Mavs Film Room: Reggie Bullock Living Up to Free Agency Expectations
The quest to add the necessary pieces around Luka Doncic in order to win an NBA championship is an ongoing one for the Dallas Mavericks.
There were hopes of receiving that type of impact from Josh Richardson. It did not end up coming to fruition, though, as he shot 33.0 percent from deep during the 2020-21 regular season and often times was not forceful on defense.
After continuing to underachieve, Richardson ended up being limited to coming off the bench in all seven of the Mavericks' playoff games. He averaged just 13.4 minutes per game.
After having high hopes of landing Kyle Lowry in free agency, the Mavericks did not end up making a splashy move. As a result, the top external addition came in the form of Reggie Bullock, who left the New York Knicks to sign a three-year, $30.5 million contract with Dallas.
The idea behind the Bullock addition was to add an efficient catch-and-shoot threat that has some versatility as a motion shooter, but most importantly, can impact the defense.
The beginning of Bullock's tenure with the Mavericks was rough, to put it nicely. He shot just 27.4 percent from beyond the arc in the initial 27 games he played before entering the NBA health and safety protocol in December.
Bullock has managed to return to the lineup firing on all cylinders since then, though—converting a staggering 48.4 percent of his takes from deep on 6.2 attempts per game. When his shots are falling, good things tend to happen.
The Mavericks are 11-2 (.846) when Bullock makes multiple three-pointers in a game.
Against the Houston Rockets, Bullock displayed some positive regression to his previous form that could be pivotal for the Mavericks going forward if it can lead to sustained success. He finished the night going 5-of-9 (55.6 percent) from deep—setting a new season-high in makes from three-point range.
With Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis sidelined, the Mavericks needed a big scoring bump across the board. One method of receiving such results from Bullock was to run more off-ball screening actions—an area he has sorely struggled on the season but thrived with the New York Knicks.
Bullock also chipped in a make out of a dribble handoff (DHO) that featured Jalen Brunson orchestrating the sequence. The on-ball defender opted to go under the screen contact—giving too much time and space for Bullock on the shot attempt.
There even was some intriguing playmaking flashes from Bullock against the Rockets in part of the two-man game with Dwight Powell in DHOs. The Rockets gave up an emphatic dunk off a pocket pass on one sequence while failing to get a stop despite an aggressive low-man rotation on the other.
It's important for any team to have catch-and-shoot threats converting at a high clip, in general. But for the Mavericks, it's been especially needed given how Kristaps Porzingis and Luka Doncic have been shooting poorly from three-point range since the start of December.
Since the beginning of December, Porzingis (24.6 percent) and Doncic (26.7 percent) have been shooting from the perimeter at a level that is among the NBA's least efficient high-volume shooters. Other players needed to step up as a result and have so far—especially Bullock.
One of the keys for Bullock to stay engaged and have rhythm appears to be consistent involvement in DHOs or off-ball screening actions. Knocking down open spot-up looks has to happen too, but for him to meet his value, involving him in actions needs to be a regular occurrence.
It appears as though Reggie Bullock is starting to heat up and finally live up to the Mavs’ free agency expectations, and it couldn't have come at a better time. If he can continue to drill shots at a high clip when Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis are back in the fold, Dallas' offense should rise even more than it already has in recent weeks.
