Dallas Mavericks: Rick Carlisle recognized need for shooting this summer

During Dallas Mavericks media day, many of the players and members of the organization recognized how much this team is growing. One way Rick Carlisle mentioned in his press conference was by addressing a lack of shooting.

Last year, the Dallas Mavericks shot over 3,000 three-pointers, the most in franchise history and the 5th most by any team in a single season in league history. Despite the huge number of shots attempted, the Mavs shot only 34% from behind the arc, 27th in the league. The best team in the league shot more than five percent higher at 39.2%.

In 2017-18, the Mavs shot 36% and in 16-17 they shot 35.5%, both of which were at least in the top 20 in the league. The Mavericks have not been an elite shooting team for several years and Coach Carlisle recognized this in his press conference on media day.

When asked about bringing Seth Curry back and what the reasoning for it was, Carlisle said simply “We needed shooting”. He went on to talk about how Seth is one of the best shooters in the NBA with his shooting percentage and the fact that it has stayed consistent even with his volume going up year to year.

Seth had the third highest three-point percentage in the league last year, only behind Joe Harris and Danny Green. In his year with the Mavs, he was shooting more threes per game than any other season of his career and still shooting 42.5%, good for 6th in the league. The year prior to that, he shot 45% again, but didn’t attempt enough to make the list. If he had, he would’ve been third again behind J.J. Redick and his brother Stephen Curry.

The addition of Seth Curry, along with the return of Ryan Broekhoff and a hopefully improved Justin Jackson will be a nice shooting core for the team. Add them to Kristaps Porzingis, who shot just under 40% from three in his last active season, and it would be hard to see a world in which the Mavs don’t improve from the three-point line.

Dallas is planning on shooting a lot of threes this year and Seth Curry is going to be a very important part of that. Will he lead the team in three pointers made and three-point percentage? I would say yes, and I think Carlisle would too.