Dallas Mavericks: Who to Draft Instead of Justin Anderson?

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson

The last Nets pick before their epic collapse into basketball purgatory, Hollis-Jefferson was touted as a menacing defender coming out of college and has translated well to NBA defense.

The 6’7″ wing was selected with the 23rd pick by the Trail Blazers and was promptly traded to a Nets team desperate for young talent. Although he missed most of his rookie year with an ankle injury, his sophomore season saw him take strides on the offensive end as he hit 13.8 points per-36 minutes.

One of the chief complaints about Anderson was his inability to remember defensive schemes. He could play some pesky man-on-man defense from time to time, but he was lackadaisical and absentminded off the ball. This caused numerous backdoor cuts to evade his attention until it was too late. Hollis-Jefferson however, stays alert when his man doesn’t have the ball and patrols his area effectively while keeping an eye on his assignment. Although he still has a long way to go before being a great two-way player, he has one part of his game down for the most part.

Anderson never managed to provide enough offense to account for his deficiencies on the other end. Taking Hollis-Jefferson would have opened up more opportunities on defense for the Mavs and given loads more value over the past two seasons and beyond.

Next: Powell