The Dallas Mavericks had established a squad that could compete in the Western Conference for many years to come, as demonstrated by their performance in the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
Dallas was in a wonderful place going into the offseason, despite losing the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics by a wide margin. Although the club needed to improve in certain areas, like shooting, they were in a strong position going into free agency, which would start in less than a month.
Re-signing Derrick Jones Jr. was initially the Mavs’ top goal, but this soon changed to signing Klay Thompson in a sign-and-trade. It doesn’t help that the Mavs chose to go in a different route and sign Naji Marshall to a three-year contract, and Jones Jr. changed agents just before free agency.
Given the mutual interest in a reunion, Jones Jr.’s departure from Dallas was initially shocking to some, but would it actually have a significant effect on the team’s makeup?
The Dallas Mavericks received flak for declining to re-sign Derrick Jones Jr.
Bleacher Report says that Dallas might suffer a great deal as a result.
The main point of Eric Pincus’ “case against” the top 10 NBA title favorites for the upcoming season, which he made against the Mavs, was Jones Jr.’s injury.
“Dallas let (Jones Jr.) go in free agency and chose to add another shooter in Klay Thompson, who isn’t the defender he was back in the championship years with the Golden State Warriors before multiple leg injuries,” said Pincus.
Pincus also thinks it might be “too optimistic” to expect Marshall to match Jones Jr.’s output and role.
Although Jones Jr. was excellent in his role and had a valuable impact on the Mavericks throughout the playoffs, fans are beginning to overreact to his departure from the team. Pincus is right when he says that Thompson’s defense isn’t as excellent as it once was, but it doesn’t seem to account for how good Marshall may be for the Mavericks.
In addition to being a superior passer, shooter, and ball handler than Jones Jr., Marshall also plays defense that is on par with Jones Jr.’s.
Although Mavs supporters initially found it difficult to witness Jones Jr.’s loss, the overreactions have to end. Claiming that Jones Jr.’s departure would be the primary factor in Dallas’ demise seems excessively harsh at this point, given the Mavs successfully replaced his defense by acquiring Marshall and dealing for Quentin Grimes.
The defense of the starting lineup did suffer when Jones Jr. was replaced by Thompson, but overall, the defense of the team may have become better. In that regard, Marshall and Grimes are the best. Fans shouldn’t dwell too much on Jones Jr.’s departure because their defensive contributions may easily replace his.
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