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22. Dallas Mavericks

Biggest Adds: Seth Curry, Delon Wright, Boban Marjanovic

Worst Losses: Dirk Nowitzki

Like the Knicks, the Mavericks entered free agency with lots of cap space and big free-agent targets who ultimately went elsewhere. Unlike the Knicks, the Mavericks have Kristaps Porzingis to fall back on.

Signing Porzingis to a five-year, $158 million contract means he and Luka Doncic will both be under team control for at least the next four years, giving them perhaps the most talented young duo in the entire league.

The rest of the supporting cast (Tim Hardaway Jr., Curry, Dwight Powell, Jalen Brunson) isn't good enough to make this a playoff team in the loaded West, no matter how dominant Doncic and Porzingis will be.

Even though he had little left to offer on the court, Nowitzki soaked up a lot of the media attention last season and was beloved in the locker room. Not having him in a Mavericks uniform for the first time since Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were breaking the single-season home run record in 1998 will just be weird.



https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2854713-nba-power-rankings-los-angeles-clippers-have-the-best-shot-at-a-title

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22? That’s the same as last year. Too low in my opinion.

KP should technically be in the adds. And Nowitzki isn’t really a loss when you’re talking about winning games. He was a negative player last year.

leolozon wrote:22? That’s the same as last year. Too low in my opinion.

KP should technically be in the adds. And Nowitzki isn’t really a loss when you’re talking about winning games. He was a negative player last year.

22 does seem a bit low but the difference between this season's ranking and last is that number will improve going forward rather than decline as it did last season.

I don't really care where we rank at the beginning of the season as long as there is steady progress throughout the season. The end of the season is all that counts when it comes to rank.

Way low.

I think we are in the top half of the league

The rest of the supporting cast (Tim Hardaway Jr., Curry, Dwight Powell, Jalen Brunson) isn't good enough to make this a playoff team in the loaded West, no matter how dominant Doncic and Porzingis will be.

This statement comes off like the author is basing this analysis on 2K ratings. The "supporting cast" is precisely what should put Dallas ahead of Minnesota and Sacramento, two teams with (imo) weaker second units and pieces that don't fit as well.

As long as our team expects to make the playoffs is all that matters.


Mavs strongly believe they have what it takes to make the playoffs this season
https://www.mavs.com/mavs-strongly-believe-they-have-what-it-takes-to-qualify-for-the-playoffs-this-season/

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HMFFL wrote:As long as our team expects to make the playoffs is all that matters.


Mavs strongly believe they have what it takes to make the playoffs this season
https://www.mavs.com/mavs-strongly-believe-they-have-what-it-takes-to-qualify-for-the-playoffs-this-season/

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Do you believe that? I think 45 wins is our ceiling and that's not a playoff team

Defense is what must improve particularly in the clutch during crunch time.

The Mavericks were still in the game till the end of games a lot last season.

What cost them wins was being unable to stop teams in crunch time.

You cannot win unless you can stop the other teams scoring threats at the end of games.

DeLon and Boban add to the teams defensive ability which should also be great at the rim with KP playing.

Luka will exert himself on that end of the floor to be a more capable defender as well so that is 4 guys who can be counted on to up our defensive ability.

5th guy is then someone who hopefully can score.

If Seth is on fire from 3 you have to play him then and hope he can do the job on the other end well enough to slow them down some till help D is there to assist or you hope he is so hot he can't miss and then it won't even matter.

Twin tower defense can keep anyone from scoring inside that forces the other team to make shots or lose.

Perimeter D is important to develop then and with Luka and DeLon at the 1/2 it is going to be awesome and much improved over what we tried to stop guys with the last few years. If you are needing even more defense then DFS and an improving Jackson should also help. Maybe our rookies can provide assistance on that end while they develop their games more.

Inside scoring will open up the shooting for our dagger dealers from outside so with both KP and Boban hopefully having his minutes saved for crunch time we won't be having any problems scoring against top teams.

End of games is going to be a totally different situation this season. We have way more defensive ability and offensive firepower to deal with the other teams in the west. If the playoffs are going to happen guys the Mavs will be in them.