Returning Mavs have the ingredients to put together a much-improved offense

With the Mavericks’ re-signing of Nerlens Noel, the club has solidified its core and essentially guaranteed which players from last season’s roster will return for 2017-18. Dallas has experienced less year-to-year continuity than many other teams in the NBA since the 2010-11 championship season, but the Mavs have still managed to qualify for the postseason […]

NBA rookies select Dennis Smith Jr. as their favorite for Rookie of the Year

Fans and media have admired Mavs point guard Dennis Smith Jr.’s game since draft night, but today the Mavs rookie received perhaps even more meaningful praise, this time coming from his peers. In a survey for NBA.com, Smith’s fellow first-year players voted him most likely to win the Rookie of the Year award. The NC […]

What must Dennis Smith Jr. do to land atop Mavs’ all-time rookie leaderboards?

The Mavericks once drafted a player in the lottery who started fewer than half his team’s games during his rookie season, compiling measly per-game averages of 8.2 points and 3.4 rebounds. This player, who didn’t make an All-Rookie team but was drafted ahead of five players who did, shot 40.5 percent from the field and […]

Dennis Smith Jr. talks TV, favorite moments, and player comparisons in Twitter Q&A

Mavs rookie Dennis Smith Jr. had some time on his hands earlier today, and he used it to take fan questions on his Twitter account. Here are some of the best interactions. First up comes the question of his favorite TV show. This is particularly relevant right now because Smith wore a pair of “Martin”-themed […]

Dennis Smith Jr. signs with Under Armour

Mavs rookie Dennis Smith Jr. has signed with Under Armour, according to ESPN.com’s Nick DePaula. Smith, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, will join his new teammate Seth Curry in representing the upstart company on the court. Seth’s brother, two-time MVP and reigning NBA champion Stephen Curry, is the most high-profile […]

Harrison Barnes looks forward to development of Mavs’ ‘promising’ core in 2017-18

For years, the Mavs sported one of the oldest rosters in the NBA. Suddenly, though, their well-rounded core is one of the league’s youngest. There’s Harrison Barnes, who just turned 25. Dallas drafted Dennis Smith Jr. last month, who won’t turn 20 until after Thanksgiving. He’s projected to replace in the starting lineup 24-year-old Yogi […]

‘Super confident’ Smith Jr. is off to brilliant start in Las Vegas

Let’s get all the qualifiers out of the way at the top. It’s only Summer League. It’s only been two games. Some of his opponents won’t be in the NBA next season. But. Wouldn’t you rather your most significant rookie in nearly 20 years be playing well than struggling? Dennis Smith Jr. hasn’t been perfect […]

Mavs sign first-round pick Dennis Smith Jr.

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed first-round pick Dennis Smith Jr. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. Smith (6-3, 195) was selected by Dallas with the ninth overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft after spending one season at North Carolina State. In his lone season […]

Despite ‘pass-first’ claim, scoring guards really make Mavs’ offense hum — and lead to wins

I’m not here to call Mark Cuban a liar. But let’s just say he might have played a convincing joke on us. During a small pre-game press scrum in Sacramento at the very end of the regular season, I asked the Mavs proprietor what his club would do in the summer in order to improve. […]

There’s more to Dennis Smith Jr.’s game than unparalleled athleticism

There are athletes, and then there are guys like Dennis Smith Jr. Here’s a player who already won the dunk contest on Twitter over the weekend. He was reportedly dunking two weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL in 2015. Smith is rumored to have a 48-inch vertical leap — eight inches higher than […]