Dallas Mavericks: Complete grades for the 2019 NBA offseason
By Phil Watson
Signing Boban Marjanovic
The Dallas Mavericks filled a void in their second unit, signing free agent center Boban Marjanovic to a two-year, $7 million deal.
Marjanovic, the darling of the analytics community, is coming off his most productive NBA season yet, as he averaged 7.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in 11.7 minutes per game last season for the LA Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers.
It was the first time in his four seasons in the league that the gigantic (7-foot-3, 290 pounds) Serbian has averaged more than 10 minutes a game.
He shot 61.5 percent overall and even stepped out beyond the arc for the first time in his career, going 4-for-10.
The problem with Marjanovic will always be durability. He missed 24 games last season with a sprained knee and will never be a player that will be able to go more than about 10-15 minutes.
But he will give you quality minutes in those short stretches. He’s more skilled than meets the eye — hitting 77.3 percent of his free throws in his career and shooting 58.3 percent from the floor.
His jumper is solid out to about the foul line. Defensively, he takes up space, but is also very foul-prone — 4.4 fouls per 36 minutes in his career, including 4.8 last season.
If he enters a game early because the starting 5 is in foul trouble, that can become a compounded situation quickly with Marjanovic.
That said, Marjanovic is a quality backup who won’t hurt you while he’s out there. But he might not always be that helpful, either.