PERFECT SPENCE
Dinwiddie quickly becomes Nets’ most important player
Spencer Dinwiddie has gone from G-League find to NBA backup to the Brooklyn Nets’ go-to guy, and — so far this season — their most indispensable player.
And watching how he has worked his way up every rung of that ladder — and learned from every stumble along the way — has earned him the respect of those Nets.
“Just watching him over the summer … Spencer was a guy that really approached the game the right way,” Quincy Acy said. “He eats right — we make fun of him because he’ll have a whole plate full of asparagus and weird stuff.
“But his attention to detail, his approach to the game has really got him where he is, and it’s helped his confidence a lot. He’s playing well. He deserves everything he’s getting right now. He worked for it. I love to see guys like that succeed, guys that really worked for it off the court. It’s really showing.” It has shown in a breakthrough campaign for Dinwiddie, one that came when the Nets needed it the most, with Jeremy Lin out for the season and D’Angelo Russell sidelined since Nov. 11. They had a point guard crisis until Dinwiddie stepped in and solved it, averaging 14.3 points and 7.1 assists as their most vital starter. The Nets are 9.1 points per 100 possessions better when Dinwiddie is on the floor than when he’s off, the best mark of any regular on the team. “He’s taking advantage of his opportunity,” DeMarre Carroll said. “D-Lo went down and somebody had to step up, and he stepped up.” Like Wednesday, when Dinwiddie stepped up with a career-high 26 points and nine assists. He even showed he had turned losses into lessons. After settling at the end of their Dec. 23 overtime loss at Indiana, and missing a pull-up 3, he didn’t make the same mistake against Minnesota. He drove by Taj Gibson for the winner with 10 seconds left.
“On the pull-up, I’d just missed the one in Indiana. I was like, ‘ Ahh, I guess I’ll drive it.’ It was the same switch situation. Taj, he was trying to limit the pull-up 3. He was pretty close, so that’s why I went to drive,” Dinwiddie said.
“He went through it. A month ago, Spence would’ve pulled up and shot that 3. But this time he said, ‘Let me attack and get to the goal, because they can’t guard me,’ ” Carroll said. “That just shows he’s maturing, he’s growing and he’s not settling. I’m happy for the kid. Hopefully he continues to keep playing the way he’s doing.
“Kenny [Atkinson, coach] put it in his head: You’re the fastest guy on our team, go create for others or create for yourself. And I feel like that’s what he did, he didn’t settle. … He drove, and hit a big shot for us. That’s what we need him to do, keep playing downhill and keep being that Spencer we know he can be.”
How much the Nets have needed him is shocking. He’s on a $1,524,305 contract, the only non-guaranteed deal on the roster. With Win Shares worth an estimated $2,935,000, his deal should have returned just 0.519 Win Shares. But he has already compiled 3.4, and rising with each game.
“He’s hit some big shots, tough shots,” said Atkinson, who left Acy in to space the floor for Dinwiddie. And the 24-yearold guard put the lessons he’d learned in Indiana to use.
“He’s a smart guy. Right afterward [in Indiana], he’s like I should’ve drove it,” Acy said. “He takes ownership, and he listens to coaches and everybody else … credit to him. He’s learning from his mistakes and he’s capitalizing on his opportunities.”
Dinwiddie has gotten an opportunity as a starter, and regardless of what happens when Russell returns, Dinwiddie — who scored 1400 on his SATs and got recruited by Harvard — will likely have the acumen to capitalize on it.