Spencer Dinwiddie Hopes Mavs Fans Respect Dwight Powell’s Elite Work Ethic
When the Dallas Mavericks shocked the NBA world by trading for Rajon Rondo during the 2014-15 season, Dwight Powell was essentially viewed a throw-in for the deal and nothing more. Nearly eight years later, who would’ve ever thought he’d been the longest-tenured Maverick on the roster?
That’s what hard work and dedication can accomplish, and Powell exemplifies those qualities both on and off the court.
After starting every game for the Mavs in their run to the Western Conference Finals last season, Powell was relegated to the end of the bench to start this season. Due to certain lineups just not getting it done for Dallas, Powell found himself suddenly pushed back into action, and he's provided the team with a big spark.
In four games played, Powell is averaging 7.0 points 2.8 rebounds in 14 minutes per game. Despite the limited playing time, Powell has an impressive net rating of 43.8, which speaks to the impact he's making when his name is called by coach Jason Kidd.
Powell finished with nine points, five rebounds, one block and one steal in the Mavs' 103-100 win over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night, and he was a team-high +25 in the boxscore plus/minus. The next highest plus/minus for Dallas was Spencer Dinwiddie with a +9.
After the game, Dinwiddie made it a point to praise the effort level Powell brings on a nightly basis, and he hopes Mavs fans will have a greater appreciation for that going forward.
“Dwight being a guy who started on a Western Conference Finals team [and] lost his job, [he’s still] the first, second or third man in the gym every single day,” said Dinwiddie. “Lifts after every game, eats right, takes care of his body, doesn’t drink [alcohol], does all of the things that you should do as an ultimate pro. Cheers the hardest for the people that play over him. JaVale [McGee] gets a dunk [and] he’s one of the first people off the bench. It’s an extreme credit to his character.”
Dinwiddie has been in situations throughout his career where he can relate to what Powell has gone through, and he continued heap praise on Powell during his lengthy postgame press conference.
“It is the hardest role to have in this league to know that you can play, to have started and had success, and to be relegated to the bench not playing at all – staying ready, staying focused, and then when they call your number, to have extreme success whether it’s [on the] stat sheet or not,” said Dinwiddie.
“I know Mavs fans give him a lot of flack for fouling a lot or falling on the ground or things like that, but the things that he does in terms of rolling every single time, regardless of whether he gets the ball – getting hit, getting hurt, getting knocked in the face and all that other stuff – that is a glory-less job that allows guys like Luka [Dončić] and myself to be able to make plays because his rim pressure is what then gets the weak side to pull in so we can pass to Reggie [Bullock] and Dorian [Finney-Smith] so they can hit corner 3’s where there is a lot of capability or putting decisions in the big’s mindset of ‘we can’t give up layups.’
“DP is the ultimate pro. I have the upmost respect for him, and I hope every single Mavs fan listens to this monologue and has a different respect level for DP, because everybody is not going to get to shoot 20 times and score 30 points and do all of the flashy stuff and dunk and stuff. You need guys that do things like that and are ready every single time, every single day. He’s probably in there lifting right now, to be honest. You know what I’m saying? I’m going home. He’s lifting.”
Phew … so who’s ready to go run through a wall with us?
Dinwiddie went out of his way to tell us how Powell is the ultimate pro, but, in turn, that tells us what kind of special pro and teammate Dinwiddie is as well.
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