With the Mavericks opening a four-game stretch at home, they also are getting healthy after patching the rotation in creative ways for the past month.
This brings up the question of what will happen to a player like Jaden Hardy.
The 6-4 rookie had played rotational minutes in the past seven games before the Mavericks faced Atlanta on Wednesday. In those games, Hardy had shot 34.9 percent from three-point range – quite respectable for a rookie. He also had averaged 10.9 points.
Dorian Finney-Smith and Josh Green made their returns from injury on Wednesday against the Hawks.
Finney-Smith was in the starting lineup and pointed out beforehand that his absence, while tough, did have some silver linings.
“We got to look at the positives,” he said. “The young fellow (Hardy) got to play, he got to get on the court and get some experience out there.”
And the flashes of ability Hardy showed were great signs for the future – both long term and perhaps later this season, too.
Before Wednesday’s game, coach Jason Kidd said that Hardy had built up some equity with his play while the team was shorthanded. And that he would remain in the rotation – in some form or fashion.
“Hardy has done well with the absence of some of the players, and he will get some minutes,” Kidd said. “But this is a juggling act of trying to get some minutes for your guys who have been out to get them back in a rhythm and then back into their rotations. It’s going to take some time here.”
True to his word, Kidd inserted Hardy early in the second quarter with a group that included Green and Finney-Smith. The energy that bunch provided was infectious as the Mavericks stayed with the Hawks during non-Luka Dončić minutes.
Hardy has been thankful for the minutes he’s been getting. And his level of play suggests that he’s got a great future.
It also brings up the question of whether he might have enough credibility to be considered for the Rising Stars Game during All-Star weekend, primarily because of his high-flying, athletic style.
That determination has yet to be made.
Defense still a work in progress: Though Finney-Smith was back on the floor, the Mavericks’ defense clearly is going to require some time to get back to a competitive level.
The Mavericks gave up 40 first-quarter points to Atlanta on Wednesday.
“I just want to help any way I can – and that will be with my mouth,” Finney-Smith said before the game. “I’ll probably be out of shape but I’m going to be loud and me being loud will help the team. I got to be that talkative guy on defense.”
Kidd wanted the Mavericks to start building some rhythm, particularly on the defensive end, something that has been missing during the last month-plus.
“When you look at our defense, it’s 25-ish,” he said of the ranking over the past 20 games. “Not very good from where we were last year. It took us some time. But you could see we were going in the right direction defensively. Right now, we do miss personnel-wise, some of our defense. And hopefully we’re starting to get those guys back.
“We’re not asking Doe or Josh to solve that problem in one game. But with Maxi out, too, he’s very underrated throughout the league defensively. And he’s big for us because he can guard multiple positions.”
Kidd said that the reinforcements are more important to the kinds of defense the Mavericks can play than the level of effort they play them with.
“Hopefully as we can get healthy, we can start to get back to our principles and the different pitches we can throw defensively,” Kidd said. “Right now, we’re just staying with one or two pitches and that’s not going well because we’re just giving up too many points.”
Briefly: The Hawks have rookie A.J. Griffin in their rotation. He is the son of former Maverick Adrian Griffin, who had two stints in Dallas. A.J. was born in Dallas in 2003 . . . Kidd was asked pregame what he thought of the Mavericks-Hawks deal before the 2018 draft that swapped Luka and Trae Young: “I thought both teams got who they wanted. When you look at Atlanta getting Trae and Dallas getting Luka, I thought both parties were happy. I think it was more or less: let’s see how the trade works out. I think both franchises are happy with who they have.” . . . Tim Hardaway Jr. remained out with a left ankle sprain. He’s listed as day-to-day . . . Doncic received his player of the month award for December in a quick ceremony before the game.
Twitter: @ESefko
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