Jalen Brunson‘s play in recent weeks has made the Mavericks look even wiser for dealing second-year guard Dennis Smith Jr. as part of the Kristaps Porzingis blockbuster, according to Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News.
A high second-round pick, the rookie guard out of Villanova has averaged 15.8 PPG and 4.3 APG over the past 10 games for the Mavericks. Brunson, who has become a starter since the trade, signed a partially-guaranteed four-year, $6.1MM contract last summer.
“He does everything right,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said of Brunson. “He works at his craft and pays attention to detail. … This guy was the 33rd pick in the draft. Pretty good.”
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- Signing Magic free agent center Nikola Vucevic would make the Mavericks an offensive powerhouse but also create defensive concerns, Townsend opines. Dallas will have ample cap room to pursue free agents this summer and have been linked to Vucevic. “Vucevic would be a great fit in terms of being able to space the floor offensively and when you’re talking about potentially (Kristaps) Porzingis out there at the same time and Luka (Doncic), you’re talking about potentially an offensive team that’s unstoppable or about as close as you can get,” Townsend said in a podcast. “And Vucevic can score with his back to the basket he’s really rounded into an all-around player this year. Is he going to protect the rim for them? No, he’s not.”
- Making the right lottery pick, determining the business and basketball impact of an Anthony Davis trade, figuring out whether to retain or trade Jrue Holiday and deciding whether to retool or rebuild are the biggest challenges for the Pelicans front office this summer, ESPN’s Bobby Marks writes. Marks takes a long look at all of these issues as part of a series that breaks down every team’s offseason moves.
- The Pelicans might eventually shut down Holiday and E’Twaun Moore for the rest of the season, Will Guillory of The Athletic tweets. Holiday is nursing an abdominal injury and Moore is dealing with a quad issue. Coach Alvin Gentry told Guillory the team would be “overly cautious” during their recovery.
2x national champion and last years NCAA player of the year Jalen Brunson
I had this guy as a total bust, not even making the league. I’m 0 for 2 on my lofty claims.
Wrong about Luca also. How can a guy be that good and be 6-8 and slow? But he is. Practically an All-Star.
How about if I say this. Certain quality coaches can get the best out of players. And Carlisle is one of those guys. If Jalen Brunson was on another team he may never get off the bench?
Nice things coach said about Brunson. Working hard putting his mind to it and succeeding. Nice job.
Brunson’s still listed at 6-3, I guess they weren’t kidding. The smallish PG Memphis got just before Brunson in the draft that took attention away… little impact.
How all these teams missed on Jalen is a mystery. Scouts get so caught up in what a guy isn’t (tall, great 3 point shooter, lightning fast), they lose track of what he is (smart, tough, strong, fearless…) most importantly… a winner.
He’s actually shot the ball well too.
Absolutely, it’s crazy how they miss guys like this looking for the next whoever
I’m one of those guys. I said don’t draft him he won’t make it.
Totally agree! Right now I rather have Brunson than DSJ in Dallas, is looking such a great trade for them, not so much for the Knicks!
Brunson has a a Brogdon vibe
Pels have to trade Holiday. Makes no sense to keep him during a rebuild. Add the assets from AD trade to the assets from the Holiday trade and then, most importantly, resign Randle and they got a solid foundation. Randle gonna need a bag though so they need that cap space from trading AD and Holiday. But he gon be sought after and might get a near max offer from a desperate org so they gots to come correct.