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

[MAVS-SLO]

I think Din will need to beat out Exum.  He will need to prove he can still be the '21 player.  If he does, I expect he plays more minutes than we expect.  He was not good last year.  The Nets fans thought he quit on the team and was not good anyway.  He also wasn't good with the Lakers and failed to find a productive role.  Buyout players fits can be tricky in a tight window to end the season but there was probably a bigger role for him there but he failed to capitalize on it.    Then this summer it appears there were not many suitors, if any, above the minimum.  Other players got caught in this as well where money dried up, but regardless is it not a good place for a guy who still should be near his prime years. 

The mavs finished the year so hot last year.  Having Kyrie healthy during this stretch was one of the big reasons for this hot stretch.  Mavs really had to grind during this stretch and found ways to keep on winning games.  Looking at Kyrie history, you probably need to factor in 50-55 games from him.    If you get more....great, but he seems to get things that makes him miss games during the season.  I think the Mavs did a good job looking to protect themselves when Kyrie is out.  The West is brutal.  You need to find ways to keep your head above water when one of your better player missing 10 games in a row.

It is now up to Din to prove he can beat out Exum and also show he can still get to the level that he was with at the Mavs.  He time before the Mavs and after Mavs have not been very promising.

In my opinion it will be a big difference between Exum's role here and Dinwiddie's, as they are 2 different types of player.

Exum is a good defender and if i remember well, he played most minutes with Kyrie and Luka on the court. On the paper, Exum is point guard, but he isn't floor general or someone who will lead second or a third unit.

Dinwiddie is basically just that. Someone who will lead 2 or a third unit, so i could also see them playing together on the court. Exum will also fight for his minutes with Grimes.

In my opinion, Dinwiddie signing is very underrated move here, as we were lacking of someone who can lead 2 or a third unit last year. I think most concerns about how bad he was last year aren't correct and that biggest difference is in his role and expectations. And that isn't something just from the last season, but also from the 2 season in the Mavs uniform, before he was traded to Brooklyn.

His role isn't to be 2 or a third option. In my opinion, he is PG version of Tim Hardaway, or Hardaway with creation.   He can go on the really good series (as it was in playoff's with us), to the situation where he couldn't get a bucket for a few games.

Iztok Franko said in one Slovenian podcast 2 years ago (before the start of the season) that Spencer is also one of the most intelligent players on the Mavs roster.

And with his signing here he also proved that he isn't going to make same mistake twice. He knows the coach, system, most of the players, so he accepted vet min. to come back to Dallas. 

In my opinion that speaks a lot about that.

And if i may predict, i would say that Dinwiddie in Dallas will be one of the candidates for 6 man of the year award. And that is also the role where his production is the best. Similar to what it was in first season in Dallas. Behind Luka and Brunson.

Again, something is playing in Dallas, in a team with chemistry, leadership, franshize behind them, than playing on a tanking team where the players are there just to put numbers.

And for that just interesting statistics of Spencer:

2021/22 season Washington Wizards (before traded to Mavs):

44 games. 12.6 ppg (43.2% for 2, 31.1% for three), 4.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists on 30 minutes per game.

2023/2024 season Brooklny Nets:

48 games. 12.6 ppg (48% for 2, 32% for three), 3.3 rebounds, 6 assists on 31 minutes per game.

Welcome back Spencer!