Dallas addressed one of its biggest weaknesses by hiring Rob Fodor, whose work with Miami helped develop some of the NBA's most productive shooters.
DALLAS - The Mavericks had a lot of problems last season. One of the most fixable was the 3-point line, where Dallas shot 34.4% and ranked 26th in the NBA.
Dusty May went out and hired one of the most respected shooting coaches in the sport to address it.
Rob Fodor joined Dallas as an assistant coach and shooting coach earlier this month, ending a 20-year association with the Miami Heat. He spent the past decade as Miami's shooting and player development coach under Erik Spoelstra and he was the first full-time shooting coach in franchise history.
The Heat recorded the seven highest single-season 3-point totals in team history during his tenure. That is not a coincidence.
Fodor is one of seven assistants on May's staff, joining lead assistant Willie Green, Garrett Temple, Joe Boylan, Drew Williamson, Mody Maor and Sam Hershberger. Nate Mitchell will serve as an assistant while also coaching the Texas Legends.
What makes Fodor's arrival significant is the track record attached to it.
Duncan Robinson is the signature case. Robinson went undrafted out of Michigan in 2018 and signed with Miami's Summer League team. By 2019-20, he had set a Heat single-season record with 270 made 3-pointers while shooting 44.6% from deep. Robinson has called Fodor a "mad scientist," and the work has turned him into one of the best 3-point shooting role players in the league
Max Strus followed a similar path. Another undrafted player, Strus shot 33.8% from 3-point range in his first season in Miami and now sits at 37% for his career from deep.
Fodor's résumé extends further back. He worked as a personal shooting instructor for Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, Jim Jackson and Mike James and he has coached in Norway, Germany, Spain, Singapore and Slovenia. He joined the Seattle Storm as an assistant in 2015 before Miami hired him a year later.
The core of Fodor's teaching centers on what he calls limiting inertia breaks. The idea is that a jump shot should be one fluid motion and every stop along the way leaks power and efficiency. He also emphasizes teaching players why a shot works or fails, so they can self-correct in the gym without a coach watching every repetition.
That approach should translate well to this particular roster.
Cooper Flagg shot around 34% from 3-point range as a rookie and his trainer has already described an offseason built around improving that number. Naji Marshall hit only 29.1% from deep last season despite shooting 38.7% in his final year in New Orleans. P.J. Washington dropped to 32.5% after shooting 38.1% the year before. Max Christie shot 40.4% but cooled significantly in the second half.
Every one of those players has a specific, identifiable shooting problem, which is exactly the kind of work Fodor has spent 20 years doing.
The Mavericks also added Tarik Biberović, who shot 41.9% from 3-point range in the EuroLeague last season, giving Fodor at least one player who arrives with his shot already in place.
Coaching hires rarely generate much excitement, but this one has a reason to. Dallas identified one of its most obvious weaknesses and hired a coach with a long track record of developing shooters. If Fodor's work in Miami translates to Dallas, the Mavericks have a chance to look very different from behind the 3-point line.
