During the last 11 games of the season, Seth Curry will have a chance to become the Dallas Mavericks point guard of the future if he's up to the task. The organization plans to give him increased minutes at the position in order to evaluate his potential to run plays and play as a conventional point man, rather than an undersized shooting guard.
“We've got to look at Curry at point with a really conventional team out there,” head coach Rick Carlisle said, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon. “We're going to give this a look. I don't know how many games it's going to be. It may be the rest of the year, it may not.”
This is an encouraging sign for Curry, as his brother Stephen also started by coming off the bench as an off guard — eventually proving his skills as a playmaker and becoming the Golden State Warriors starting point guard.
Seth has a much more mid-range-oriented play style than his older brother, but hasn't proved to be a distributor, averaging only 2.7 assists per in 29 minutes a game this season. If he can bring his assist average closer to five per game, it would give the team plenty of reason to keep him at point, giving them a double-edged sword that can beat teams with his shooting, as well as his playmaking.
“There's a certain aptitude and understanding of the game that goes with being a point guard,” Carlisle said. “He's demonstrated those abilities on a lot of occasions, but until we put the ball in his hands and really take a look at it, we're not going to know for sure. Now is the time to do it.”
The key aspect of this move will be how Seth Curry reacts to the shift in positions. Carlisle and the rest of the coaching staff will expect him to focus on getting others involved without losing his aggression to score and recognize that he is the best choice when an open shot is available.
This is perhaps the tale on every SG-to-PG transition in the NBA, it's walking the fine line of making the right play without forgetting one's own weapons, just as Chauncey Billups once did coming to the Detroit Pistons to fill a need at the position.
“It's just natural to me to make the right play,” Curry said. “If I know I'm bringing the ball up the court and I'm going to touch it, then I don't think that I've got to attack, that I've got to score right here. At times when I'm at the two, I'm thinking every time I touch the ball I'm going to look to score. When I'm at the one, I feel like I know I'm going to have the chance to get shots up, so I'm just trying to not force it.”
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