Looking back at the 2023 offseason, Derrick Jones turned down a 3.36 million contract offered by the Chicago Bulls, and then chose to sign a veteran base salary of 2.7 million a year with the Dallas Mavericks.
Considering the characteristics of Jones Jr.'s game, he has almost no individual results other than winning the championship in the slam dunk contest, and it has been seven long seasons since he entered the league, and it is still difficult to get into the core rotation of the team. The only thing that might be remembered is that he was able to put in some slam dunks on one night, but he was barely used for anything else.
But considering the results he got this season with the Mavericks, there is no doubt that this time he made the right bet to reject the Bulls' choice of the Mavericks.
After joining the Mavericks, his average minutes and scoring per game in the regular season reached a new high, especially in the playoffs, where he became an indispensable offensive and defensive role in the team's frontcourt.
He started all 22 playoff games, averaging 9.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 0.5 steals and 1 block per game, shooting 48.1% from the field and even 36.9% from three-point range.
There is no doubt that the Mavericks can return to the Finals stage after a 13-year absence, and Jones Jr.'s role will be crucial.
A veteran player who entered the league in 2016, the Mavericks are the fifth team he has played for in his career, having played for the Suns, Heat, Trail Blazers and Bulls before that, with his best result being reaching the Finals with the Heat in 2020, averaging 8.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. It's a pity that we didn't win the cup in the end.
Jones Jr. has excellent athleticism and individual defensive qualities based on his individual technical characteristics, but before that, these top talents have not helped him much in his ability to play, and it is his shooting ability that can really make a qualitative change for him.
Referring to the game video from the early part of his career, Jones Jr.'s first impression is that he will only force his body to solve the problem when he takes the ball, and almost every offensive round is habitually going inside to attack, and if he is lucky, he can win a foul, and if he is unlucky, he will be blocked by the opponent's big and tall inside, and it is very easy to lead to injury.
It may be that with the accumulation of competition experience in the past few years, Jones Jr. began to understand his personal technical shortcomings, and he began to know how to make himself more efficient on the court. Compared with his consistent defensive ability, Jones Jr. has made significant progress in outside shooting this season, averaging 3.1 three-pointers per game in the regular season and shooting 34.3% from the field.
With this change alone, Jones Jr. was able to move from a role player with a single functional attribute to a core rotation with stable output on both offensive and defensive ends.
Jones Jr. has improved his performance in the playoffs, shooting 36.9 percent from three-point range, especially in the bottom corners on either side, and shooting 44.7 percent, which ranks him third among players who have averaged more than two three-pointers per game throughout the playoffs.
Returning to his most fundamental defensive ability, although his height and size are not outstanding, thanks to his excellent bounce and arm span, Jones Jr. is basically capable of defending in five positions on the court, sharing the defensive pressure of the Eastern European combination very well, and also alleviating the shortage of rotation problems caused by the injury of Kleber on the inside.
Looking back at the playoff stage, Joan Jan has contributed wonderful performances in many key games for the Mavericks.
In the fifth game against the Thunder, he scored 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting, in addition to his excellent performance on 3-of-5 shooting on the three-point line, he also sent hot pot highlights many times in defense, becoming a key part of the team's interior defense. In the sixth game, Jones Jr. ushered in a key outbreak, shooting 4 of 5 in the third quarter and 3 of 3 three-pointers in the third quarter, scoring 22 points and getting the second personal plus/minus of the team, successfully helping the Mavericks advance to the next round.
Thanks to his versatility on both ends of the floor, Jones Jr. has been able to revitalize the Mavericks' scheduling woes, whether they are facing a new-age small-ball lineup or a traditional positional lineup.
In the first three rounds of the Western Conference playoffs, facing top-level superstars such as Paul George, Alexander, and Edwards, Jones Jr. showed no timidity. Strictly block the opponent's first straight break opportunity, forcing them to make more moves in the attack, so as to achieve the purpose of disrupting the opponent's offensive rhythm and consuming physical strength.
"The coach told me that my job on the pitch is to get them out of their comfort zone and do everything they can to stop them from doing what they want to do, and it seems like the goal is simple, but it's not easy to actually do it."
Thanks to the Mavericks' post-trade acquisition of Gafford and their ability to put on a high-quality rim protector at any time, Jones Jr. is tasked with getting as many offensive players in front of them as possible and grabbing every rebound after an opponent's shooting interference.
And in those rounds where interior players are pulled to the periphery, Jones Jr. can also take on the function of rim protection and rebounding on the inside, which is quite high-quality and easy to use, and is an absolute jack-of-all-trades puzzle.
But it's a pity that in the face of such an excellent player, the Mavericks were not able to keep them in the end, and Jones Jr. chose to go to the Los Angeles Clippers in the new season. Given the roster of the new team, he will be the most serious defensive key behind Leonard and Harden. As for whether he can continue to improve, we'll see if we'll see it in the new season.