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J.J. Barea is one of the only remaining members of the Dallas Mavericks who won the title in 2011 and delayed LeBron James from getting his first ring, and the point guard deserves to receive additional minutes in the second half of the season. Obviously, Dirk Nowitzki was on that team as well, and he has had a resurgent season and helped Dallas to win a lot more games than anyone expected. They must figure out a way to get better numbers from their starting backcourt, though.
The Mavericks almost have too many point guards, and they might consider moving Raymond Felton if they can get anything of value back for him. Between Felton, Barea, Deron Williams and Devin Harris, Dallas just doesn’t have enough minutes to go around. Williams has been the starter so far this year; however, the Mavericks might eventually bring him off the bench. That would free up a lot more time for Barea, and this could open the offense up due to his shooting ability.
Barea is averaging 36.3 percent from behind the three-point line, and this is significantly better than Willams’ average of 33.5 percent. J.J. is also recording 9.7 points and 3.9 assists per game in only 22.2 minutes. These stats are all as of Saturday afternoon by the way.
Those numbers would go way up for Barea if head coach Rick Carlisle decided to raise the point guard’s minutes. There is still a lot of time for the Mavericks to work things out, but they must sharpen things up to ensure themselves a playoff spot. Barea has earned some extra playing time based on the way he has been a pesk defensively this season, and hopefully Carlisle will seriously give some thought to making changes. The Mavericks could use home court in the first round of the playoffs to have a shot at advancing, and Barea is the man who can lead the brigade.
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