FA: Spencer Dinwiddie Heads to DAL | 1 yr/vet min

[DallasMaverick]

Coaches don't think this way, nor should they. 

Kidd is going to play the guy who gives his team the best chance of winning on any given night. The guy who has been in those circumstances, with the most experience, who won't be afraid to try to score, and who won't make mistakes. That guy will be Dinwiddie. 

There's a reason he kept trying to go to Hardaway in the playoffs - because the willingness to shoot, or to try to create offense in any way, is so, so, so much more important than we realize as fans. We chastise players for "bad shots" but in reality, that's what the coaches WANT. Guys who move the defense with confidence. (Now THAT is a separate discussion worth having). 

Dinwiddie is more confident and capable of taking "bad shots" than Hardaway could be on his most irrationally confident day. All Mavs fans know is that those shots went in during that one playoff stretch in '22. If I'm running this team, those minutes go to Hardy, period. I think this is a terrible mistake.

My impression has been that Hardy is too willing to "force" stuff.  Shots, drives, passes.  My eye test says that he has a lot of turnovers that way.

It was even worse during summer league last year.  I think the coaches were trying to figure out whether he could be a point guard or not.  So they put the ball in his hands as the distributor, and oodles of turnovers and bad decisions resulted.

During the regular season, they mostly played him as the SG.  He didn't have to bring the ball up the court under pressure, he wasn't expected to be a distributor.  And he did much better. 

He was, indeed, better at putting the ball on the floor than THJ, which is why Kidd elevated him off the bench during the playoffs.

Dinwiddie?  Equally bad at defense, except he's a little bigger and stronger than Hardy. Offensively, more adept at penetration without turnovers, probably better judgment with the ball.  Not as prone to hunt bad shots, maybe?

31 years old, so right in his prime.

Yes, I think he'll steal minutes from Hardy.

I think it was a good move.