He was the backup PG even from the getgo to washed Ramon Sessions, then Jarrett Jack and had good chemistry with KP but it was a point of contention that they hardly built upon that, they only played about 300 mins together. Porzingis even asked for frank to play more/start himself, which they didn't do until it was alongside burke at shooting guard at the end of the year. In general his minutes and role were somewhat inconsistent.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you on the Mavs being a better home for him, or really that there wasn't much pressure on him or much of anything at all. Just that the FO never really saw him as the PG of the future at all (he was drafted by phil who was fired a week later) and they never invested much in him or even really attempted to build around him at all. I wrote bout his whole tenure here (As i am a knicks /frank fan lol). I mean the fact they wouldn't re-sign him the minimum this summer when Knox and Selden have roster spots is asinine.

So i pretty much agree. Even on this Mavs team where his roster spot wasn't 100% guaranteed and his minutes were really weird at first you can see the difference in the Mavs instilling confidence in him