FA: Naji Marshall To DAL | 3yrs/27mil

[surfpuckmd]

I forgot, so sorry - are the guy who doubles as a Pelicans fan, or is that SuperpuckMD?

Here I come to save the day!!!  I am indeed a Pelicans fan as well and also a former season-ticket holder.

Naji is a really good role player.

Excellent defender although not as quick or athletic as DJJ.  Naji is stronger and more physical.   

He was a poor 3-point shooter until last season when he suddenly figured that out.  The Pelicans had a great shooting coach named Fred Vinson and a lot of our players improved similarly under his guidance.

One big plus is that Naji is a tough dude and the player who took the most offense to every dirty hit last season on Zion.  Naji would have gone after Westbrook for all the dirty shit he did to Luka in round 1.  It will be nice to have a badass in the rotation.  I understand Markieff Morris was supposed to be that guy for us but Morris has no on-court value.  

The downside of Naji is that he will periodically make really terrible decisions on offense.  He might decide to shoot a contested 18-footer early in the shot clock.  He might drive to the rim into traffic and get his shot blocked.  He might try a Luka-level pass and throw it out of bounds.  He sometimes decides to try to take the moment over and he's not talented enough on offense to make that happen.  Basically, he doesn't know his limitations as well as DJJ does.  

I think he's a comparable player overall to DJJ and don't expect much drop off.  I would rather he come off the bench and provide energy and tenacity from there.  I'm hoping Klay Thompson is our starting SF this coming season.  A bench unit of Exum, Grimes, Naji, Kleber and Gafford would be among the NBA's best..

[Winter]

Nice Naji Marshall highlight file from Panda Hank - good defensive clips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GrUky0B6p8

[vfromlmf]

Call me crazy but it sure seems like Naji and DJJ were both available and Dallas took Naji.

DJJ announced with LAC after.

[Kidnova]

Call me crazy but it sure seems like Naji and DJJ were both available and Dallas took Naji.

DJJ announced with LAC after.

Who knows, but given the timing it seems to me that the Clips knew fairly early that PG13 was moving on so they made an offer to DJJ that they didn't think Dallas could match given their pursuit of KT.  They were right.

[DallasMaverick]

Call me crazy but it sure seems like Naji and DJJ were both available and Dallas took Naji.

DJJ announced with LAC after.

It sure seems like the decision had been made some time ago. Otherwise Dallas could have announced an agreement immediately. 

I’ll bet the change of agent was the result of the failure to reach an agreement, rather than the cause of it.

[LukaMVP]

Naji will play good enough to justify this choice. what's even more delightful is dude brings us elements we didn't have on court, physicality and especially the presence of a badass.

[Winter]

Naji will play good enough to justify this choice. what's even more delightful is dude brings us elements we didn't have on court, physicality and especially the presence of a badass.

After watching video, he looks significantly stronger than DJJ. Statistically better FT shooter, more assists, better mid-range game, better in transition and better with defensive rebounds.

Probably doesn't block shots like DJJ, not as strong with offensive rebounds, and not yet the lob factor that Dereck is, but when it's all together there's not really any drop-off from these videos.

[mvossman]

Call me crazy but it sure seems like Naji and DJJ were both available and Dallas took Naji.

DJJ announced with LAC after.

I’m going to give front office credit and assume DJJ was not an option because he wanted to start. Otherwise the Nico plan 1A and 1B is even more bullshit, as well as the report that Marshall was a backup plan. 

As somebody already mentioned, he had by far his best year after having his role significantly reduced to 18 minutes a game. That does not bode for his game to scale well with bigger workload.

[Winter]

Honestly, there's no reason that can fully explain DJJ not signing with the Mavs given what we know. So I'm assuming there's something we just don't know.

Hopefully that comes out in the next week or so.

[Kidnova]

I’m going to give front office credit and assume DJJ was not an option because he wanted to start. Otherwise the Nico plan 1A and 1B is even more bullshit, as well as the report that Marshall was a backup plan. 

As somebody already mentioned, he had by far his best year after having his role significantly reduced to 18 minutes a game. That does not bode for his game to scale well with bigger workload.

DJJ had played his way out of the rotation on a mediocre to bad Chicago team before signing his minimum deal here.  Fit matters and Naji being a 79% FT shooter makes me think his jump in 3P% wasn't an outlier, but something that he's going to build on with the wide open shots he's going to get in this offense.  I haven't seen enough of his play to know how he compares defensively, but there are definitely reasons to be optimistic about Naji's upside as a 3D guy coming off the bench.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

Based on how the bench looks right now, I'm guessing Jaden Hardy is going to have the ball a lot.

[KillerLeft]

When we get down to it, really, the thing with DJJ is a he’s a top 1% guy, athletically, even by NBA standards. There’s an awful lot to like about Marshall, and I am really glad they got him (and on a value contract), but I really think Jones’ athleticism was a nice deodorant for the shortcomings of the Luka/Kyrie backcourt.

Ultimately, it’s pretty obvious that after turning over every rock out there, the Mavs front office decided that the way to infuse offense into their team was at the starting small forward spot. I think I might have gone a different way, but believing in PJ and Lively as much as they do, and with DJJ’s contract being up, it’s pretty easy to see what they’re thinking.

Given the situation, Marshall is a very good add. I don’t think he’s going to fit quite as well as DJJ, but he’s probably going to be a GOOD fit.

[HoosierDaddyKidd]

When we get down to it, really, the thing with DJJ is a he’s a top 1% guy, athletically, even by NBA standards. There’s an awful lot to like about Marshall, and I am really glad they got him (and on a value contract), but I really think Jones’ athleticism was a nice deodorant for the shortcomings of the Luka/Kyrie backcourt.

Ultimately, it’s pretty obvious that after turning over every rock out there, the Mavs front office decided that the way to infuse offense into their team was at the starting small forward spot. I think I might have gone a different way, but believing in PJ and Lively as much as they do, and with DJJ’s contract being up, it’s pretty easy to see what they’re thinking.

Given the situation, Marshall is a very good add. I don’t think he’s going to fit quite as well as DJJ, but he’s probably going to be a GOOD fit.

Really don't have a choice but to be optimistic. But truth be told, we don't know how things will work out after the Klay situation gets settled. They recovered from losing DJJ, which is still a huge loss to me.

[mvossman]

DJJ had played his way out of the rotation on a mediocre to bad Chicago team before signing his minimum deal here.  Fit matters and Naji being a 79% FT shooter makes me think his jump in 3P% wasn't an outlier, but something that he's going to build on with the wide open shots he's going to get in this offense.  I haven't seen enough of his play to know how he compares defensively, but there are definitely reasons to be optimistic about Naji's upside as a 3D guy coming off the bench.

Unfortunately Marshal has the same problem as most of our role players. He doesn’t shoot enough.  I don’t really think he solves the DJJ offensive concerns in the starting lineup, but he should make a good backup/rotational player.

[KillerLeft]

Unfortunately Marshal has the same problem as most of our role players. He doesn’t shoot enough.  I don’t really think he solves the DJJ offensive concerns in the starting lineup, but he should make a good backup/rotational player.

So, the shooting might be a mirage, that's for sure. But, he also might be on come up, both in accuracy and willingness to pull the trigger. I agree that's a concern, but it was a concern with Jones last year, too. 

And, Marshall is a pretty well-rounded offensive player. His handles are going to surprise some folks, and he's got an in-between game better than any Dallas role player I can remember. Kidd will probably want to dial that back a little, but he's comfortable taking turnarounds, pull-up jumpers, etc. I think you're selling his offense juuuuust a little short.

[Knutsen]

So, the shooting might be a mirage, that's for sure. But, he also might be on come up, both in accuracy and willingness to pull the trigger. I agree that's a concern, but it was a concern with Jones last year, too. 

And, Marshall is a pretty well-rounded offensive player. His handles are going to surprise some folks, and he's got an in-between game better than any Dallas role player I can remember. Kidd will probably want to dial that back a little, but he's comfortable taking turnarounds, pull-up jumpers, etc. I think you're selling his offense juuuuust a little short.

So basically he’s a poor man’s Josh Howard spiced with a little DeShawn-Stevenson-crazy?

[KillerLeft]

So basically he’s a poor man’s Josh Howard spiced with a little DeShawn-Stevenson-crazy?

That's not a bad comp, actually. I think at his best, Howard was more polished, offensively, but the combo of him and Stevenson is a good reference, imho.

[KillerLeft]

I've been listening to a lot of Pod Maverick lately. I always kind of thought that was a sort of "ham and eggs" operation and never paid them much mind, but I've been pleasantly surprised to discover that they go pretty in-depth with their analysis, even though I don't always agree with their opinions. It's a better local source than Locked On Mavericks, especially since Isaac left.

Last night, one of them brought up the size of Marshall's hands - he had the third biggest hands in his draft, including bigs, which is interesting. Even more interesting was them pointing out that in the 2020 draft, Josh Green's hands were the second smallest, second only to Tyrell Terry, lol.

[Winter]

So size matters?

Crap.

[SleepingHero]

Call me crazy but I don't think Marshall is on this team past the TDL next year.

Just a gut feeling.