Dallas Mavericks Can Replace JJ Barea with Nate Robinson

When you win a championship, everyone looks at what you did and tries to emulate it. Everyone including the team that just won the championship.

One of the biggest components in the Dallas Mavericks' championship run was JJ Barea. The diminutive guard came off the bench and wrecked havoc with his ability to collapse a defense with his speed. The strategy absolutely destroyed the Los Angeles Lakers last year.

Whenever a team wins a championship, everyone else wants a piece of your puzzle. Barea became a hot commodity, and the Minnesota Timberwolves threw a ton of money at him (despite having multiple players at his position already). The Puerto Rico native had no choice but to take the offer.

That left the Mavericks with a void.

Mark Cuban and his staff tried their best to replenish their roster (which also lost extremely effective defensive center Tyson Chandler to the New York Knicks). Delonte West, a guard who is known for his defense and versatility, was brought in as the replacement. However, he simply does not have the same skill set to disrupt opposing defenses.

That's where Nate Robinson comes in. 

Robinson, a diminutive guard himself at just 5'9", is a former slam dunk champion. He's also an explosive scorer with speed. 

While he does have some maturity issues (which was famously attacked by Shaquille O'Neal in a book), he can be tamed long enough to be productive. It also helps that the Mavericks have a veteran core (Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Vince Carter, Shawn Marion, Lamar Odom and Dirk Nowitzki) to help reign him in.

The path was cleared for Robinson earlier this week when the Oklahoma City Thunder released him. With Russell Westbrook being a potential franchise player, and Eric Maynor as his talented young backup, there was simply no room for Robinson.

There is room for him on the Mavericks' bench, though.