Dallas Mavericks player profile: Dwight Powell

The Dallas Mavericks signed Dwight Powell to a pretty four-year, $37 million deal prior to the 2016-17 season. Now in his third year of the contract, Powell has gone from a confused fanbase, to earning his money in just a few short years. What can we expect from Powell this season?

Dwight Powell has been a surprise over the last few years as he has gone from a player that was difficult to watch to a guy who contributes on both ends of the court. The Dallas Mavericks saw something in Dwight Powell years ago and it has paid off so far. Powell will once again be a part of the Mavs rotation this upcoming season.

Dwight is now 27 years old and likely hitting a plateau in his growth. He did play four years in college, however, so there is a chance he still has another year or two of growth. Powell put together his best statistical season last year with 8.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 0.8 steals per game. It will be interesting to see if he gets close to 21 minutes per game again this year.

Powell will always have a group of fans who believe he is not doing his job. Those people are hard to please but they will learn over time that Powell is a solid role player that Rick Carlisle is making more valuable every day.

Here are the highs and lows that we can expect from him this coming season.

Highs

The thing that I love most about Dwight Powell is his energy level. He rarely takes plays off, runs the court well, and has become an excellent finisher above the rim. Although he is not the best basketball player on the court most of the time, he has found a very good niche for his athleticism and skillset and I enjoy watching him play.

His shooting percentage is still not great, but he was able to hit one-third of his three-point attempts last season. This shows a lot of growth and comfort in his shooting form and I believe we will see another small step up in that department this coming season. I look forward to some good things from the big man this year.

Lows

The lows of Powell are just some of the not-so-stellar parts of his game. For one, Powell is not a great rebounder. Although he has the athletic tools to rebound well, he is not big enough to push the other centers around so he doesn’t pull down as many boards. This isn’t the worst scenario since he isn’t the starting center, but you would prefer anyone getting minutes at the 5 to at least be good in that department.

The other low that we will see from Powell regularly is going to be his decision making. Although he is a very intelligent player and has a high basketball and general IQ, he does get into some sticky situations regularly and often takes bad shots or makes bad passes. Hopefully that will continue to get better over time.

Dwight Powell is an entertaining player that has found his stride in the NBA and we look forward to seeing what he will do in the upcoming season.