GAME 58: DAL (34-24) @ MIA (37-21): 107-99 WIN!

[mvossman]

In regards to DFS, this is not reflective of their rookie play.  The Mavs had DFS playing because he was better prepared for the NBA than Green. It wasn't patience. He was getting rotation minutes his rookie season. DFS had 4 years of college basketball. He knew where to be on the court. He knew what to do when he didn't have the basketball. His 3-point shot in college was better than Green's 3-point stat. DFS was ready for those minutes.

We can make the case it will take Green longer to develop because he wasn't playing much college ball. I'm OK with that. But no matter how you work it, Green has to have a 3-point shot. Very few wings are ever going to survive in the NBA without it these days. And in Green's position, he must have confidence in shooting perimeter shots. That why JJ is a comparison. Green is better than JJ athletically, on defense, and lot of other ways. But JJ got more minutes in Dallas than Green because he was confident enough on offense.

If Green develops that perimeter shot by the end of this season, then great. But he's much more expensive to develop than DFS. Being "good" on defense is not enough to keep an NBA wing around on your roster for 4-5 million a year.

It was patience from the standpoint that it took DFS 4 years to shoot better than 31%.  As you say, if you can't develop a perimeter shot, you have very limited value as a wing.  Right now based on any advanced metric you look at Green is about as effective on the court this year as DFS was his first three years in the league.  In fact, they gave Dorian 4 mil per year before he started hitting from the perimeter.  Based on that, don't see why they wouldn't pay Green, especially if shows continued improvement next year.