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NEW ORLEANS ? The Mavericks didn?t have to go far to get the lowdown on the player they finally settled on to help them at the trade deadline.
When Don Nelson coached at Golden State, he was there for Anthony Morrow?s first two seasons in the NBA. When Nelson?s son, Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson called to get a scouting report, he liked what he heard.
?Next to Chris Mullin,? the former Mavericks coach said, ?[Morrow?s] probably the best pure shooter I ever coached. You?re going to love him.?
The Mavericks clearly felt they needed a high-quality shooter more than they needed a tough-nosed defender as the NBA trade deadline passed Thursday afternoon.
They didn?t exactly blow the league away with their acquisition of the 27-year-old Morrow, but by giving up Dahntay Jones, the Mavericks made a commitment to getting Dirk Nowitzki, Vince Carter and Shawn Marion some help in the form of perimeter shooting.
Morrow is a career 42.5 percent 3-point shooter. He had trouble getting on the court this season with the Atlanta Hawks. But he was a double-figure scorer his first four seasons in the league, including a career-best 13 points per game in his second season with the Warriors.
?From training camp, we?ve talked about the lack of shooting,? Donnie Nelson said. ?It?s been a pretty significant hole. And to have a guy step in who?s one of the top stretch shooters maybe in the history of the league and provide some help there was just really, really important to us.?
It certainly wasn?t the sort of big splash that will turn around the Mavericks? season. They are five games below .500 and 4 1/2 games out of the final playoff spot. It will remain an uphill climb, and they know Morrow won?t be any sort of savior. But he can help. And at this point, that?s what the Mavericks need.
And they did it without sacrificing flexibility in the summer. Morrow?s $4 million expiring contract is $1 million more than Jones?, which also ends after this season.
And while defense wins in the NBA, this version of the Mavericks needs scoring from the perimeter since it has been difficult at times to put points on the board from closer range.
?He?s one of the best shooters in the game,? Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said of Morrow. ?And you can never have too many shooters.
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