FoxPerez
06-21-2011, 01:52 PM
This article appears with video and pictures at PlaymakerOnline.com (http://bit.ly/k31AzS)
There were a lot of winners among the Dallas Mavericks after the team beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals: Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, Peja Stojakovic. But all of those guys were winners because their legacies were cemented by a championship. In a sense, their pasts were retroactively changed in our minds forever. Everything they did before, leading up to the 2010-2011 season, is made all the better because from now on, when we look back on their careers, we know they get that championship. But what about the young guys on the team? They still have their whole careers ahead of them.
JJ Barea was one of the biggest winners of the NBA Finals. He’s a free agent right now and Dallas should do the right thing by not only signing him, but giving him a solid paycheck and inserting him into their starting lineup for next season. Here’s why:
The Dallas Mavericks were 3-0 in the NBA Finals with him.
This fact seemed to be lost as soon as the NBA Finals were over. Some mentioned it, but only as an almost insignificant piece of trivia. Rick Carlisle knows better and so does his team. Barea made everyone better when he was on the floor in the playoffs.
As a starter in the Finals, Barea played 26 minutes per game, scored 40 total points, shot 50 percent from the floor as well as three-point range, and tallied 14 assists to only five turnovers.
In Game 5 alone, he was deadly. I heard one person refer to him as “the next Steve Nash,” which I thought was absurd. After all, Steve Nash is a back-to-back MVP and among the greatest point guards of all time. This is the first time we’ve seen Barea play like this in the playoffs. But when I went back and looked at what Barea did to Miami, the statement seemed to have merit.
Barea ran the pick-and-roll incredibly well. If his man went under the pick, or lagged behind on a slow switch, Barea buried the open three-pointer. If his man tried to go around the pick, Barea got into the paint and made something happen either for himself or for his teammates. The only thing Barea doesn’t have is Nash’s fadeaway jumper. Much like Nowitzki’s, it’s impossible to stop if he’s being guarded one-on-one by another point guard.
Let’s look at the bigger picture for Barea. According to 82games.com, even when Barea wasn’t scoring in the playoffs he was making his teammates better at a ridiculous rate: When Barea was on the floor, he assisted on more than 1/3 of his teammates’ field goals. Considering how often he was able to take over games by going to the basket and scoring, he was Dallas’ 2nd best offensive weapon after Dirk Nowitzki.
His usage numbers in the playoffs overall are pretty erratic. Because he didn’t start until the Finals, he only played more than 20 minutes in three games which is why his numbers in the last three games against Miami are so telling. So let’s look at a bigger sample size: the regular season.
According to 82games.com, Barea led the best five-man unit that the Dallas Mavericks fielded during games in the regular season. The five included Barea, Terry, Nowitzki, Marion, and Brendan Haywood. Because he was playing with a 2nd unit, he didn’t play with Tyson Chandler very often. Logic dictates that the Mavs would be all the more dangerous if they also re-signed Chandler so that he could play with Barea in the starting lineup and see just how well that starting five could be. Dallas was four points better per game when Barea was on the floor and, per 36 minutes (close to how much he’d play as a starter) Barea averaged 16.6 points and 6.8 assists per game.
JJ Barea has never been a starter in the NBA over the course of a regular season. It seems like a big risk to give him the money and hand him the keys to the team in that sense, but the stats say that he’s ready and it would be a smart move. When you look at what else Dallas has, it seems all the more necessary. The only other guys on the roster that could possibly play point guard are Kidd (who’s 38) and Rodrigue Beaubois (who came up way short of expectations this season).
Barea doesn’t blow you away with his speed. He’s constantly mocked (in good nature) by his teammates and the media for his height. He’s also got a big game, a championship, and the ability to lead Dallas in the future so that their 2011 season isn’t just the highlight of the end of so many legendary careers, but the start of a bright future as well.
There were a lot of winners among the Dallas Mavericks after the team beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals: Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, Peja Stojakovic. But all of those guys were winners because their legacies were cemented by a championship. In a sense, their pasts were retroactively changed in our minds forever. Everything they did before, leading up to the 2010-2011 season, is made all the better because from now on, when we look back on their careers, we know they get that championship. But what about the young guys on the team? They still have their whole careers ahead of them.
JJ Barea was one of the biggest winners of the NBA Finals. He’s a free agent right now and Dallas should do the right thing by not only signing him, but giving him a solid paycheck and inserting him into their starting lineup for next season. Here’s why:
The Dallas Mavericks were 3-0 in the NBA Finals with him.
This fact seemed to be lost as soon as the NBA Finals were over. Some mentioned it, but only as an almost insignificant piece of trivia. Rick Carlisle knows better and so does his team. Barea made everyone better when he was on the floor in the playoffs.
As a starter in the Finals, Barea played 26 minutes per game, scored 40 total points, shot 50 percent from the floor as well as three-point range, and tallied 14 assists to only five turnovers.
In Game 5 alone, he was deadly. I heard one person refer to him as “the next Steve Nash,” which I thought was absurd. After all, Steve Nash is a back-to-back MVP and among the greatest point guards of all time. This is the first time we’ve seen Barea play like this in the playoffs. But when I went back and looked at what Barea did to Miami, the statement seemed to have merit.
Barea ran the pick-and-roll incredibly well. If his man went under the pick, or lagged behind on a slow switch, Barea buried the open three-pointer. If his man tried to go around the pick, Barea got into the paint and made something happen either for himself or for his teammates. The only thing Barea doesn’t have is Nash’s fadeaway jumper. Much like Nowitzki’s, it’s impossible to stop if he’s being guarded one-on-one by another point guard.
Let’s look at the bigger picture for Barea. According to 82games.com, even when Barea wasn’t scoring in the playoffs he was making his teammates better at a ridiculous rate: When Barea was on the floor, he assisted on more than 1/3 of his teammates’ field goals. Considering how often he was able to take over games by going to the basket and scoring, he was Dallas’ 2nd best offensive weapon after Dirk Nowitzki.
His usage numbers in the playoffs overall are pretty erratic. Because he didn’t start until the Finals, he only played more than 20 minutes in three games which is why his numbers in the last three games against Miami are so telling. So let’s look at a bigger sample size: the regular season.
According to 82games.com, Barea led the best five-man unit that the Dallas Mavericks fielded during games in the regular season. The five included Barea, Terry, Nowitzki, Marion, and Brendan Haywood. Because he was playing with a 2nd unit, he didn’t play with Tyson Chandler very often. Logic dictates that the Mavs would be all the more dangerous if they also re-signed Chandler so that he could play with Barea in the starting lineup and see just how well that starting five could be. Dallas was four points better per game when Barea was on the floor and, per 36 minutes (close to how much he’d play as a starter) Barea averaged 16.6 points and 6.8 assists per game.
JJ Barea has never been a starter in the NBA over the course of a regular season. It seems like a big risk to give him the money and hand him the keys to the team in that sense, but the stats say that he’s ready and it would be a smart move. When you look at what else Dallas has, it seems all the more necessary. The only other guys on the roster that could possibly play point guard are Kidd (who’s 38) and Rodrigue Beaubois (who came up way short of expectations this season).
Barea doesn’t blow you away with his speed. He’s constantly mocked (in good nature) by his teammates and the media for his height. He’s also got a big game, a championship, and the ability to lead Dallas in the future so that their 2011 season isn’t just the highlight of the end of so many legendary careers, but the start of a bright future as well.