Offseason questions: Will Dahntay play the role of DeShawn?
Earl K. Sneed writes that with his perimeter defense, toughness and ability to knock down shots from the outside, new addition Dahntay Jones could play the role DeShawn Stevenson did for two seasons in Dallas.
Offseason questions: Will Dahntay play the role of DeShawn?
There is precedence for this.
Back in the 2009-10 season, when the Dallas Mavericks pulled off a seven-player trade with Washington right after All-Star Weekend that notably sent Josh Howard to the Wizards in exchange for forward Caron Butler and center Brendan Haywood, most believed swingman DeShawn Stevenson to simply be an add-on to sweeten the deal.
In Butler, the Mavericks were getting a two-time All-Star that assumed some of the scoring responsibilities off of Dirk Nowitzki’s and Jason Terry’s shoulders. Meanwhile, Haywood was having a career-best year before the trade went down, posting 9.8 points and 10.3 rebounds a night for the Wizards before eventually beating out Erick Dampier for the starting spot in Big D.
But it was Stevenson that would prove to be more than just a sweetener in the deal, providing gritty perimeter defense and draining timely shots from the outside while starting five of his 24 appearances during the regular season.
That team would go on to lose to the San Antonio Spurs in six games of a first-round playoff series, but it set the table for the next season when the Mavericks would sprint to the NBA title. And after Butler went down with a mid-season ruptured patellar tendon injury and new addition Tyson Chandler pushed Haywood to the bench, Stevenson would be the one from the trio providing the biggest lift during the championship chase.
During the 2011 NBA Finals series against Miami, Stevenson connected on 13-of-23 shots from behind the 3-point arc to help lift the Mavericks to their first title in franchise history. He also provided suffocating defense on the likes of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
And although he would eventually move on to New Jersey and now Atlanta in free agency, Stevenson may have provided the perfect blueprint for Mavs new addition Dahntay Jones.
Lost in the excitement behind the addition of point guard Darren Collison in the sign-and-trade deal that sent backup big man Ian Mahinmi to Indiana is the fact that the Mavericks also added a gritty defender and highflyer in Jones in the transaction. The free-agent signings of Chris Kaman and O.J. Mayo, in addition to the amnesty claiming bid of Elton Brand, has also pushed Jones to the backburner.
The 6-foot-6 nine-year veteran has averaged 6.0 points and 1.9 rebounds in 16.8 minutes during stints with Memphis, Sacramento, Denver and Indiana. The 20th overall pick in ‘03 by Boston had his draft rights traded to Memphis before spending his first four seasons with the Grizzlies.
He’s played in 511 career games (138 starts) and suited up in 65 outings for the Pacers last season, averaging 5.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in 16.2 minutes a night. But he also shot a career-best 42.9 percent from 3-point land a year ago, which could help a team that lost long-range assassins Jason Kidd and Terry in free agency.
Defensively, Jones is expected to take some of the burden off of forward Shawn Marion’s hands as the two will likely see most of the time guarding the other team’s best perimeter scorer. But if he, a la Stevenson, can also knock in shots from the outside with regularity, then Jones’ impact on the Mavericks could be far greater than expected on the offensive end of the floor.
And if there is anything Mavs coach Rick Carlisle has shown in his tenure in Dallas, the case of Stevenson included, it’s that he will get the most of his players, especially ones as highly-regarded as Jones across the league.
