The Dallas Mavericks are underutilizing Boban Marjanovic

Boban Marjanovic has been effective when he is on the court for the Dallas Mavericks this year. Why aren’t the Mavs finding more minutes for him?

There have been two games played by the Dallas Mavericks since Boban Marjanovic recorded his impressive 15-point, 16-rebound double-double. Boban played about 23 minutes in that game which was his season high. Since then, the Mavs have not even gotten Boban back on the court for a second.

Part of that is matchup related and I understand. The Sacramento Kings play either Richaun Holmes or Nemanja Bjelica at center for the most part, and although Holmes is not a threat outside the paint and Bjelica is not particularly quick, neither would have been a great matchup for Boban.

I understand that matchup and the fact that we were playing from behind most of the game. That said, the lack of Marjanovic minutes in the Detroit Pistons game was a bit of a surprise. I understand that Andre Drummond is a very good player and would have had his way with Boban in some ways, but at least Boban would’ve definitely competed on the boards.

Aside from that, Boban would have been a difficult guard on the other end too and I really think he would’ve been useful. Obviously it didn’t matter too much as the Mavs dominated the game, but I would not expect to see Marjanovic make it into the game against the Heat with Bam Adebayo and Kelly Olynyk controlling most of the center minutes.

It is a shame the Mavericks aren’t finding more ways to utilize the big Serbian in each game. He is a matchup nightmare no matter what and he can often bring a more positive lopside than negative. He certainly hasn’t gotten his chance to show what he is really capable of.

A lot of that does come back to the fact that the Mavs are just a really deep team. Aside from the crazy depth at the guard position that has Jalen Brunson and J.J. Barea logging limited minutes, there is a logjam in the frontcourt as well with Kristaps Porzingis, Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell all capable of playing the center position effectively in one way or another. Each of them present less of a defensive downside as well.

I’m all for playing the right players and I think the Mavs have figured that out, but the excitement and love for Boban Marjanovic is just going to grow in Dallas, and if they can’t carve out some minutes for him, the fans could be upset, along with Boban himself. The point is to win games for the Mavs and their front office, but Marjanovic is going to be able to help with that a lot of the time.

Dallas has a really entertaining and very deep basketball team this year with guys who would likely be in rotations for other teams riding the pine for the Mavs. There are definitely worse problems to have, unless you just want to see some Boban, J.J., Ryan Broekhoff or Courtney Lee.