Trade Deadline: Mavs Player Value – Jose Calderon

The week of the trade deadline has arrived, and we will continue our look at each Mavericks player and their value on the trade market with other teams. Be sure to check back every day as we count down towards the trade deadline.

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Jose Calderon

What’s the market value of this savvy, veteran shooting point guard who’s on the wrong side of 30?

Salary:

$6,791,570

Age:

32 years, 5 months

Season Stats:

11.6 PPG – 4.8 APG – 2.3 RPG

Potential: 

His best days are behind him but you could plug him in to any system in the league and he would contribute; could be a great bench presence for a Championship contender.

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Trade Value:

Signed to a four-year, $29 million contract. Calderon will be paid $6,791,570 in 2013-14. There is neither a player nor team option in his deal. The Mavs likely outbid the market on Calderon, but they needed a pure point guard in the worst way based on how last season played out at the position (Darren Collison, Mike James among others.). Calderon, who led the league in 3-point percentage (46.1) last season, is shooting a slightly less yet still impressive clip of 44.5% (good for 6^th in the league this season). This gives Calderon significant value for the Mavs as a floor-spacer to help create room for scoring threats (such as Dirk Nowitzki and Monta Ellis) to work.  Although having a low assist average this year (4.8), Calderon is having one of his better campaigns efficiency-wise, having a career low in turnovers (1.2) (which is the best clip among starting point guards in the entire league). Calderon rarely threads the needle and looks to make the simple pass more often than not which is a main reason the Spaniard has been able to guide the Mavs to 6^th in the league in assists. The Mavs consider the ability to get the ball in the right spot at the right time a critical element that they lacked last season, which contributed mightily to their crunch-time woes.  The numbers might not be there, but Jose has brought the culture. Defensively however is an entirely different matter, as Calderon and Ellis (as expected) have formed one of the worst starting defensive backcourts in the league. Calderon simply doesn’t have the lateral footwork to keep up with some of the quicker guards in the conference (such as Lillard, Westbrook and Curry).  Devin Harris off the bench does provide some solid defensive presence on the exterior but as long as Calderon and Ellis are together, they’ll continue to be elite offensively, but a liability on the other end.

There is a concern based on the fact that all four years of Calderon’s deal are guaranteed. Age may be a problem as Calderon will be 35 in the final year of his deal, but he still has the ability to facilitate on offense and shoot the lights out.

If Calderon can stay healthy, he could play a similar role to that of Jason Kidd in his later Dallas days. If Calderon does show signs of decline, (which there is no evidence to point to as of now) the Mavs will likely have to go other directions with the starting point spot. This is likely the only way the Mavs would be willing to shop Calderon, presently however it’s highly unlikely the Mavs would be willing to deal a point guard that fits so well in their system. Calderon also would have a hard time yielding any trade value as he’s 32 and on a long term deal, eliminating contending playoff and championship teams as potential suitors. Calderon realistically probably will never be an attractive trade value again, unless of course he maintains his level of play for 4 more years and the Mavs were to deal him on his then-expiring contract. That is all speculation at this point since the Mavs will have a completely different landscape to their team by then.

Although it seems as if the Calderon signing was a bad deal that locked the Mavs hands for 4 years on a 32 point guard, it is actually turning out as a fair bargain given his intangibles and fit in Coach Carlisle’s system. Trade value wise, he has little to no value but that could work as an advantage for the Mavs as it gives them 4 years of stability, planning, and hopefully winning.

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Days until trade deadline: 3 days

Stay tuned!