RS 24/25 - Mavs vs Spurs (Sat 8:30PM EST Tonight)

[Bob8]

I disagree, he's the only PG on the team, he can't play less, if Exum is back then he can de-load, he should play 36-38 minutes, but he should work a facilitator most of his time, especially on Kyrie/Klay lineups, this isn't happening.
Regardless, if the Mavs only possible is Luka spread P&R then Klay was a very bad FA target, spot up shooters are dima a dozen and you can find a much better defending player than him.

Luka's not a point guard, imo. He's a ball handler. He's just a guy who's like to use the pick and roll to manipulate defenses...but he is mostly looking to score. There's a lot of teams in this league that dont even play with point guards. So, I'm not sure you even need a point guard to be successful the way people are making it. A lot of teams today do not have traditional point guards.

Luka is not the only ball handler on this team that can initiate offense. Because that's really what we're talking about when we say point guard. We're talking about someone who can break down a defense and put the team in position for the right shot. Luka and Kyrie certainly have that ability at a high level. There are a couple of other guys on the team but they dont do it at that level but they still can handle the rock and get the offense started.

Mavs need an offense that isnt heavily dependent on Luka grinding out some pick and roll possession every play. When we play like that we're basically saying there's no other way to create offense but running the same play every play with one man dictating the entire offense? That's insane. In the history of the nba, traditional point guard lead teams do not have a history of winning championships to begin with.

The energy Luka saves not initiating every shot or pass on offense (while his teammates claim some agency on that end) he needs to spend it committed to defense and also improving his on the ball defensive IQ .

The opposite IMO, Luka is a PG, he controls pace, he initiates P&R and makes the reads, Kyrie is the ball handler and not a PG, he can't do the reads Luka does.
Luka spread P&R is one the best plays in BB, on par with Jokic post ups, problem is, it's very taxing and he's clearly hobbled, he's not on all star level right now, let alone MVP level, and it's showing, they need to reduce his load, and you reduce it by off ball plays for movement shooter like Klay and Kyrie and post ups for the bigs (like Gafford yesterday).

It was total **** yesterday until Spurs fell apart because they couldn't hit anything.

[Bob8]

I will also add that I think the heavy pick and roll style of Luka is more effective against teams with BIGs you can bring away from the basket. However, against teams who can switch better - the guy around Luka need to be use to making decisions, initiating offense, and finishing so when we get in the playoffs this is not a shock to them or we're not overly dependent on way man doing it. Teams will put their best defender on Luka and do whatever they can to slow down the offense by pestering him. But if we develop multiple ways to initiate and break down a defense (and everyone's involve) were much harder to stop. The reg season is the testing ground to get guys ready for the post season.

When we play a team like OKC or Boston in the post season - they shouldn't be able to just focus on Luka or Kryie. Every player on our team needs to be in attack mode and to know how to break down a defense. One thing I notice about Boston is they constantly look for mismatches...they keep it simple... touch paint, kick, rotate it, find the open shooter. If there's a mismatch they unselfishly throw the ball to the mismatch. Mavs on the other hand - no matter - Luka will force the ball up the court (with heavy defensive pressure on him) and he's doing this at 6'7 230lbs and bad conditioning. His teammates are just standing around watching and then Luka will angrily wave the center over (as if its there fault he's out of shape) and we're basically asking one person to initiate offense every play while he's getting hounded up the court... (rightfully so)... Against teams like Boston and OKC we need ball movement and guys to have agency.. We need to pick our spots with the pick and roll. I prefer Luka to go into the pick and roll game when teams are playing a big so we can manipulate that into a shot....or a mismatch that guys have to get use to finishing. How many times did we have Gafford or Lively guarded by Tatum in the finals but if it isnt an alley we dont practice nor expect to capitalize off plays like that and that has to change as well. We have to punish defenses if their going to guard your C when a 6'7 guy.

Reading your novels, if I didn't watch last season, I would be sure that Mavs didn't make playoffs.

[Archx]

I disagree, he's the only PG on the team, he can't play less, if Exum is back then he can de-load, he should play 36-38 minutes, but he should work a facilitator most of his time, especially on Kyrie/Klay lineups, this isn't happening.
Regardless, if the Mavs only possible is Luka spread P&R then Klay was a very bad FA target, spot up shooters are dima a dozen and you can find a much better defending player than him.

Luka's not a point guard, imo. He's a ball handler. He's just a guy who's like to use the pick and roll to manipulate defenses...but he is mostly looking to score. There's a lot of teams in this league that dont even play with point guards. So, I'm not sure you even need a point guard to be successful the way people are making it. A lot of teams today do not have traditional point guards.

Luka is not the only ball handler on this team that can initiate offense. Because that's really what we're talking about when we say point guard. We're talking about someone who can break down a defense and put the team in position for the right shot. Luka and Kyrie certainly have that ability at a high level. There are a couple of other guys on the team but they dont do it at that level but they still can handle the rock and get the offense started.

Mavs need an offense that isnt heavily dependent on Luka grinding out some pick and roll possession every play. When we play like that we're basically saying there's no other way to create offense but running the same play every play with one man dictating the entire offense? That's insane. In the history of the nba, traditional point guard lead teams do not have a history of winning championships to begin with.

The energy Luka saves not initiating every shot or pass on offense (while his teammates claim some agency on that end) he needs to spend it committed to defense and also improving his on the ball defensive IQ .

The opposite IMO, Luka is a PG, he controls pace, he initiates P&R and makes the reads, Kyrie is the ball handler and not a PG, he can't do the reads Luka does.
Luka spread P&R is one the best plays in BB, on par with Jokic post ups, problem is, it's very taxing and he's clearly hobbled, he's not on all star level right now, let alone MVP level, and it's showing, they need to reduce his load, and you reduce it by off ball plays for movement shooter like Klay and Kyrie and post ups for the bigs (like Gafford yesterday).

I see a lot of fans like to forget the fact that Mavs had Nr1 rated offense in the league when Rick used Luka purely as PnR spam guy. But i guess that's way too high of a math to figure out.

But the thing is, now this team is probably the best team since 2011 and Kidd is trying to do way too much instead of keeping it simple. Nico put this roster together with a combination of 3&D guys, enforcers, high energy guys + 2 rim protector/rebounding centers.

Now, lets see what our brilliant coach decided to do.

He's using, one of the best spot up and 3pt shooters, of all time as ISO guy, then he's using some 3&D guys like Naji, Grimes even PJ like they were Kobe, Maxi has no clue what he's suppose to be doing anyway. Bright spots are Gaff and Lively but they're being constantly switched in and out of various different lineups. Kyrie is not a playmaker, he's a SG and he's still luckily playing well in his role...

But the biggest problem Kidd has is his own go2guy who publicly said he still has no real clue where to be on the floor. I was honestly surprised what kind of shots he was passing on vs Spurs, or didn't even bother to look towards the rim, so instead he just passed the ball on like it was a hot potato. I mean, we already asked this question during the last playoffs. What are these guys even doing during practice sessions?

[Pelly24]

You guys keep saying Klay at this point of his career is still way way better than THJ.

Well why don't you take a look at their numbers? They look like the same player.

If everyone agrees THJ is trash. Then Klay is no better right now.

I think Klay is a better defender than THJ. But there stats are similar... I like Klay overall simply because I think he makes better decisions, plays better defense, and has championship experience and a lot of confidence in big games. But It does seem like THJ got the short end of the stick here. Has it every come out why he wasn't used much at all in the playoffs and finals? Was it because of the stuff his father was saying? That's probably my guess.

TBH, I just get the sense that Klay brings a level of stability and capability that THJ doesn't have in the long run. THJ completely lost his mojo last year, but even when he was playing well, he would make some truly terrible decisions with the ball.