Mavs Moneyball · Nov 16, 2016
The Mavericks would be even more doomed without J.J. Barea
There was a time not that long ago that J.J. Barea was a monument to all that was wrong with the post-title Dallas Mavericks.
Hell, even at times before the title. Barea turned into a local hero after the Mavericks’ championship, but for years it seemed the fanbase — and the front office — wanted to replace him.
They wasted three drafts on combo guards (Rodrigue Beaubois, Dominique Jones, Jared Cunningham) to replicate his offensive skills without the defensive liability, then let him go in 2011 to fetch a bigger contract. Dallas has been trying to replace Barea since the start of the Obama administration, but they kept coming back for more because they couldn’t do any better.
