The Mavericks have already made one lineup tweak that’s paying off, but it may not be the one that matters most.
Since Dallas moved Max Christie to the bench and plugged Caleb Martin into the starting group, the team has gone 3-1. That sounds like a clean solution on the surface, except Martin hasn’t exactly driven the surge.
In those four starts, he’s put up just 1.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 17.6 minutes per game. The defense is useful, no doubt.
The offense is another story.
That’s why Zaccharie Risacher looks like the better answer for the Mavericks’ fifth starting spot.
The raw scoring line doesn’t jump off the page. Risacher is averaging 7.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 24.2 minutes a night, while shooting 38.8 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from 3-point range.
But Dallas doesn’t need him to be a volume scorer to matter. What he’s giving them is more valuable in other ways.
For one, he’s active everywhere on defense. Risacher is averaging 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, and opponents are posting a -1.2 field-goal percentage differential against him. He’s also 21 years old and a former first overall pick, which gives Dallas a player with real long-term appeal, not just a short-term patch.
Martin does have one edge: opponents are shooting 5.6 percentage points worse when he’s the primary defender, which is the best mark on the Mavericks among players who have appeared in at least four games this season. That matters. It just doesn’t make him the best fit for the starting five.
He’s still a valuable piece. Martin defends well, moves the ball cleanly and rarely gives possessions away. But the upside is limited, and the offense is barely there.
Risacher brings a similar kind of defensive disruption, only with more room to grow. He’s one of four players in the league averaging at least 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, and he’s one of only two players ranked in the top 30 in both steal percentage and block percentage. That kind of defensive playmaking is not a fluke.
The lineup numbers back it up too. Dallas is nearly 4.0 points better per 100 possessions with Risacher on the floor, while the team is 5.2 points worse with Martin.
And when the Mavericks roll out their best five-man combinations that have played at least five minutes together, Risacher is in all five of them. Martin isn’t in any.
The most interesting three-man group Dallas has used for at least 50 minutes also includes Risacher next to Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving.
The shot hasn’t fallen yet, but there’s reason to think it will. Risacher hit 36.0 percent from deep in his first two seasons in Atlanta.
That matters for a Dallas team that needs every bit of spacing it can get. Martin is shooting 50.0 percent from 3-point range, but he’s taking only 1.4 attempts per game, which doesn’t exactly force defenses to react.
There’s also the age gap. Risacher is 10 years younger than Martin, which makes him the more compelling option going forward.
Dallas likely sees him as part of the long-term plan, especially with limited draft capital coming up. In a sense, he functions like another draft pick.
For what it’s worth, Risacher is less than a year older than Dallas first-round pick Morez Johnson Jr.
With Flagg, Irving, Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington already in place, the Mavericks could use some stability in the second month of the season. Risacher hasn’t completely locked down the starting shooting guard job yet, but his defense, his fit with the core and his upside make him the cleaner choice now and later.
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