When Pierre Jackson strained his hamstring near the end of January, just a few days after signing his second 10-day contract with the team, no one could have foreseen what a important moment it was in the Mavericks’ season. Jackson, who starred at Baylor, was starting to find his way in the league, and everyone agreed it was a bummer that his injury probably meant the end of his time in Dallas. The player the Mavericks signed to replace him — Yogi Ferrell — was merely a transactional footnote to the story.
No one knew we were on the verge of Yogimania.
That Ferrell was immediately inserted into the starting lineup — against San Antonio, no less — was more of a commentary on the squad’s ever-present injury woes this season rather than a value judgment of the Mavs’ newest point guard. But he looked good that night, especially considering he had only learned the team’s offensive sets at the morning practice.
Ferrell looked even better against the defending champion Cavaliers — 19 points, strong D on Kyrie Irving — and by the end of the week, he had turned into a hypercane on national TV against Portland and pocketed a two-year guaranteed deal with the team.
#Yogimania runnin' wild pic.twitter.com/asS1aNXAOL
— Arya (@aryaahmadi) February 4, 2017
Is it sustainable?
First, who cares? Enjoy that it has happened at all. It is something comforting in what has been a bleak sports landscape lately. A bleak pretty much everything, speaking personally. It’s glorious right now, there will be bumps along the way, of course, and that is fine.
Secondly, who says it won’t — or can’t — continue?
As Mavs.com’s Bobby Karalla notes, Ferrell fits into the Montaball version of coach Rick Carlisle’s offense, and that was a killer.
This will look familiar to anyone who remembers the “Monta Ball” Mavs. pic.twitter.com/vNPm4LqxBf
— Bobby Karalla (@bobbykaralla) February 6, 2017
Teams will figure out a few things as they get more tape on Ferrell, but I would bet they won’t figure out everything about the Mavs’ new-old offense. Moving Harrison Barnes full-time to the 4 spot was the first tumbler to fall into place. Then Dirk at center. Then starting Seth Curry, whose jumper has been Perfect Storm-wet these past few weeks. Now Ferrell, who is quick enough to get to the rim through the cracks Curry and Dirk’s spacing provides, is the final number in the combination.
It’s not championship level. No. But Ferrell provides another piece for next year, and a rallying point for what is likely an impossible dream for this year:
An eighth-seed Mavs team taking on the No. 1 Warriors in the playoffs, and turning 2007 inside out. It’s been 10 years. Why not? I know, I know. It’s stupid and dangerously optimistic. But I’m stupid and dangerously optimistic and still busted up by that GSW series.
Let me cling to this.
