Dallas Basketball

Mavs Analysis: Kidd-Gilchrist and Hollis-Jefferson Ideas at NBA Trade Deadline

The Mavs are looking for some defensive upgrades before the NBA trade deadline hits, and if they can't land a player on Robert Covington's level, maybe players like Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson could be sufficient for the rest of this season.

Dalton Trigg

“It's 'turn over every rock,' and then turn it over three more times just to make sure,” said GM Donnie Nelson - playing "fireman'' - on the Mavs Step Back Podcast when talking about the nature of trade season.

With just five days remaining until the NBA trade deadline, that appears to be exactly what is happening, as Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News and Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer are reporting that the Dallas Mavericks are thinking about adding a wing defender.

More specifically, Townsend notes that Dallas has "kicked tires" on Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Toronto Raptors' Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

Our analysis of the conceptKidd-Gilchrist is a big wing/forward combo player who is a solid defender (he has an individual defensive rating of 95.0 this season with the Hornets — albeit, he’s only played in 12 games so far). The downside with MKG, however, is that he's a liability on the offensive end, averaging four points in 13 minutes per game, while shooting just 34 percent from the field and 29 percent from deep.

Although I'm not exactly 'over-the-moon' for either of these hypothetical trade options, Hollis-Jefferson intrigues me slightly more than MKG does. I wouldn't characterize Hollis-Jefferson as a 'two-way' player, but he does at least produce something on offense while also being a very good defender. In nearly 20 minutes per game for the Raptors this season, Hollis-Jefferson is averaging nearly eight points, five rebounds and two assists while having an individual defensive rating of 101.9. The Mavs got an up-close look at Hollis-Jefferson's potential when he scored a season-high 18 points against them while helping the Raptors come all the way back from a 30-point deficit to win.

As the trade deadline clock winding down, expect the Mavs to continue to 'turn over every rock,' and hopefully, with players like Robert Covington, Danilo Gallanari and Bogdan Bogdanovic, 'turn it over three more times just to make sure.'

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

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