Nelson: Smith Jr. will have to earn starting PG spot with Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks are rich with talent at point guard, featuring a solid mix of young guns and veteran leadership.

Going ninth overall in last summer's draft guarantees 19-year-old Dennis Smith Jr. nothing. If he wants to be a starter under head coach Rick Carlisle, he's going to have to earn that spot the old-fashioned way: by beating everyone else out for the job in training camp.

"Those keys are earned. You know, it's going to be an interesting training camp," Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson explained at Smith's introductory press conference, according to Mavs.com's Earl K. Sneed. "I think Dennis is going to play for one of the best coaches in the NBA. That being said, I think internally you can't help but be excited by the potential, but he wouldn't want it any other way.

"Just knowing the character of Dennis and knowing his family and surrounding structure, he's going to want to earn those minutes. He's truly a winner in every sense of the word."

Carlisle certainly isn't lacking in options to run his offense, with Smith, Yogi Ferrell, Seth Curry, J.J. Barea, and Devin Harris all vying for minutes in his backcourt.

Smith at least got his NBA career off on the right foot during the Las Vegas Summer League, earning a spot on the All-NBA Summer League First Team after averaging 17.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 2.2 steals on 45.7 percent shooting in his six appearances.

While he may have the most upside of the group, Carlisle could elect to ease Smith into the job instead of tossing him to the wolves right out of the gate, potentially giving him consistent playing time in the second unit to begin the 2017-18 campaign.

"Look, we've had good point guards here for a long time," said Carlisle. "Jason Kidd is one of the best in franchise history, but he's a different kind of player than Dennis. You know, Dennis has got some gears that we just haven't seen in a point guard in this organization since I've been here and maybe ever, so that's exciting. I believe he has the ability to make the game easier for others.

"You know, people are going to be coming at him hard as a rookie and as a guy that's coming in with some accolades, some hype and things like that, and I think he understands it. I think he's looking forward to that."