4 Areas the Dallas Mavericks will need to improve upon after All-Star break

1. Acclimating P.J. Washington into Dallas' offense

While Daniel Gafford has come in and made an instant impact on both ends for Dallas on his first three contests with the Mavericks, this hasn’t been the case for fellow Dallas trade deadline acquisition P.J. Washington.

That’s not to say that Washington has played badly whatsoever though, as the 25-year-old forward is showcasing how his lengthy frame and athleticism will be crucial to Dallas’ wing defense and rebounding.

Washington has played excellent defensively for Dallas through three games and that was arguably the biggest question mark with him when he was traded to the Mavericks’ organization, so he’s answered the call from fans and Dallas’ front office on that front.

However, Washington has looked jittery on offense for the most part barring his debut game for the Mavs versus Oklahoma City where he scored 14 points on 6-10 shooting from the field. Washington hasn’t been featured heavily in the Mavericks offense though to his credit, and Dallas hasn’t done the best job of getting him moving off-ball besides the Oklahoma City game. Washington is a player who can be dynamic in space when he gets the ball off a curl or cut, so Dallas needs to do a better job at taking advantage of his physical tools.

Washington also has flashed shot creation ability in the mid-range in Charlotte, so the Mavericks should at least throw him a couple one-on-one opportunities to attack mismatches despite Dallas already having some of the best shot creators in the league in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Ensuring Washington is an offensive threat will be big for Dallas, especially if it may take a while for him to find his rhythm from three-point range.

Dallas can’t afford for Washington to be a one-dimensional 3-and-D wing, so hopefully increased comfortability in the Mavs’ system as well as some increased time over the All-Star break for the Mavericks’ coaching staff to acclimate Washington into the offense, will prompt a different P.J. Washington in Dallas offensively then we have seen through three games.