Dallas Mavericks: Who Is Dwight Powell?
In the midst of introducing Rajon Rondo as the newest member of the Dallas Mavericks on Friday, the other piece that came from Boston is being overlooked.
Dwight Powell, the 45th overall pick from this past summer’s draft out of Stanford, was the other Celtic that was included in the trade to bring in the four-time All-Star Rondo to Big D.
Not a lot is known about Powell, seeing how he’s played a grand total of eight minutes in his NBA career. But the Mavericks were hoping to get one of Boston’s many big men in exchange for Brandan Wright in the trade that was made official on Thursday.
The four-year senior is a 6-foot-10 big man who does all the dirty work you want from a big man. He can score in the paint, rebound and even has a nice jumper that can be stretched out to the 3-point line.
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He also has a good NBA body to be utilized right away. He’d be a perfect backup power forward behind Dirk Nowitzki at 235 pounds but if the Mavericks decided to play small ball, they can use Powell as a stretch center.
During Dallas’ press conference on Friday, Mark Cuban admitted that Powell was a guy the Mavericks were looking to draft had they gotten back into the draft. All of Dallas’ second-round picks were given to the New York Knicks in the deal that brought back Tyson Chandler to Dallas.
Powell isn’t much like Brandan Wright in that he can leap out of the gym and block shots. Powell is an athletic big man who can catch lobs and rebound, but he doesn’t have the wingspan Wright has.
By the time Wright learned how to use his length and athleticism at the same time, he was a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses on the pick-and-roll and in the paint defensively. Powell doesn’t bring that kind of game, but he’s a big body who is a capable rebounder and scorer.
In Powell’s junior year during the 2012-13 season at Stanford, Powell averaged 19.6 points 11 rebounds per 40 minutes. His rebounds dropped slightly the next year, dropping to 14 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, but Stanford also reached the Sweet 16 behind him and Stefan Nastic and Chasson Randle.
He has a lot of tools that Dallas likes, and it’s not hard to see why. Now it’s just a matter of the Mavericks either keeping him on the main roster (which could be the case if it takes awhile to get Jermaine O’Neal on board), or ship him to play with the Texas Legends of the D-League right now.
Dallas is going to have to rely on its depth greatly, at least for the foreseeable future, until the Mavericks can add more depth to the roster. Powell might be a guy, given a couple of weeks or so, could see some playing time with the Mavericks if he starts to show signs of good basketball.
At least this will not be a situation like Jae Crowder, where he’s on and off the bench and is forgotten about on some nights. With Powell, it’s actually a project that they can utilize. If it turns out he has a lot to offer, then Powell could be a nice building block for the future of this franchise.
He may not get a lot of playing time now, but Powell definitely has the skill set and the body to be NBA ready. Now it’s just on him to put it together.