Dallas Mavericks: Grading Dwight Powell’s 2019-2020 season

Dallas Mavericks defense: Dwight Powell

Powell’s defense can be a sticky topic for Dallas Mavericks fans. He played 70 percent of his minutes at the five this season and averaged 0.6 blocks per game. DP is not a rim protector. He did swipe 0.9 steals per game, though.

Powell’s rebounding also does not stand out. He averaged 5.7 per game this season. It worked out to the lowest per-36 minutes total since his rookie season in 2015. That makes sense as Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis both rebounded well this season. There are only some boards to go around in their starting five.

The advanced metrics were favorable, though. He put up 1.1 defensive win shares which ranked 185th in the NBA. His defensive box score plus-minus of 1.0 would have been inside the league’s top-50, but injuries did not allow him to qualify. Powell was 136th in ESPN’s defensive real-plus minus.

He does not do anything flashy on this end of the floor. Fans get frustrated because he is not blocking shots or rebounding at an elite rate. Powell is better than average on defense in every advanced metric, though.

Defensive grade: B-

Dwight Powell was solid on this end of the floor. There was nothing spectacular, but his above-average performance netted him a B-minus grade for the season.

Next: Overall grade