Dallas Mavericks: Salah Mejri Will Be an Important Piece

With the Mavericks in search of some help in the coming year, could the services of Salah Mejri be even more important?

The Dallas Mavericks are in need of a center for the upcoming year. That much we already know. Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee, Dwight Powell, David Lee, and Salah Mejri formed a serviceable center combination for the year. However, to compete with the rest of the west, we will need one single more dominant player.

Pachulia and McGee are both well past their prime years and will not make the difference that is needed. Because the centers available in free agency are numerous and solid players, the Mavericks have a chance to strike gold in a year where it may be necessary.

Unfortunately, we have seen too many times where the Mavs have swung for the fences in free agency and struck out. Despite our past failed efforts, this year represents a unique situation for Dallas. That unique situation goes by the name of Salah Mejri.

Why is Salah Mejri so important to the Mavs this season?

Flexibility

One of the big reasons Mejri is important is because he is already under contract with the Mavericks. This is an important thing because without him, we would be searching for not just a starter, but a back up as well.

It’s also important to note that Mejri is still on his rookie contract. Because he was a second round pick, we are paying him very little for the remainder of his deal. For this reason, the Mavericks have a chance to at least keep the solid role player while searching for an all-star. 

Potential

The most important reason for having Mejri is that he represents a lot of potential as a player. He showed at times last year that he is capable of making an impact on both sides of the court. Although these spurts of great play were few and far between, it proves to us that we do not yet know his ceiling.

Mejri is not your average rookie. He has experience from international ball and he is also 29. This does tend to mean he is probably in his prime basketball years, however, learning the ways of the NBA usually requires a few years of experience.

The upcoming season should be a telling one for Salah as he looks to solidify his role as (preferably) the back-up center for the team. If he reaches his potential, he offers us a safety blanket to be a reasonable starter if needed.

Team Player

Although Mejri probably is a great locker room player, that is not what I mean by team player. The importance of this point is exactly what was mentioned a moment ago: he can be a safety blanket.

If the Mavericks want to chase a premiere free agent, it comes with some risk. As we learned with our pursuit of Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan, when we come up short, it affects the whole team. Both times we went for a big name, we lost Tyson Chandler.

The beautiful thing about this situation is that we don’t have a Chandler to lose this year. If we swing for the fences on any and every available free agent center and don’t land one, we lose Zaza. As much as I love Zaza, it is a risk well worth taking for Dallas.

Plus with Salah coming back for sure next year, it still gives us a decent center that we can start and work with much like we did this year. Not the ideal situation, of course, but for the first time in recent history, the Mavericks can chase a big name without serious backlash from the pursuit.

Next: Dallas Mavericks: Revisiting the 2010 NBA Draft

Salah Mejri will certainly not be the best center available for Dallas this year as we search to strengthen the rim protector role before the upcoming season, however, if all else is lost, we could be in a much worse situation.