FA: Mavs Extend Hardy! | 3yrs/18mil

[omahen]

I don't think the extension should have come with a guarantee of minutes.

They took a gamble on the new deal. Most praised it (I was an outlier, because I thought it was an overpay for who he is, and hadn't seen progress). But now its up to Hardy to perform.

They are making him earn his minutes. When he sux, he plays less. He's been doing almost nothing but the meh stuff most games. His PER is a not-so-stellar 1.2. Yuck. So he sits a lot.

I don't blame any of that on the Mavs. And we just have to wait and see if he plays better. There's definitely an opening in the rotation for someone (Grimes isn't doing much better).

I also don't think it should come with a guarantee of minutes. Hardy had a very good first game against SA, and he had a meh game against Phoenix (like most of the team). His minutes were reduced after that game and SD took his spot in rotation. Hardy only receives a couple of minutes in the second quarter since that second game (not counting 4th quarter minutes in blow out games). I agree he should earn his minutes, but I also think he should get more of opportunity to actually do it. 

SD on the other hand has not been particularly good to really earn his spot. He is shooting 34 % from the floor and 27 % from three so far. But, might be Kidd loves the idea of playing with two creators at all times and SD is a bit better creator than Hardy. He makes more assists and less mistakes. None of them is a good defender but SD is bigger and therefor less of a target on defense (comes handy because Mavs are switching a lot). If Kidd really likes a guy for such a role, than this could be a player Mavs would be looking for on the market, as SD is really not that good playing it. Someone who can play 20 minutes on and off ball and is big enough to not be a complete defensive liability. And is of course on a small contract.

Still, if they don't see a role for Hardy, because they prefer a bigger third creator, still not sure why handing out the contract. Might be they mainly see him as a contract that will be useful to trade next season.