Is Justin Anderson Ready to be Primary Backup at SF for Mavericks?

All things considered, Mavericks rookie Justin Anderson landed in a great spot to compete for playing time immediately when he was selected by Dallas with the 21st pick in this year’s draft.

The question now becomes: is he ready for it?

He’ll have to be, as the Mavericks are in dire need for a legitimate backup for small forward Chandler Parsons.

Parsons is currently traversing the road to recovery on the heels of offseason knee surgery stemming from an injury that cut his first season with the Mavericks short, and though the process has reportedly gone well, Parsons at full strength is still the only real small forward Dallas has on the roster with Richard Jefferson‘s decision to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

With Jefferson’s departure, Anderson, who at 6’6″ is probably more suited to be a shooting guard at the NBA level, is the only real option for Rick Carlisle when it comes to relieving their 26-year old franchise cornerstone coming off of a concerning injury.

The good news is that Anderson does in fact appear to be ready for that role.

Though he doesn’t have prototypical height for an NBA small forward, Anderson’s strength and length will help make up for it. He possesses a near seven-foot wingspan and at over 230 pounds should be able to handle the physicality of the professional game.

That, combined with his three years spent playing – and excelling – in perhaps the best basketball conference in the NCAA, means Anderson is probably better suited than most rookies to step in right away and contribute.

More from The Smoking Cuban

Anderson also displayed an ability to score the ball well against borderline NBA talent in Las Vegas earlier this summer. In six summer league games the 21-year old scored 17.5 points per contest and shot 38.5% on his 39 attempts from three-point range.

He isn’t the playmaker Parsons is, but his defensive prowess and his accuracy from outside are at least on par with what Jefferson brought to the table last year as the primary backup for Parsons following the trade that saw Jae Crowder head to Beantown.

In almost 17 minutes a night for the Mavericks Jefferson averaged 5.8 points on 44.4% shooting. There’s no reason to doubt that Anderson can duplicate those numbers, or potentially eclipse them, while adding some youth and perimeter defense to the roster – two things the 34-year old Richard Jefferson could not.

It would be nice if the Mavericks had at least one other player capable of matching up with the crop of talented small forwards roaming the western conference, but in Anderson they have a seemingly NBA-ready youngster who is still improving.

Things could be worse.

Next: Mavericks Reserves: Who is the best of the bunch?

More from The Smoking Cuban

Home/Mavs News