The NBA is an ongoing education from stars to bench players. Finding the perfect fit of role and responsibility almost never exists at this level. Everyone wants the ball in their hands as well as a steady amount of plays called for them to impact the results of games. In my line of work, figuring out how players impact winning and why is the fun part of the job. In the 2024 NBA Finals everyone knows the headliners like Luka, Tatum, Kyrie, and Brown. The fun part for me is to figure out the role players that will impact the game and a little bit about their back stories to figure out how they will impact the game and how to recreate that with the players that I work with. PJ Washington, who the Mavericks acquired at this year’s trade deadline can have a tremendous impact on this series.
Here’s my scouting report on Washington
“PJ is a 6’7 Combo-Forward that can impact the game with his perimeter defense, activity using his physical attributes, and at times can knock down open jumpshots. Can play either forward spot, although is more efficient offensively spacing the floor for a spot up jumper or a straight line drive. Always active and comes to play as far as the energy that he brings to the game. Good perimeter defender that can move his feet and make it hard for an offensive player to get rhythm. Solid rebounder for his position. Not a great decision maker with the ball in his hands but good when the play is already made and all he has to do is catch/shoot or straight line drive to the rim for a finish. Shoots 60% at the rim and can finish above the rim having very good athletic ability and length. Solid 4th option for an NBA team, but if he can get more consistency as a 38% 3PT shooter as well as raise that FT% to the mid 70’s can have better impact on the game”
Washington has been a solid contributor for the Mavericks this season Averaging 12 points and 6 rebounds per game, which is his standard line. Another standard stat that he has is his 31% 3PT shooting percentage. That is a big part of his game that needs to be more consistent for him to have a more prominent role for an NBA team. This game is mainly about shot making on the offensive end and if you can’t space the floor you need to be elite at least 1 thing to stay on the floor when it matters at the NBA level. In his first 4.5 years of his NBA career , Washington was waiting for that one breakout season.
PJ was drafted 12th in the NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets back in 2019 out of The University of Kentucky. The Former McDonalds All American and Third Team All American in college showed a lot of promise to be that 3/D wing that had All Star Potential with the right opportunity and development. He hade a respectable 4.5 seasons with Charlotte averaging 13 points 6 rebounds and 2 assists a game on shooting splits of 45% FG 36%3PT 71%FT. The issues for Charlotte were that he never could consistently be one of the main focuses on offense as they had other players to develop as well such as LeMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, and Gordon Hayward. The team improved their win totals in his first 3 seasons winning 23,33, and 43 wins respectively. They had a young core of players that showed some promise, but in year 4, even though that was PJ’s best season scoring at 15.7 points per game being their 3rd best player, the Hornets only won 27 games. The knock players get in these cases is that they can only put up numbers on bad teams and can’t do it while impacting winning. Sometimes it is a fair question to ask and sometimes it has to do with the situation and not the player.
In Charlotte, most of Washington’s offense came from spot ups, transition, as well as setting screens for roll/pops. With the players that they had players like Rozier, Ball, and Hayward would Isolate have more of a creative role. A lot of the time if he wasn’t spacing in the corner for a spot up or straight line drive to the rim, PJ would set a screen and either play out of the short roll or space the floor looking for the shot/drive. In his first couple of seasons he improved his 3PT accuracy shooting 37.4% & 38.6% respectively but started to take dips in his shooting in his next 3 seasons. It is normal for players to take dips in their shooting percentages for different reasons such as change of role or tweaking mechanics. With his ability to finish at the rim on drives and rolls, consistent shooting is the skill that will open up more opportunities for his drives/finishes as well as give his other teammates more space to operate when his defender has to stay connected to him when the ball is out of his hands. After Charlotte changed coaches in 22-23 and Drafting Brandon Miller in 2023, PJ was demoted to the second unit after 12 games(3-9) and would remain there until he was traded.
Dallas acquired PJ on February 8, 2024 for Grant Williams, Seth Curry, and a 2027 1st Round Pick. For PJ it was a new start and a chance for him to play for an organization going in a different direction and another chance for him to prove that he can impact winning for a playoff contender. Jason Kidd tweaked the way that they used him putting him more in spot up situations rather than having him set screens on the ball. This opened up more simple scoring situations that he can be put in rather having him catch on short rolls trying to grind out points that way, With Gafford and Lively being so effective in screen rolls especially on lobs it made more sense to have PJ spotting up for shot/drives if opponents pulled over to deal with the lobs or if Lively caught it in short rolls and his man would help to receive passes when they rotated to Lively. PJ was a better fit for this team than Grant Williams, you could just tell with the energy and body language that he played with. The team didn’t need him to dominate games in the box score to impact winning. He had to play a role and stay on script with that role to put them in a position to win games and that is what he did.
The big advantage that PJ has had in Dallas that he didn’t have in Charlotte are multiple teammates will attract double teams opening up a lot of easier looks offensively. The Mavericks do such a great job of spreading out the floor soon offense and having two elite playmaking guards to move the ball which usually leads to open spot up players for shots or drives makes it a lot easier for their role players to get high converting looks. Most role players are wired more for simplicity, rather than creating their own offensive looks. It is so interesting watching role players where their role/usage rate is elevated vs playing off of 1-2 other high level players to get simple looks. The game is all about efficiency and minimizing dribbles and the amount of time the ball is in your hands.
PJ’s breakout performance in the 2024 Playoffs was Game 2 in Los Angeles vs The Clippers. He scored 18 points on 5-10 shooting including 3-4 from the 3 Point Line.. Two of his 3pt shots were from the left corner, a spot where he would catch fire from throughout the playoffs. That left corner has been his sweet spot, shooting 18-39 46% overall in 3 rounds of play. His consistency making that shot from that spot gives the Mavericks a weapon that will pay dividends for them in the Finals. Not only is it a high value efficient shot, but it also forces Boston to cover more ground on Luke/Kyrie screen roll passes that skips across the court. If The Celtics try to run PJ off of the line, he can also straight line drive to the rim where he is shooting 61% or go to the floater where he is shooting 47%. It has been an up and down Playoffs for Washington averaging 11pts and 5 Reb overall shooting 31% from 3PT. He has shown the elite ability for making that spot up left corner shot at a high clip of 46% which is a huge weapon for Dallas. During the season non that same spot he shot 16-66 24%. Boston will show different looks against Luka and Kyrie trying to take the ball out of their hands while also trying to take the lob away. PJ just needs to be locked in to continue to make shots spotted up from the corners. There is a lot at stake for not only the Mavericks, but also PJ’s reputation as someone who can be consistent on the biggest stage. This is a chance to turn the corner and develop considerable value around the league. Consistency is what every player strives for to be able to do it in the biggest series of their career
PJ Washington reminds me a lot of Trevor Ariza in 2008-2009 for the L.A. Lakers. When Kobe hired me to consult for him that season I studied everything about his roster to try to find teammates that were undervalued that he can use more when multiple defenders would rotate to him on specific spots on the floor. The one player that really stuck out to me was Trevor Ariza. Trevor was an elite athletic wing player that was known for his defense and ability to finish at the rim. He was only shooting 31% from the 3PT line for the season and was an inconsistent scorer for the Lakers. I thought that he struggled with decision making and making isolation like scoring plays. I thought that even though his shot didn’t go in a lot that his shots were straight, but would fall short because of his flat arc on it. I told Kobe that if he could get Ariza on spot up shots from the corners and wings and give him enough room/time to set his feet that he could be a player that he could kick out to for shots, but they just couldn’t be ISO shots or on the move/dribble. The last 20 games of that season , Trevor shot 31% from the 3PT line and it was looking like my suggestion was losing steam. I distinctly remember Kobe getting on me giving me this Knute Rockne encouraging speech. “You better be right motherfucker, or you’ll be breaking down film in the Fucking Siberian League next year.” Needless to say after that uplifting exchange Trevor went on to shoot 47.6% from the 3PT line during the playoffs, including 42% in the Finals. Trevor played a big role in the Lakers winning the Title that season. When Orlando got the ball out of Kobe and Pau Gasol’s hands it was Ariza that stepped up and accepted the challenge of making shots. I believe PJ can make the same impact for Dallas in the Finals. Also, I never got the pleasure of visiting Siberia
Like I said in the opening sentence, the NBA is an ongoing education. All of these experiences are lessons that have to be experienced and learned. In development, we always tell our players to stay solid and don’t get too high and low about things. Kobe always said that he wanted to answer two questions after every game. Why did he win/lose and why did he play well/didn’t play well. In an NBA Finals every game is a separate chapter that you have to self evaluate and learn from. You can’t just go out and play. You have to evaluate your play and what you can tweak (or not) and think ahead to how your opponent is going to tweak their approach in defending/attacking you.
In my prediction, the Mavericks will win in 6 games. They have an elite backcourt, led by one of the best passers that the game has ever seen. Their rim protection/rim rolling is at an elite level with Lively/Gafford. It will come down to when the ball gets out of Luka and Kyrie’s hands can PJ, Jones, Green, & Hardy make enough shots and winning plays to keep Boston’s defense honest. It will be interesting to see if PJ can answer the call and continue to make shots from that left corner and stay on script.
Guess we are going to have to tune in and find out….
