Caron Butler shouldn't lead Mavs in shots
“If he’s open, he should shoot,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “But I don’t expect him to be our leading shot-taker. He’s going to be one of our top three or four obviously and be in the top three most likely. But, look, this is two games out of 82. Come back in two weeks and see where we are.”
Butler is shooting 39.4 percent from the floor. He had three poor shooting halves before heating up in the second half of Friday night’s loss, when he started attacking the basket instead of settling for jumpers.
But there’s no reason Butler, who has 33 field goal attempts, should be jacking up more shots than Dirk Nowitzki. The Mavs want Nowitzki to be their offensive focal point all the time. That’s especially true when he’s in can’t-miss mode, as has been the case while he’s shot 78.6 percent from the floor.
I’m interested in getting Butler’s take on his role in the offense, but he hasn’t been available in the locker room after either of the Mavs’ two games. Maybe he was icing his elbow.
Tim MacMahon
ESPNDallas.com- Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009
- Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks
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Tim MacMahon
Tim MacMahon joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. Tim covers the Cowboys and Mavericks. He has covered the local sports scene from high schools to colleges to pros during his six-year tenure at The Dallas Morning News. MacMahon is a graduate of UNT.
Marc Stein
Marc Stein began writing for ESPN.com in 2000 and signed on full-time in 2002 as Senior NBA Writer. He also makes regular appearances on "SportsCenter," "NBA Shootaround," "NBA Fastbreak," "NBA Coast To Coast," ESPNEWS, ESPN "First Take" and ESPN Radio.
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TEAM LEADERS
| POINTS | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Dirk Nowitzki
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| OTHER LEADERS | ||||||||||||
| Rebounds | S. Marion | 7.8 | ||||||||||
| Assists | D. Collison | 5.1 | ||||||||||
| Steals | D. Collison | 1.2 | ||||||||||
| Blocks | E. Brand | 1.3 | ||||||||||
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