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The Dallas Mavericks' 2021 – 2022 season was both a big success and a heartbreaking experience for the team. On one hand, Luka Doncic was able to conquer his first-round demons and led the team all the way to the Conference Finals. Unfortunately… they lost in the WCF in five games to the eventual champions Golden State Warriors. Despite the crushing loss, hope remains high in Dallas.
Now, the Mavs have reloaded and prepared themselves better for the 2022 – 23 season. After being killed in the rebounding category by the Dubs, they shored up their frontline by nabbing Christian Wood and JaVale McGee. The departure of Jalen Brunson hurts, but they have a lot of talent to replace him at that position (see: Tim Hardaway Jr and Spencer Dinwiddie).
With that in mind, which player for the Mavs will be their X-Factor? Is it one of their frontcourt acquisitions? Or will it be a player on the team already?
Mavs' X-Factor: Christian Wood
Sometimes, the best answer is the one that's most obvious. That's not to say that there aren't any other X-Factors for the Mavs other than Christian Wood: Spencer Dinwiddie is a name worth mentioning. Jalen Brunson's exit means that Dinwiddie will be the full-time captain of the bench mob of Dallas. Another excellent season from the former Nets guard will do wonders for the team next season.
However, in the grand scheme of things, Dinwiddie's performance pales in comparison to Christian Wood's expected output. Luka Doncic will most likely handle most ball-handling duties for the Mavs next season. Even if Dinwiddie doesn't have a breakout year, Dallas should be good on that front.
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On the other hand, the Mavs brought in Wood specifically to add star power to their lackluster frontcourt. After the trade deadline last season, the Mavs trotted out a forward rotation of Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber, and Dwight Powell. That's a solid bunch at best, but nothing spectacular stands out from them. In fact, this rotation got exposed big time by the Warriors in the playoffs. Powell, in particular, looked rough on multiple occasions.
In theory, Wood should be a solid partner for Luka Doncic on offense. The bread-and-butter of the Mavs' offense is Luka's pick-and-roll, and Wood brings a new dimension to the pick-and-roll dynamic that Dallas fans have watched for a long time. While he struggled last season in that regard (ranking slightly below average), Wood saw a ton of success in the pick-and-roll when he played with guys like James Harden and John Wall.
Unlike the other forwards on offense, though, Wood is able to take the load off of Doncic thanks to his isolation ability. He ranked in the 50th percentile in post-ups last season despite playing in a less-than-ideal situation in Houston. He has the agility to drive past slower big men and capitalize on mismatches when he's switched on.
The question, though, is whether Christian Wood's defense can become serviceable enough in time for the season. His effort on that side of the ball has come into question multiple times in his career, and for good reason. He can't protect the rim decently, and struggles when he's matched up against better forwards and centers. Perhaps Mavs head coach Jason Kidd can mold him into a better defender, but he hasn't shown any indication of improving on that end.
The ideal scenario for the Mavs is that Christian Wood becomes a offensive-oriented version of Kristaps Porzingis. He doesn't need to be an elite rim protector like KP: he just needs to be average on that end. Anything less than that, though, and this could go down as another failed experiment to help Luka Doncic.
