Davis Bertans explains why the Wizards declined recently, has a strong debut for the Mavericks

Dallas Mavericks forward Davis Bertans has caught the eye of Washington Wizards fans for a couple of reasons. After getting traded from Washington to Dallas last Thursday, Bertans said the Wizards declined because rotations weren’t set and more players were looking for more playing time at the same time.

The Wizards’ frontcourt was already quite deep, maybe too deep for their own good. And while the return of Thomas Bryant and Rui Hachimura may make the Wizards look better on paper, they actually did worse because both Bryant and Hachimura are rotation-level players and started regularly last season. So Bertans had a point there.

Of course, Wizards fans will also be quick to point out that Bertans was not playing to expectations. He averaged 5.7 points per game this season while shooting just 35.1 percent from the field and a career-low 31.9 percent from the three point line. Even worse, Bertans is best known as a three point shooting expert. So even if Bertans was right to point out the Wizards problems, I certainly understand if some (or even many) of you don’t think he is the best person to state what was going on up to the trade deadline.

At any rate, both the Wizards and Bertans needed a fresh start. While Kristaps Porzingis, the key player coming to Washington in the Bertans and Spencer Dinwiddie trade has yet to play for Washington, Bertans made an impact for Dallas, scoring 12 points in 13 minutes against the Miami Heat in a 107-99 win last night. He found his three point stroke again, going 3-of-7 from deep and even made a dunk on the fast break:

I’m happy Bertans is off to a good start in Dallas. Hopefully, Porzingis will hit the ground running here in D.C. sooner rather than later.