Spencer Dinwiddie
Los Angeles Lakers

Player Facts

Height: 6'5"
Weight: 215lbs.

Wingspan: 6'8.25"

Date of Birth: Apr. 6, 1993
College Experience: Colorado (3 years)

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 9
Physical Strength: 7
Positional Size: 9
Positional Wingspan: 9
Paint Scoring: 8
Midrange Scoring: 5
Three-Point Scoring: 7
Dribbling: 9
Passing: 8
Perimeter Defense: 4
Interior Defense: 2
Rebounding: 4

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JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Point Spread

> Getting to the Line

> Isolation Expertise

> Finishing + P&R Scoring

> Skillful Facilitation

> Open Court Play + Shooting

> Issues on Defense

> Unsightly Shooting Percentages

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

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*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

The 6'5" Spencer Dinwiddie is a strong offensive guard. He can flexibly jump between lead guard and off-guard duties. Dinwiddie thrives as a guy who can both play-make and penetrate the defense at high levels.

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Point Spread

Spencer has shown that he can carry a heavy load offensively. He is a diversified, high-volume scorer who spreads his points out nicely between layups, threes, and free throws. About a fifth of 2022-2023 points were sourced from the free throw line. This includes his time in Dallas and Brooklyn.

Getting to the Line

The big body of Spencer at guard combined with his attack-first mentality earns him consistent trips to the line. He accrued a lofty 6.0 free throw attempts per 36 minutes in 2021-2022 then remained solid at 4.4 per 36 his next year. Over his career, Dinwiddie hovers around 80% from the stripe.

Isolation Expertise

Spencer's shot creation is predicated on shiftiness with the ball, high offensive IQ, and good burst. Armed with a nasty crossover, he gets downhill with or without ball screens. This aggressiveness shows up on the statistical charts with the 11th-most total drives in 2022-2023. He was directly ahead of Anthony Edwards and Fred VanVleet.

Spencer can embarrass bigs switched out on to him. He lights it up against these slower players. Dinwiddie uses a blazing first step to gain the advantage on his big, powerfully maintaining it until he's at the tin. Additionally, he has both a hard side-step and step-back three to unleash here.

He has the valuable skill of being able to create something out of nothing when the offense stagnates. Spencer is just a productive and talented isolation player in general. As a Net in 2022-2023 was in the 92nd percentile scoring in isolation.

Finishing + P&R Scoring

Dinwiddie uses a soft feel on inside-hand scoops at the iron. He's got a varied layup package with great touch off the window. A 6'8.25" wingspan allows for full extension to avoid the bothersome hands of defenders.

The hybrid guard is very good as both a scorer and a facilitator in the pick-and-roll. Prolific scoring here mostly stems from his propensity to take it all the way to the hole. With the benefit of being a big guard, he screams through seams in the defense with the explosion, size, and strength to do so effectively.

Defenders must respect his outside shot, thus going over screens and becoming susceptible to Dinwiddie drives. His drive-and-kick game gets unlocked from these avenues, setting up teammates with crisp deliveries.

Skillful Facilitation

He's a patient, accurate lob passer. Dinwiddie waits for plays to develop, not throwing the often-riskier immediate alley-oop that may technically be available. He has put on a clinic leading his roll men from DeAndre Jordan to Jarrett Allen to Nic Claxton on lobs over the years.

He rifles the rock to weakside shooters after the defense gets sucked into the paint. Dinwiddie is accurate throwing these darts across his body or right off the dribble. Spencer has seemingly no weaknesses in terms of pass directionality.

Spencer maintains his passing prowess on the move. He uncorks slick feeds as he explosively slashes inwards. Both pocket passes and kickouts can be made even as Spencer travels at high speeds. He has real gravity as a penetrator, granting teammates with wide-open looks on his passes out.

The former Colorado Buffalo delivered 5.1, 6.3, and 6.8 assists per 36 minutes for 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023 all with many minutes at the two. A tight handle and passing smarts help him stay vigilant as a creator.

Open Court Play + Shooting

Dinwiddie also relishes his opportunities to get out and run. He pitches it ahead for players flaring out to either corner. The speedy Spencer takes it strong himself or will pull from three when he's met with only one body.

As a spot-up shooter with deep range, he utilizes solid mechanics on his jumpers. He's a dynamic shooter rather than strictly a stationary catch-and-fire one. Dinwiddie can run off pindowns and staggered screens for quality looks from long distance.

He has spaced the floor for other offensive stars from Kyrie Irving to Luka Doncic to go to work. Spencer will actively slide into more prime spots along the arc as they collapse the defense. He has been close to 37% on his catch-and-shoots from downtown spanning 2017-2018 to 2019-2020. He's remained accurate since then.

WEAKNESSES

Issues on Defense

Outside of having good size and length in the backcourt, Spencer struggles on the defensive side. For an example, look no further than his spot in the 39th percentile defending dribble handoffs in 2019-2020. From a more traditional perspective, he has never averaged even one block or steal per game over a full season in his entire career.

He has a tendency of dying on screens that he should be handling better. This can result in some silly fouls fighting through screens after bad initial body positioning. His challenges are exemplified through some advanced metrics.

Spencer was miserably in the 22nd percentile defending pick-and-roll ball-handlers in 2017-2018, allowing the most points in the entire league on these actions. He will give up blow-by's too easily in general, in ball screen or quick catch-and-drive scenarios.

He followed that up with only modest improvement, in the still-below-average 41st percentile for both 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. As of 2022-2023, he remains a perenially negative defensive box plus-minus guy.

Maybe there is some untapped potential inside him to become a multi-positional defender at his size. A player like Malcolm Brogdon comes to mind as a strong, 6'5" guard who is a steadying defensive presence on the perimeter. The physiological and athletic tools are definitely there for Spencer to make advancements in this area.

Unsightly Shooting Percentages

Dinwiddie's not an efficient scorer on the whole. Despite his solid shooting at the charity stripe, Dinwiddie's percentages from the field are substandard. He shot a bland 43.8% from the field in 2022-2023.

He has put up some pretty rough pull-up three-point percentages from season to season. His clips from 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020 were 29.3%, 31.3%, and 27.7%.

He can force some bad shots in the key and isn't selective enough with his floaters. This in turn leads to poor accuracy on non-restricted area paint shots, hitting only 36.2% in 2018-2019 and 31.6% in 2019-2020.

Of final note, Spencer could maximize his size on offense better by crashing the glass and developing at least a couple of viable post moves to use on small guards.

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Beacon Bacon

Spencer was the 38th pick in a deep 2014 NBA draft class, featuring mid-first round talents like T.J. Warren, Zach LaVine, and Jusuf Nurkic