The context is quite different, but some of the facts are interesting nonetheless. Mavs Moneyball examines the "JET Phenomenon," that is the effect Jason Eugene Terry had on the Mavs during their glory years, and whether a super role player like Terry is what the Mavs are really missing and MAY have found in Monta Ellis.
Andrew Tobolowsky first describes Terry this way: "An undersized shooting guard, who was awful at defense, demonstrated poor bbiq pretty darn often and whose shooting percentage declined basically every year he was a Maverick."
But he also notes that Terry "was a hero, a fourth-quarter wizard, whose confidence was so powerful and so infectious it was like it was literally another player on the court, one that was somehow way better than the otherwise abstract combination of talents that was Jason Terry."
He was a player, he adds, "who always seemed to miss one of his two free throws, and never miss in the fourth quarter."
The question for the Nets is how much of that 2011 model JET is still a viable contributor. He will be reunited with Jason Kidd, who knows what he can do.
Tobolowsky doesn't seem to doubt he can, noting "for what it's worth, Boston didn't like Jet much, though nothing happened to his numbers (43%, 38%, 88% in 31 minutes with Dallas in 2012, 43%, 37%, 87% in 27 minutes with Boston)." Terry did play in 16 more games with Boston than he did in his last year in Dallas.
The Nets didn't want Terry in the trade. The 35-year-old was a price to be paid for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. He's said he's happy "and ready." This is a guy who averaged better than 15 points a game coming off the bench in Dallas at age 33 and 34. He could wind up as a bonus if he can still do that.
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The "JET" role - Andrew Tobolowsky - Mavs Moneyball