song, sometimes more than one – basketball’s version of walk-up music, if you will – for each player.
So here we look at each player (in alphabetical order) and what they must accomplish for the Mavericks to be title worthy. We’ll assume good health for everybody, which is always the No. 1 issue.
Next up is Josh Green.
THEME SONGS: Who Can It Be Now and Be Good Johnny, both by Men At Work. (We had to have an Australian slant to Green’s songs)
KEY STAT FROM 2021-22 THAT MUST IMPROVE: 15.5 minutes per game. That was a modest jump from the 11 minutes per game he averaged as a rookie. If Green can carve out between 18 to 20 minutes per game, it will be a great sign that he has improved his consistency and earned a larger role.
BREAKDOWN: His theme songs were chosen because we couldn’t find any songs called Be Good Joshie. Plus, we’re looking forward to finding out just who Green can be. He’s shown flashes in two seasons, despite coming in during the COVID-19 era. He didn’t have a lot of seasoning going into his rookie season and this is the first summer in which he’s had time to work on his game. The 6-5 guard has a good motion game and a flair for finding cracks in the defense. He needs work on is 3-point shooting, but that area did improve markedly last season. His overall 50.9 percent shooting last season was outstanding and is a comment on his ability to get easy looks around the basket. It will be up to Jason Kidd and his staff to maximize that asset. The question is where Green is going to pick up his minutes. There’s a gaping hole in the rotation with Jalen Brunson gone. Tim Hardaway’s return from injury will eat up a lot of those minutes, and Spencer Dinwiddie figures to play more minutes, too. It remains to be seen whether Green can push those two, and keep his playing time ahead of rookie Jaden Hardy, Frank Ntilikina and Theo Pinson.
NEXT: Tim Hardaway Jr.
PREVIOUSLY:
Dorian Finney-Smith: https://www.mavs.com/finney-smith-profile/
Tyler Dorsey: https://www.mavs.com/dorsey-profile/
Luka Doncic: https://www.mavs.com/luka-profile/
Spencer Dinwiddie: https://www.mavs.com/dinwiddie-profile/
Reggie Bullock: https://www.mavs.com/profiles-bullock/
Davis Bertans: https://www.mavs.com/profiles-bertans/
TWITTER: @ESefko
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