Meet the new Mavs

As they have for several offseasons in a row, the Mavs have added plenty of new players to the roster ahead of the 2016-17 season. Of the 19 players Dallas currently has under contract, just eight of them are returning from last year’s team, which surprised many by finishing sixth place in the Western Conference. It will be up to the 11 new players — plus whoever the Mavs sign to that final 20th spot — to find ways to propel the Mavericks back into the postseason for the 16th time in 17 seasons.

Below is the Mavs’ current roster, complete with the new players’ most recent team, be it an NBA squad, one overseas, or a university. There are links in the names of each of the first-year Mavs the site has already profiled, but this article will focus in particular on the three bolded names on the list: Kyle Collinsworth, Keith Hornsby, and Jameel Warney.

Kyle Collinsworth

A four-year player at BYU — whose career there really spanned six seasons — Collinsworth graduated as the NCAA’s all-time leader in career triple-doubles, with 12. After playing on the Jimmer Fredette-led Cougars team in 2010-11, Collinsworth took a two-year break from the game to pursue a two-year LDS mission to Russia. He claimed the team captaincy upon his return and never relinquished it, averaging better than 13.8 points and 8.1 rebounds per game every season for the rest of his career.

The school’s all-time leader in rebounds and assists, Collinsworth led the WCC in assists per game and steals per game during his final season at BYU, facilitating a Cougars offense which ranked ninth in the NCAA in points per game and advanced to the NIT semifinals.

So much of what BYU did on offense last season was made possible by Collinsworth’s ability to see the floor. Despite taking just 137 shots for himself as the ball-handler in the pick-and-roll in 2015-16, according to Synergy Sports, Collinsworth’s passes out of the pick-and-roll generated 1.27 points per possession, which ranked in the 92nd percentile nationwide. BYU’s big men shot 69.6 percent on rolls and cuts to the rim, while spot-up shooters drained 41.2 percent of their jumpers. That means he was always finding the right player with his passes.

His floor vision was on display at the Las Vegas Summer League, when he led the Mavericks with 15 assists and averaged 2.5 per game while coming off the bench.

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In Vegas he played both guard positions and even spent time at small forward, hinting that the Mavericks plan to develop him as a versatile combo guard who can play on the ball at a variety of different spots on the floor. He’s got tremendous size at 6-foot-6, which should help him fit in nicely as an off-guard with the ability to handle the ball and run offense.

Keith Hornsby

Keith Hornsby is a sharpshooting 2-guard from LSU. We haven’t seen him wear a Mavs uniform in any capacity yet, as he wasn’t on either of the Mavs’ Summer League teams.

That said, his stats from LSU and UNC-Asheville, where he played his freshman and sophomore seasons, tell a lot about the type of player he is. He connected on 39.0 percent of his 3-point attempts in college, including better than 40 percent in his two seasons in Louisiana. He also shot 82.9 percent from the free throw line all four years combined, demonstrating that his shooting stroke is legit.

His shot does appear rather unorthodox, but past and current players like Kevin Martin and former Maverick Shawn Marion have had no issue establishing themselves at the pro level while shooting in their own, unique way.

Hornsby’s excellent outside touch helped him score 1.149 points per possession last season, which ranked in the 98th percentile in the nation, according to Synergy. You can never have enough shooting in this league.

Jameel Warney

Aside from leading scorer Jonathan Gibson, Jameel Warney was probably the Mavs’ biggest standout in Las Vegas. The 6-foot-8 big man played much taller, averaging 6.5 rebounds per game and adding 6.5 points and 1.2 steals per game in six appearances off the bench.

The focal point of Stony Brook’s offense last season, Warney averaged nearly 20 points and 11 rebounds per game, simply dominating opponents in the post. He scored 1.114 points per possession in 245 post-up chances last season, per Synergy, and that efficiency ranked in the 95th percentile in all of college basketball.

The center only received two post-up chances in Summer League, but he still scored efficiently, shooting 59.3 percent from the field on 27 attempts. He made so many plays on both ends of the floor simply by outworking his opponents — little things like chasing rebounds, diving on the floor, extending to contest a shot, and more.

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He’s going to have to continue to stand out from the group in Mavs training camp in order to make the roster, as the Dallas locker room is already stuffed with veteran big men, Dirk Nowitzki and Andrew Bogut chief among them. But Warney will certainly earn even more fans within the organization if he plays in preseason the way he did this summer. He’s also got a great Twitter account.