5 Obvious, 5 subtle moves Jason Kidd must make to turn Mavs into legit contenders

8. Obvious: Decrease Tim Hardaway Jr.'s minutes even more

One of the biggest storylines coming from the Dallas Mavericks' play as of late has been guard Tim Hardaway Jr.'s struggles. Over the years, Hardaway Jr. has been an important piece for Dallas off the bench, but his play has nosedived over the last month.

Over his last 10 games (before Saturday night's game against the Detroit Pistons), Hardaway Jr. is averaging 8.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game while shooting 31.3 percent from the floor and 29.3 percent from downtown. His inefficiency, bad defense, and bad shot selection have hurt the Mavs, and he doesn't provide much of a positive impact in the minutes he does get.

Jason Kidd has decreased Hardaway Jr.'s minutes lately, but it may be time to decrease them even more. Now that Dante Exum is playing at a high level, he is someone who should be playing over Hardaway Jr. So should Jaden Hardy due to the reasons previously mentioned, but he may not get his chance for the rest of the season.

Hardaway Jr.'s shooting has been crucial for the Mavs in the past, but it's confusing why Kidd doesn't at least try someone else. Hardy would give the Mavs a new energy if he took some of Hardaway Jr.'s minutes, and it doesn't seem like Hardaway Jr. is ready to make big contributions again.

Decreasing Hardaway Jr.'s minutes for someone like Hardy seems like it would benefit the team tremendously, but it looks like Kidd will stick with Hardaway Jr. unless something drastically changes.

Hardaway Jr. had a great bounce-back game against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night, and the Mavs need more games like that from him.