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By Anne Erickson
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Morez Johnson Jr.'s Summer League run was a pretty accurate snapshot of where he is right now: incredibly talented, wildly energetic and still figuring out how to bring it all together every night.
But that's a great place for this talented young player to be.
The Mavericks couldn't have asked for a better debut. Johnson came out swinging against the Warriors, finishing with 27 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. It was the kind of performance that makes people go, "Wow. what just happened?" The 6-foot-9 forward was everywhere, throwing his body into plays, protecting the basket and making life miserable for the other team.
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Then, because basketball likes to humble everyone, the next game looked completely different.
Against the Lakers, Johnson struggled to find the same rhythm. He picked up seven fouls in 28 minutes, which was wild, and looked a step behind at times defensively. He finished with 10 points and five rebounds as Dallas was outscored by 22 points during his minutes on the floor.
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That's the Summer League experience in a nutshell.
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Ben Golliver of ESPN calls him the most inconsistent player in the Summer League. "The truth is surely somewhere in the middle for Johnson, who will shift into a complementary offensive role once he's playing alongside Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving in Dallas," he says. "If he can consistently bring the type of energy he showed against Golden State, Johnson can help the Mavericks win games simply by exhausting the opposition."
His role with the Mavericks should help him settle in. He won't need to create everything. He'll have to do what he does best: defend, rebound, run the floor and wear teams down.
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And frankly, there's real value in being that guy.
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