Dallas Mavericks: Ryan Broekhoff should get a chance to prove himself

Prior to Ryan Broekhoff signing with the Dallas Mavericks, he was considered one of the best shooters still playing overseas. Since getting here, he has struggled to get on the court.

It is no secret that the Dallas Mavericks could really use some shooting help right now. Currently sitting at 16th in the league in three-point percentage (.348), the only players shooting over 40% from deep are Justin Jackson and Maxi Kleber. This doesn’t include J.J. Barea, who has only played one game, or Ryan Broekhoff, who is 1-for-1 on the season.

Dallas has attempted the 4th most three-pointers in the league, behind only the Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves. Dallas is shooting a better percentage than the Timberwolves and Rockets, but they are still struggling overall. If the team wants to fire up as many threes as they are currently, it has to come with a more reasonable percentage, especially based on the number of wide open looks the team is missing.

Last year, Broekhoff played in 42 games and shot about 41% from three. His actual total was 38-93, which is a decent sample size and should be proof that he can indeed shoot the deep ball. If the Mavs really do want to focus in on shooting a bunch of threes, why not try Broekhoff out to see if he can help the team hit a few more.

Games like the one in Boston can’t happen with any regularity for the Mavs. In fact, in three of the Mavericks four losses, they have shot under 32% from deep, with the Lakers game being the exception. If Dallas relies so heavily on the three to win games (shot over 35% from three in five out of six wins), then why not try to spark the shooting game with some minutes off the bench for Ryan Broekhoff?

Dallas Mavericks

Dallas gets stuck in a groove far too often early on this season. When shots aren’t falling, the team is regularly having trouble finding different or better looks than the ones they are used to.

Sometimes it can take a few minutes to find your stroke, but if it isn’t there, the Mavs need to recognize that and quit trying to beat the dead horse that is the deep ball.

There are two ways that the Mavs should be trying to counteract that trend of poor shooting. The first is to work it inside for better shots. This one has worked well for the Mavs so far who are 5th in the league in two-point field goal percentage and 3rd in shots within 3 feet of the rim.

This is a good option, especially considering the height of Kristaps Porzingis and Boban Marjanovic, the ability to get above the rim of Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber and the craftiness in the lane of Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson and Delon Wright.

The second way the Mavs should try to counter a bad shooting effort is to try new shooters. Although Seth Curry is our premier three-point shooting threat and should be given every opportunity to get hot, we should still be rotating in other shooters. Courtney Lee, Broekhoff, Barea are all solid three-point shooters when given the opportunity to be so.

The Mavs are a good team and are getting better every game. There are still some areas that need to be addressed and hopefully as the team moves forward, we will see a change in methodology when it comes to finding the best shots for the team. I have never doubted Rick Carlisle and I don’t intend to start now.