Getty Luka Doncic #77 of the Dallas Mavericks.
After the Dallas Mavericks made the Western Conference Finals last season, this summer was viewed as an opportunity to build on the surprising success.
But months later, that initial optimism has been replaced by a healthy dose of tepid reality. Jalen Brunson is gone, with no real replacement. Christian Wood could provide a nice offensive upgrade, but he’s projected to be Dallas’ sixth man.
Of particular concern is the lack of a strong backcourt partner for Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic. Brunson was an excellent Robin to Doncic’s Batman, but he traded Dallas for Gotham in the New York Knicks. Into Brunson’s place steps Spencer Dinwiddie.
But what does the season have in store for the Doncic-Dinwiddie tandem? According to Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report, that remains Dallas’ number one question heading into the new season.
Can Spencer Dinwiddie Become Dallas’ Secondary Playmaker?
On July 31, Bailey conducted a dive into Brunson’s stats from 2019-20 and compared them to Brunson’s 2021-22 numbers. And the results were surprising and, for Mavs fans, relieving.
Player A is 2019-20 Spencer Dinwiddie. Player B is 2021-22 Jalen Brunson.
This one was requested by @IsaacLHarris.
The numbers hold up beyond just those two seasons. Over their respective careers, Dinwiddie has more points (13.0) and assists (5.0) per game than Brunson’s totals (11.9 and 3.7, respectively). Further, Dinwiddie has shown that he can thrive in the absence of star power; 2019-20 was his best season and came when he was arguably the best player on an upstart Brooklyn Nets team.
But that Dinwiddie is used to handling the burden of leading a team also has its downsides. There’s a clear pecking order in Dallas, with Doncic, not Dinwiddie, at the top. If Dinwiddie can accept that role, he should find great success in Dallas.
In the same breath, Dinwiddie shouldn’t completely lose his on-court leadership abilities. Doncic is almost a lock to miss a handful of games every season. And when Doncic sat, Brunson generally thrived as the team’s lead creator and playmaker. Dinwiddie could be called to a similar position next season.
Like all things, it’s all about balance for Dinwiddie. But Dinwiddie’s upside over Brunson isn’t limited to his stat-grabbing.
Dinwiddie Could be a Defensive Upgrade Over Brunson
As Bailey wrote, the box score isn’t the only potential place Dinwiddie could serve as an upgrade over Brunson.
“Beyond the numbers, Dinwiddie is also four inches taller than Brunson. That alone makes him easier to fit into a modern defensive scheme,” Bailey wrote on September 26.
“And with the addition of Christian Wood, Dinwiddie doesn’t have to replace all of the production Brunson put up in 2021-22. He just has to be able to step into that secondary creator role, and plenty of his history suggests he can.”
Is Dinwiddie an excellent defender? Not by any means. If anything, that’s one of the biggest knocks in his game. His steals rate of 1.2% last season was in the 34th percentile among all point guards, per Cleaning the Glass. But then again, Brunson’s steals rate was somehow worse (31st percentile).
If Dinwiddie can find even league-average defense, he’ll be an immediate upgrade over Brunson on that end of the floor.