The Dallas Mavericks are extremely deep at the point guard position entering the 2015-16 season after bringing in Deron Williams, who is expected to start. Behind Williams, J.J. Barea is expected to be the primary backup point guard while Devin Harris should handle sixth man duties as a combo guard. The only player left out of that is Raymond Felton, who has been the forgotten man in the Mavericks backcourt, but he has been very impressive this preseason and might have earned himself a spot in the rotation, according to Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com.
Felton was a member of the Mavericks last season but was buried on the depth chart and dealt with injuries, so he only played in 29 games and averaged 9.7 minutes. This training camp, head coach Rick Carlisle said that Felton has been one of their best players, so he should be in line for some minutes during the regular season.
"Felton is playing great. You know, he's played as well or better than all of our point guards, really. He's just been playing that well in practices and the last two games, too. I really like what he's doing. He's been one of our best players in training camp, so it's not a surprise that he's playing well," said Carlisle.
Williams is currently dealing with a calf issue and his status for the season opener is in doubt, but once all four point guards are healthy it will be interesting to see how the Mavericks divvy up the minutes. Wesley Matthews is also unsure for the season opening game, so it is possible that they could go with two point guard lineups until he returns, but he isn't expected to miss too much regular season time.
Felton believes the reason his performance this preseason has been so good is just because he is healthy. The 10-year veteran has had success in his career despite his past two seasons being subpar. For his career, Felton has averages of 12.7 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 41 percent from the field and 33 percent from three. Carlisle has been extremely complementary of the 31-year-old all offseason, so it seems as though he will be able to crack the rotation despite the logjam at the point guard position.
