Jaden Hardy's Summer League Over: Top Lessons for Mavs Development

LAS VEGAS — After sustaining a shoulder injury during the Dallas Mavericks' Summer League victory against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, second-year player Jaden Hardy was ruled out for the remainder of the team's participation in Las Vegas. 

"Hardy will be out for these last two games," coach Jared Dudley said after Thursday's practice. "He hurt his shoulder on that one. He played his three games, the whole thing with possibly to get him four games, but overall, we have enough film for him to be able to have it. I thought it's been solid for him. A lot of stuff he could take away to learn."

Hardy finished his three performances averaging 23.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists, but did so while shooting 35.2 percent from the floor, 24.1 percent from 3, and 72.7 percent on free throws. His shot wasn't falling, but he produced a staggering 11.0 free throw attempts per game. 

"The good thing about if you played bad or played good in Summer League, it doesn't matter until the regular season," Dudley said. "They're going to judge you off what you have in the regular season. So, it's good for him now to go back here, to take two, three weeks off and then get back to Dallas and work."

A priority for the Mavs' use of the Summer League was to put Hardy into high pick-and-rolls and to evaluate how he's handling them. His efficiency struggled as he produced only 0.583 points per possession (PPP) in high pick-and-roll plays in Las Vegas and generated 0.650 PPP during his rookie season.

"He struggles in pick-and-rolls. But that's not gonna stop me from putting him in pick-and-rolls," Dudley said after Monday's game. "But coach George, my assistant coach, we went to our open offense, more dribble handoff using the bigs, and that was huge."

While Hardy's shot hasn't fallen as he works through developing as a passer, the experience of being the top option provided more reps while being the central focus of the opposition's game-planning efforts. Having to work through that while being disciplined on other smaller details, both offense and defense, remains important.

"It's huge for Hardy," Dudley said after Wednesday's game. "He is not shooting the ball well, but we're winning games. We're having him guard some of the best players defensively. Offensively, he's having the best player guard him. ... They know his game sometimes. He's pressing and forcing it, but I told him, listen, we'll take it if you're 6-20 [shooting] in a win."

Dudley explained: “We've seen [Allen Iverson], we've seen all different types of players do this at one point. It's the little stuff. What he can't do is foul a 3-point shooter in the game [or] lose sight of his man for back cuts. Those are the things we gotta pick up. And we'll have a little practice to pick up those ones. 

"Lively had a big offensive rebound [then] kick out for Hardy for the three," Dudley said. "Hardy would make that shot nine times out of 10, but salute these guys, this game, this league, and right now, this tournament is all about winning. I told him, 'There are no moral victories.' Here [we're] 2-1. Let's get ready to play Indiana."

Another element for Hardy is that he gained experience being the final shot-taker as the lead offensive option for a team. During Wednesday's overtime win over the Warriors, he missed multiple potential game-winning shot attempts. Additionally, he was the focus of the media breakdown of the late-game offense.

"Hell of a win. It was a weird game," Dudley said after Thursday's practice. "We were up, credit them. They came back and made some scores. And one thing I did tell the team and [Jaden] Hardy before the end of the fourth quarter. That's my fault in the play call to bring the ball screen [and] not to give him enough space and timing.

"Overtime was his fault," Dudley explained. "Overtime, I got the matchup I wanted. We had the big lifted, and he had 3-1 spacing to drive. He shot a step back. But hey, listen, that's one thing about this team. In the last two games, I don't care, overtime or not, down 17, [we] stuck with it — crashed, tip dunk for the win. It had me excited. I was, I was on the floor like J Kidd versus the Lakers this year."

Going forward, a lesson that Dudley sees as being valuable for Hardy is to allow the game to come more to him within the natural flow of the action. Working through the progressions in the offense and trusting that the ball will find its way back after passing it is an important lesson.

"Let the game come to you, even though the plays might be for you, even though you might feel a little bit of pressure.," Dudley said after Thursday's practice. "You're going to have to go through all your progressions in the offense. If it's not this first shot there, [swing it to the] second side, and the ball will come back to you. You have to trust that."

"Sometimes when you're young and you're eager, he's from Vegas, right here," Dudley explained. "The Summer League team was built mostly around him. So I mean, listen, it's tough. And he just turned 21. You remember what y'all was doing at 21? I know what I was doing. I was in Vegas partying.”

Among the key takeaways for Hardy during his short time in Summer League, from Dudley's perspective, is to reduce over-dribbling and work through his progressions as the initiator. That may happen as the game slows down for him, but at 21 years old, it's still an ongoing process. 

"He’s got a lot of stuff he's got to worry about, but just his progressions and defensive awareness," Dudley said. "So that will be something for him over these next two, three years until the game actually slows down for him."

The subject of over-dribbling was a theme throughout Summer League. Teams would load up at the nail and it disrupted the flow of the offense. He's still working through handling those coverages and just generally in handling low-man reads by leveraging the rim roller in high pick-and-roll to create advantages. 

"Listen, he's the guy who takes three steps forward, one step back each time," Dudley said at Monday's shootaround. "He has so many of the best defenders guarding him at all times. He has to stop over-dribbling as much. I told him, 'Listen, I told you're gonna get an 18 to 20 shots.' Which is about right. He had it [in the first game]."

Among the ways that Hardy can simplify the game for himself is by not taking an early shot attempt, but instead, being patient and getting into a get action with the big, or by swinging it and becoming a screener to force a switch to later attack. 

"There are times when he can play, get [action] game, throw it to the big [like] CJ McCollum," Dudley said after Monday's shootaround. "There are times when he has to cut through, be a screener, let McKinley [Wright] and AJ [Lawson] and other guys curl off you so that now when it's a switch, you have a weaker defender, and now the ball's coming back. You don't have to worry, young fella. The ball's going to come back to you."

Heading into the rest of the NBA offseason, Hardy plans to continue to gain reps and watch film. He's a talented scorer, but the still needs to continue to grow in making passing reads and utilizing change of pace when attacking. All of that may come with time as he gains more experience. 

"I'm going to still continue to work on it, continue the development, it's not going to come overnight," Hardy said after Monday's game. "So it comes with watching film getting reps at it. So that's what I'm going to continue to do and continue to listen to the staff, continue to do what they want me to do work on."

In terms of how Hardy being sidelined will impact the Summer League team the rest of the way, there is an expectation that Taze Moore and Brandon Randolph will receive more playing time. The team could also deploy two-guard looks with Jordan "Jelly" Walker and Mike Miles Jr.

"It might be harder for them to guard us because they'l have to think, 'Where's the ball going?' Everyone knows to load up on him," Dudley said. "On this one, I would expect Brandon Randolph to have more minutes. I would expect Taze Moore to play more minutes. I could go with two guards, ‘Jelly’ and Mike. For me, it's the flexibility."

Next up for the Mavs' Summer League schedule involves a matchup against the Indiana Pacers on Friday at Thomas & Mack Center. 

Grant Afseth is a Dallas Mavericks reporter for DallasBasketball.com and an NBA reporter for NBA Analysis Network. He previously covered the Indiana Pacers and NBA for CNHI's Kokomo Tribune and various NBA teams for USA TODAY Sports Media Group. Follow him on Twitter (@grantafseth), Facebook (@grantgafseth), and YouTube (@grantafseth).