The Mavericks made a change to their starting lineup in Monday’s game against Phoenix, benching Grant Williams in favor of Tim Hardaway Jr., tweets Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports. The other four starters were Luka Doncic, Dante Exum, Derrick Jones Jr. and Dereck Lively.
While Hardaway is starting on Christmas, head coach Jason Kidd said before the game that once Kyrie Irving returns from his heel injury, the starting five will be Doncic, Irving, Exum, Jones and Lively, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link).
Williams, a 6’6″ forward who was acquired in a sign-and-trade with Boston, inked a four-year, $53.4MM deal as a restricted free agent this offseason. He had started all 26 games in which he appeared this season for Dallas, averaging 9.4 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 1.8 APG on .422/.399/.656 shooting in 26 contests (29.2 MPG).
Exum (two years, $6.15MM; only 2023/24 is guaranteed) and Jones (one-year, minimum salary) signed far less lucrative contracts than Williams, but they’ve both been playing well, especially lately. The Mavs have a plus-14.7 net rating in their 190 minutes on the court together, MacMahon adds.
Williams came off the bench for the majority of his four seasons with the Celtics, so it likely won’t be a difficult adjustment for the 25-year-old. Still, it’s a noteworthy change for Dallas, which currently holds a 17-12 record, good for the No. 5 seed in the West.
Exum has been a surprise this year… Not as much as Lively…
The Mavs are getting a lot out of their bargain contracts…
They did very well in the offseason with not a lot to work with. Thought that coming into the season, but even I didn’t think things would work out this well.
Seems kinda unnecessary considering they are playing well and even weirder considering Williams is one of their best defenders on a team which is poor defensively. Grant is the ideal role player as he hits threes well and defends, I don’t think you can just play 3 guards and expect results but I’ve been wrong many times before.
If anything it would make more sense to get rid of a guard and get in another forward and continue to improve the defence. Such as
Kyrie, Holmes and Hardy for Siakim and Boucher
Mavs can build some kinda rotation out of this
Exum Luka DJJ Siakim Lively
Curry Green THJ Williams Kleber Boucher
Raptors would be better too I think
Kyrie GTJ OG Scottie Poeltl
Schroder Gradey Otto McDaniel Precious Holmes
Jones has outplayed Williams. Williams has looked sluggish on defense when he was brought in to be a lock-down 3 & D. Jones and Lively are both ball hawks. The change is merited. Kyrie is going nowhere. Mavs gave up too much to get him.
The Raptors are not taking on Kyrie unless it’s a straight salary dump and he could possibly push them to title contention. They are nowhere close to that and who would risk Kyrie losing interest on a non contending team in less than ideal market.
If raps trade for a big name guard it will be for Dejounte.
Let’s give Jason Kidd some credit with the way Dallas turned around what looked like a disaster last year.
You mean Luka
Jason Kidd has already coached 1 championship team in the NBA. It is realistic to think he can do well on another. The player soup he had last season was poisoned. The new acquisitions and complimentary subtraction’s have changed the composition of the meal. Even last year they were good until the trade for Kyrie Irving made them unbalanced and the started losing. It wasn’t Kyrie’s or Jason’s fault that the players they had mixed so severely bad with the non-defensive duo of Doncic and Irving. The trade gave them a poor defensive player at all 5 starting spots. They dumped their starters at 3 spots and kept Doncic and Irving. They added defensive stopper types at the other 3 positions. So far it has worked. Luka Doncic was on this ream when it was winning and when it was losing. Proving he can contribute to both. His offensive superiority probably contributes more to winning than his defensive shortcomings contribute to losing. So he’s part of a winning culture now. Last year with 5 poor defenders starting he was part of a losing culture but he was certainly not the cause of it. Jason Kidd has a title as a coach but also coached last seasons disaster ending. He won a title so we have to assume he was not toxic to winning. That said last year’s disaster proves he may not be the secret sauce to it either. Or more likely the GM accidentally poisoned the mix by trading away the good defensive players and acquiring bad defensive players. Most coaches only win titles with 1 team. Time will tell if Jason Kidd will be oneof the rare one’s like Pat Riley and Phil Jackson that win them at 2 or more NBA teams.
Grant Williams is an extremely limited player. You get good D and a good spot up shooter. And that’s it.
Yet he still somehow makes millions….
So 3 and D? Basically what every team desperately wants.
Not all 3 and D players are the same. Someone who can hit threes off of movement and screens is a lot more valuable than a standstill shooter. On defense, there’s the ability to generate turnovers and do well on the boards. And, of course, you’d ideally like someone who can convert at the rim or make a few passes to improve the flow of the offense. He is giving you none of that.
Of course, he’s doing fine for his contact. If he wasn’t so limited, he’d be making a lot more money.
Grant is so overrated on D its kinda funny. Seeing so many people just regurgitate the refrain that hes good just shows how few people actually watch him play before they say it.
Advanced metrics beg to differ. I know, I know, your long time scouts eyes know better than unbiased statistics.
Jimmy Butler says NO!!!
What were you expecting for a guy getting paid $13MM a year? If you want an elite 3 and D guy, be prepared to pay closer to 25MM these days. Decent but not great D and 40% from three sounds about right for the cost involved.
Williams is about the same player whether he starts or comes off the bench, so if you were going to move one guy, he makes the most sense of the Mavs starters. He’s a decent player, but he doesn’t really have another gear, so to speak. Just always is what he is.
Jones, meanwhile, has surpassed all expectations and brings a lot of mobility and toughness to the starters. His athleticism and switchability makes him a great option to play next to Lively.
Exum has also been fantastic for the Mavs. His defense hasn’t been what it was as a young man, but he’s still better than Hardaway is defensively and has more length than him on that end. If they were going to run a 3-guard setup, it makes sense that he’s the choice. They’re choosing to lean into their strengths (offense, shooting, ball movement) rather than hiding their defensive weakness. Trying to balance it.
I was really hoping Mavs pick up Grant, but now I can see why Boston started playing him less.
He is too big to stay with the quick wings, and he is too short as a power forward to stay with the big forwards.
If Grant was 2-3 inches taller he would have made a great power forward. He is like a Swiss Army knife. Can play a lot of positions, but there will be someone on his team that plays a particular position better.
Mavs need Maxi back badly to guard the big forwards like Towns, and play back up center. He is past his prime and injury prone, but that’s how bad it the Mavs need a big forward and back up center.