Dallas Mavericks: Delon Wright needs more chances to run the offense

The Dallas Mavericks acquired Delon Wright in the offseason and it was immediately expected that he would jump into the starting lineup. Instead, it is still unclear exactly where he fits.

Nine games into the Dallas Mavericks regular season and it is still incredibly unclear who Rick Carlisle likes as the starters, as role players or who will be getting minutes on any given night. This kind of lineup fluidity can have its benefits, but it gives us a hard time trying to determine what exactly each player’s role is, and how they can improve.

One player who’s role is still very ill-defined is Delon Wright. Wright was added to the Mavs this offseason as their one big move and people were pretty excited about him. He is a capable all-around player who thrives as a playmaker. Unfortunately, he plays next to Luka Doncic half the time who is one of the best playmakers in the league.

The fact of the matter is that, even though Wright may be deserving of a starting spot, his abilities on the court make him a much better candidate to be playing in the 2nd unit while Luka rests. The bigger issue there is that Luka doesn’t rest very much.

I am not sure exactly what the best usage for Wright is going to be. His shooting is suspect, but he has great attacking skills, is a good passer and is very smart with the ball in his hands. That doesn’t even mention the fact that he is an absolutely phenomenal defender. The Mavs need Wright on the court, and yet he is averaging fewer than 24 minutes per game.

Dallas has gotten into some weird moments in late games where Carlisle has been using guys like Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jalen Brunson to make defensive stops when the Mavs need them. Hardaway has been playing decent defense lately, but he doesn’t compare on that end of the court to Delon Wright.

I am a big fan of Wright so far this season. He is a guy that can be relied on in many aspects of the game and I hope that Carlisle sees that he can lean on the young veteran from the University of Utah.

The Mavs have a really good team and a deep team this year. They are going to have to find a balance between all of these guys and I think they will be able to do so before too long. The learning curve for the team is going up, and starting the season at 6-3 is a great sign already.