When the Mavericks signed Dorian Finney-Smith as an undrafted free agent in the summer of 2016 not much was expected, after all undrafted players rarely make much impact in the league. But the Mavs have a history of turning undrafted important players into important pieces, with J.J. Barea being the most prominent example. And now you can add Finney-Smith's name to the list as the third year forward has emerged as an indispensable piece of the Mavs rotation.
After a solid college career at Florida, Finney-Smith was known as a excellent defender and those skills almost immediately translated to the next level. As a rookie in 2016-17, Finney-Smith earned the trust of Rick Carlisle, playing in 81 games and starting 35 of those games. While DFS showed strong defensive capability as a rookie, his offense remained very much a work in progress as he shot 37% from the field and 29% from three. After his rookie year the Mavs worked with Finney-Smith to rework his shot so he could become the 3-and-D player they desperately wanted him to be. However Finney-Smith's sophomore campaign was almost a complete wash as me missed 61 games due to knee tendinitis.
Now in his third year, the last of his rookie contract, the hard work Finney-Smith has put into his shot is finally paying off. He is averaging 9 points a game so far on 51.6% shooting from the field and a remarkable 44.4% on threes. He has made multiple threes in 9 of the 15 games and has played and scored in double-digits in 7 contests. Couple that with superb defense (he is quite easily the best defensive player on the team) and DFS is becoming more and more important to the Mavs present and future.
A good example of how much he is valued is the 40 minutes he played in Saturday's win over the Warriors as he started for the injured Wesley Matthews. In those minutes he posted 13 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and held Klay Thompson to 9-24 shooting including 2-11 on threes. It's clear that the Mavs are at their best when Finney-Smith is on the floor and that he complements the game of the Mavs young starts, Luka Doncic and Dennis Smith Jr. extremely well.
Immense credit is due to Finney-Smith for putting in the time to make himself such a valuable NBA player. Credit is also due to the Mavs for believing in his potential and helping develop him into the player he is today. We all know you can't win in the NBA without stars but good role players are needed as well and the Mavs have themselves a keeper in that regard with Dorian Finney-Smith.
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