Unless something changes in the next nine games, Dennis Smith Jr. will finish the season with negative win-shares. You know that win-shares are the best and most representative stat ever invented because they always line up with what the so-called “eye test” tells you. In this case, the eye test tells me that DSJ is a talented, athletic, but inconsistent player whose jumpshot can’t really be counted on. Another propriety method I have developed for determining the quality of players, where I compare a player’s field goal attempts per game to their points per game, also paints DSJ in a negative light (14.8 FGA to 15.1 PPG).
How many extra games would the Mavericks have won if they had just started J.J. Barea, who by the way is having the best season of his career, in place of DSJ for the entire year? Four? Eight? I think it’s gotta be at least one or two more, right? But the point of this season was never to win games, it was to develop talent and snag another top pick, so in that sense, starting net-negative DSJ over large net-positive Barea was a smart move. Not to mention Yogi Ferrell and the now-traded Devin Harris, both of whom would have also been better starting options over DSJ. But were they better TANKING/DEVELOPMENT options? Absolutely not.