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The Brooklyn Nets need to be wary of their next decision on starting point guard Spencer Dinwiddie who will be in the final year of his contract next season.
“I would not do an extension with Spencer Dinwiddie unless I’m getting him at a $13-to-$15 million number here,” said ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks on April 22. “He’s extension-eligible for four [years] for $128 [million] starting August 7th. He’s in the last year of his contract. Nice player. Sixth-man on a good team. Not your go-to point guard. Probably ranked 20th to 25th in the NBA here.”
It’s brutally honest criticism of the 30-year-old who was re-acquired at the trade deadline.
Dinwiddie averaged 16.5 points, 9.1 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 26 regular season appearances for the Nets after being dealt back to Brooklyn by the Dallas Mavericks for Kyrie Irving. He did not shoot the ball well from deep in the regular season but improved his efficiency from deep in the postseason.
Despite that, Marks — who spent 20 years with the Nets organization — cautions that the raw numbers belie the negative impact Dinwiddie had on the Nets’ overall performance.
“Outscored by 21 points in clutch time when Dinwiddie was on the court,” explained Marks. “Among 100 players that took 100 three-point attempts from February 9th to the end of the season, he ranked 96th in three-point field goal percentage 28.9[%]. That’s Spencer Dinwiddie. You put him with Luka [Doncic] and you put them with Jalen Brunson, things look a lot differently. When you put them as the feature, not for four [years] for $128 [million]. So he’ll go into the last year of his contract.”
Dinwiddie is heading into the final year of a four-year, $54 million contract.
Spencer Dinwiddie Taking a Pragmatic Approach to Offseason
“I think that’s what you figure out first,” Dinwiddie said in his exit interview on April 23 via the Nets’ YouTube channel of the front office’s need to address just who will and won’t be on the team next season, including him.
“The funny thing is with me every year, every stop, every next step in the journey I always played the game to win. And this resulted in me wearing a bunch of different hats, right? I’ve done just about everything. Sixth-man gunner, I mean well shoot bench guy first. Reserve point guard – managed offense – sixth-man gunner, starting point guard kind of still managing offense, to primary scorer, to now this past stand has been like try to be the league leader in assists. Then with Luka, it was spot-up shooter.”
Dinwiddie averaged 15.7 points and ranked second in the NBA with 10.9 assists per contest over the last 15 games of the regular season. He also added 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals but struggled from beyond the arc, shooting 26.6% in that span.
He was able to up that rate to 38.9% in the postseason.
“Again whatever happens happens,” Dinwiddie said of this offseason. “I think obviously anybody at my stage of career wants to play meaningful basketball. Obviously, the Nets have like I said about three routes to go. Two of those three are meaningful basketball, and even the third, if you do blow it up or whatever and you end up being tasked with being kind of a veteran on that group…The great part about here, like I said, feeling like you’re home. Sometimes you do whatever is necessary for the family right?”
How Does Jacque Vaughn View Spencer Dinwiddie?
Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn was clear that the Nets need to get more physical, particularly on the glass. But he was also clear about the need for more players who are capable of getting to the rim and putting pressure on the defense.
Whether or not Vaughn thinks Dinwiide can be a part of that remains to be seen.
“Overall I just want to win,” Dinwiddie said. “Figure it out one step at a time. Whatever direction the organization chooses to go is where they choose to go.”
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