Mavs Spotlight: Fisher's leadership should immediately help young Mavs
Earl K. Sneed shines the Mavs Spotlight on the newest Dallas Maverick, Derek Fisher, writing that the addition of a veteran point guard should immediately help the Mavs.
Mavs Spotlight: Fisher's leadership should immediately help young Mavs
DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks may have found the leader they’ve coveted all season long.
Thursday, the Mavericks announced that they had waived reserve big man Troy Murphy in order to make room for the signing of five-time NBA champion and 38-year-old point guard Derek Fisher.
The moves came just a day after Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle’s preliminary announcement that Fisher would be signing with the team pending a physical as the Dallas squad searches for leadership while playing without 11-time All-Star Dirk Nowitzki (right knee surgery) and less than 24 hours after a 101-78 defeat in Chicago to fall to a third straight loss.
And with Fisher perhaps sliding straight into a starting role, 25-year-old Darren Collison — who was recently moved to the bench before missing Wednesday night’s loss due to a sprained right middle finger — admits that he is eager to learn from the aging veteran as the 7-9 Mavericks try to remain afloat until Nowitzki’s return.
“I think his leadership will help,” Collison said of his newest teammate. “He’s a veteran guy that’s been around the NBA for a very, very long time. And I think he’s going to help me grow into the player that I want to be and he’s going to help this team grow.”
Spending most of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers and winning five titles in L.A, Fisher also had short stints with Golden State, Utah and Oklahoma City. He holds career averages of 8.6 points, 3.1 assists, 2.1 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 26.2 minutes per game, playing in all 82 regular-season games in nine of his 16 professional seasons.
Fisher also stepped in and immediately helped the reigning Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder advance to the NBA Finals last season, mentoring two-time All-Star Russell Westbrook in the same role he could play in Collison’s young career.
Playing in 229 career postseason games and showing an ability to thrive in big moments, it’s Fisher’s experience and leadership that figures to help the Mavs most in the backcourt, according to Carlisle. And although he admits that his team was in need of a veteran floor general after the free-agent departure of Jason Kidd to New York this offseason, Carlisle is quick to add that Fisher’s integration alone will not be enough to transform the new-look Dallas team into a championship contender.
“We need help at the point guard position,” Carlisle told reporters after Wednesday’s loss. “And I think he can really help our situation with experience, defensively and really all areas of the game. … Right now, the point guard position is a challenge for us and I think Derek can help us.
“And again, I want to make this clear: I don’t see this as a cure-all to all of the challenges that we have as a team, but a guy with that kind of experience can help.”
Note: Derek Fisher is expected to make his Dallas debut when the Mavs return home to host the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night at the American Airlines Center. The game will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 8 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS (6287) or by visiting Mavs.com.
