Though the NBA Finals only ended about a month ago, basketball is back, ladies and gentlemen!
The NBA Summer League has already kicked off in Utah and Sacramento this week while the Las Vegas Summer League begins tonight over a 12-day span.
The Mavericks will be sending some familiar faces to Vegas to represent the team, such as Dennis Smith Jr., who will likely only play one game, if any. Luka Doncic, who is coming off the end of his season with Real Madrid, is in the same boat as DSJ, which will likely give second-round pick Jalen Brunson a chance to shine.
Former Texas Legends Johnathan Motley, Jalen Jones, and Kyle Collinsworth will also be on the floor for the Mavs in Vegas.
But, there’s one name that stands out; Dorian Finney-Smith.
Finney-Smith is coming off a left quadriceps injury, that forced him to miss 55 games last season, after playing 81 games as a rookie with Dallas in 2016-2017.
“I’ve been playing all summer. As soon as the season ended, I didn’t really take a break since I didn’t play”, Dorian explained on working back from his injury.
In 21 games last season, he averaged 5.9 points and 3.6 rebounds for Dallas in just over 21 minutes per game.
It’s clear that Finney-Smith has the defensive wherewithal to be an elite defender in this league, but one thing that has needed some work is his outside shot, which has become a huge need for the Mavericks after losing Doug McDermott and Seth Curry in free agency.
“Just trying to obviously shoot the ball better. I don’t know how to calculate it but I feel like I’ve been shooting the ball better lately,” Finney-Smith said after practice, in which he had just beat Dennis Smith Jr. and Jalen Brunson in a shooting contest. “Just trying to get my form shooting good and I feel like I’m ready to go.”
While working on his three-point stroke and fine-tuning his game, Finney-Smith looks to also play a mentor role for the incoming rookies and undrafted players on the team. “Try to help these guys out anyway I can, especially some of the guys who weren’t drafted. I’m out here to be a source or someone they can look up to for help.”
When asked how he plans on adjusting to the 112 degrees weather in Las Vegas, “Stay in the room,” Finney-Smith joked as the media got a good laugh. “Stay in the room or go to the gym. It’s a business trip.”
Though we aren’t sure how much time he’ll see on the floor in Las Vegas, just know that when he is out there, Dorian will be giving 110%. “Just trying to go out here and be one of the highest competitive players out there. When y’all look at the court, y’all can just say that he’s playing hard.”
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