Is Luka-Sorry, the Mavericks going to miss the playoffs?

[dirkforpres]

I’m a broken record, but it’s BAD COACHING!

The supporting cast isn’t terrible, but the team is. Get rid of this overrated has been and see what the Mavs can do. I guarantee it’s better than this

Carlisle is a top-3 coach in the NBA.

My hair is going to turn completely white if I keep seeing this. Can someone explain exactly what in the past 10 seasons he has done to earn this ‘Top 3’ title? Mavs haven’t made it out of the 1st round once since the title run.

Without great assistant coaches (Stotts, Casey, Silas, etc), Carlisle is nothing

[Mike87]

I still think they’ll make it in as a low seed as it’s very early in the year and they’re missing a lot of pieces. Only two games back from the 5 seed but also one game in front of the 14 seed.

[Merc_Porto]

But they also have really bad contracts there. Starting with Powell, i never got it. I don't even know if he deserves a place in the NBA. Leve alone what he's earning...

Huh? Powell is a bad contract, yes, but if you aren't counting KP as one, then they don't have any others at all.

As to Powell the extension felt like bidding against themselves and pretty much no Mavs fan liked it at the time. But prior to his injury he was an elite role man and his on/off numbers showed a productive player if you kept him to a limited role. He was a slightly overpaid but useful rotation player. Now with the injury, yeah he's useless because his game depending on being the kind of vertical threat he no longer is.

But everyone else is on a value contract save THJ I suppose, but he's only overpaid by a few million and his contract expires. Bad contracts aren't the Mavs issue---lack of top end talent beyond Luka very much is.

Different situations.

KP is a bad contract because he can't stay heathy.

Is not because of his level of play which the injuries played a important role in delaying his development.

[Texas Chuck]

But they also have really bad contracts there. Starting with Powell, i never got it. I don't even know if he deserves a place in the NBA. Leve alone what he's earning...

Huh? Powell is a bad contract, yes, but if you aren't counting KP as one, then they don't have any others at all.

As to Powell the extension felt like bidding against themselves and pretty much no Mavs fan liked it at the time. But prior to his injury he was an elite role man and his on/off numbers showed a productive player if you kept him to a limited role. He was a slightly overpaid but useful rotation player. Now with the injury, yeah he's useless because his game depending on being the kind of vertical threat he no longer is.

But everyone else is on a value contract save THJ I suppose, but he's only overpaid by a few million and his contract expires. Bad contracts aren't the Mavs issue---lack of top end talent beyond Luka very much is.

Different situations.

KP is a bad contract because he can't stay heathy.

Is not because of his level of play which the injuries played a important role in delaying his development.

So confused right now. In the post I responded to you had KP as a positive but stated Dallas has really bad contracts plural there. Curious I guess who you are referring to?

[Texas Chuck]

I’m a broken record, but it’s BAD COACHING!

The supporting cast isn’t terrible, but the team is. Get rid of this overrated has been and see what the Mavs can do. I guarantee it’s better than this

Carlisle is a top-3 coach in the NBA.

My hair is going to turn completely white if I keep seeing this. Can someone explain exactly what in the past 10 seasons he has done to earn this ‘Top 3’ title? Mavs haven’t made it out of the 1st round once since the title run.

Without great assistant coaches (Stotts, Casey, Silas, etc), Carlisle is nothing

Tell me the coach who would definitely have gotten the Mavs a series win with the rosters they've had. They haven't been a top 4 seed in any of those years so he didn't get outcoached causing them to lose. Dirk aged out of superstardom and their secondary pieces were nothing special.

I don't care who the coach is, if you don't have talent its impossible to win. And I'm old enough to remember what its like when you don't have an established coach. I remember all the just awful coaches Dallas waded through prior to Nellie. I remember Avery who Dallas won in spite of not because.

It's one thing to want change for change sake. This is fans of every sport in every market. We want to love our players so we want to fire the GM, fire the coach. But who is Dallas getting that's a clear upgrade? Who are you replacing him with?

[PlatinumState]

Sometimes its time to move on from a coach. He's been there 12 years, getting a little stale

[urgal]

The surrounding talent is bad. KP was a worthwhile gamble but hasn't worked out, they need to reset around Luka. THJ is fool's gold.

A core of Luka, Porzingis along with...

Kleber
Hardaway Jr
Richardson
Finney Smith
Brunson

Is pretty good actually.

But they also have really bad contracts there. Starting with Powell, i never got it. I don't even know if he deserves a place in the NBA. Leve alone what he's earning...

That Powell contract is arguably one of the worst in the whole league. 12 Mil/year for a guy that can't rebound, defend or score.
And now add an achilles injury on top of that.

Just a horrible decision to extend him before he even hit free agency, who were they even bidding against?

Just a horrendous mistake from a managerial perspective, doubling down on an already bad decision (the Rondo trade) by overpaying on of the leftovers. Typical sunk cost fallacy.

[Merc_Porto]

Huh? Powell is a bad contract, yes, but if you aren't counting KP as one, then they don't have any others at all.

As to Powell the extension felt like bidding against themselves and pretty much no Mavs fan liked it at the time. But prior to his injury he was an elite role man and his on/off numbers showed a productive player if you kept him to a limited role. He was a slightly overpaid but useful rotation player. Now with the injury, yeah he's useless because his game depending on being the kind of vertical threat he no longer is.

But everyone else is on a value contract save THJ I suppose, but he's only overpaid by a few million and his contract expires. Bad contracts aren't the Mavs issue---lack of top end talent beyond Luka very much is.

Different situations.

KP is a bad contract because he can't stay heathy.

Is not because of his level of play which the injuries played a important role in delaying his development.

So confused right now. In the post I responded to you had KP as a positive but stated Dallas has really bad contracts plural there. Curious I guess who you are referring to?

I don't think Powell was ever a useful player. Not even before the injuries and not after of course.

That's the worst contract in that roster IMO. After that i really don't see a lot of bad contracts tbh.

Not even KP.
With the hope he can stay healthy.

PS: My mistake for talking about a couple of bad contracts. Is just one.

[dirkforpres]

Carlisle is a top-3 coach in the NBA.

My hair is going to turn completely white if I keep seeing this. Can someone explain exactly what in the past 10 seasons he has done to earn this ‘Top 3’ title? Mavs haven’t made it out of the 1st round once since the title run.

Without great assistant coaches (Stotts, Casey, Silas, etc), Carlisle is nothing

Tell me the coach who would definitely have gotten the Mavs a series win with the rosters they've had. They haven't been a top 4 seed in any of those years so he didn't get outcoached causing them to lose. Dirk aged out of superstardom and their secondary pieces were nothing special.

I don't care who the coach is, if you don't have talent its impossible to win. And I'm old enough to remember what its like when you don't have an established coach. I remember all the just awful coaches Dallas waded through prior to Nellie. I remember Avery who Dallas won in spite of not because.

It's one thing to want change for change sake. This is fans of every sport in every market. We want to love our players so we want to fire the GM, fire the coach. But who is Dallas getting that's a clear upgrade? Who are you replacing him with?

A clear upgrade over 2020 Rick Carlisle? I don’t think that would be too difficult to find. This reminds me so much of when Larry Brown was a coach in the NBA. Was he a good coach? Sure. Was he a good coach towards the end of his head coaching career? Absolutely not.

Same thing is happening to Rick. The game passed him up and he’s too stubborn to change. Replace him with J-Kidd, Cassell, or Adrian Griffin. Hell, I’d even be fine giving Dirk the head coaching job at this point. Guys that actually played here and had success here would be nice compared to this dumpster fire

[urgal]

I’m a broken record, but it’s BAD COACHING!

The supporting cast isn’t terrible, but the team is. Get rid of this overrated has been and see what the Mavs can do. I guarantee it’s better than this

Carlisle is a top-3 coach in the NBA.

The Mavs roster lacks a second real scorer. Luka needs a #2 guy that can score 30 on any given night and handle the ball when Luka is being denied. THJ will give you 20 one night and then go 3-12 and be useless. A trade for Cj McCollum would be smart.

Hardaway has actually been one of the bright spots. He's been very reliant this year although being forced to be a 2nd option.
He's giving you an efficient 18 points a night most of the nights, he's actually been outperforming his contract his whole time in Dallas.

[NYKnickerbocker]

Get a lottery pick this year and make the playoffs next year. Nothing wrong with that

[taikibansei]

Luka has been a one-man team offensively. They've been missing a lot of their players, but even when everyone was healthy, they didn't seem very good. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Dallas fan, but this year the Mavs have been hard to watch. I know it might be too early to start talking about this, but the Mavericks are really, really bad.

The Mavs played consecutive games this season with a full, healthy squad? When did that happen?

[Mavrelous]

But they also have really bad contracts there. Starting with Powell, i never got it. I don't even know if he deserves a place in the NBA. Leve alone what he's earning...

Huh? Powell is a bad contract, yes, but if you aren't counting KP as one, then they don't have any others at all.

As to Powell the extension felt like bidding against themselves and pretty much no Mavs fan liked it at the time. But prior to his injury he was an elite role man and his on/off numbers showed a productive player if you kept him to a limited role. He was a slightly overpaid but useful rotation player. Now with the injury, yeah he's useless because his game depending on being the kind of vertical threat he no longer is.

But everyone else is on a value contract save THJ I suppose, but he's only overpaid by a few million and his contract expires. Bad contracts aren't the Mavs issue---lack of top end talent beyond Luka very much is.

Different situations.

KP is a bad contract because he can't stay heathy.

Is not because of his level of play which the injuries played a important role in delaying his development.

With the way he's playing he's a bad contract even when healthy
I'd be very suprised if they don't make the playoffs' they played really well before 4 player went down with COVID, even without KP, they went from having 4 readily available wing players where at least 2 were shooting well in an given game, to playing Josh Green and Iwundu, you can't win like that.
They are missing a center, and I'm scratching my head why they haven't traded for Drumond yet.

[Beethoven]

Well, looking at the current standings, I would say the first six seeds are a lock for the teams denver blazers lakers clippers utah warriors. I believe they are the top six teams that will remain that status the rest of the way in any order.

The last two seeds will be a tough battle out with spurs grizzlies thunder suns mavericks.
It is like a 40% chance any particular team gets seeded there. So if Dallas misses the playoffs , I wouldnt be surprised. However I believe Doncic will pull it off and I see the Suns and Mavs in the last two seeds.

[Texas Chuck]

Get a lottery pick this year and make the playoffs next year. Nothing wrong with that

I can't even be mad. Knicks making the playoffs and having the Mavs lottery pick. Man you guys are finally living the dream. Then Silver pulls the old frozen envelope trick and its Cade and hello Knicks dynasty.

For the Mavs that pick is a sunk cost, so that's just not even a factor or me. If the little Mavs don't make the playoffs I hope the Knicks move up and get a top pick--keep more high end talent out of the West is a win for Dallas.

[Shakey Deal]

The surrounding talent is bad. KP was a worthwhile gamble but hasn't worked out, they need to reset around Luka. THJ is fool's gold.

A core of Luka, Porzingis along with...

Kleber
Hardaway Jr
Richardson
Finney Smith
Brunson

Is pretty good actually.

But they also have really bad contracts there. Starting with Powell, i never got it. I don't even know if he deserves a place in the NBA. Leve alone what he's earning...

A team with Kleber (as much as I like him), DFS and Brunson as 3 of their top 7 players, is not in a good place.

[leolozon]

The team should be as good as last year. Some people just went wild at the start of the year + covid hit them hard. The only difference with last year is Curry for Richardson... It doesn't make you go from a 7th seed to a top 3 seed. It's probably just a lateral move : less offense and more defense.

But honestly, if KP can't defend Gobert, when they have about the same frame, I'm not sure what to think of him as a supposed good defensive center. It's not as if he was trying to defend Shaq.

[Winsome Gerbil]

No.

But they definitely should have been more aggressive and inventive in upgrading their roster over the offseason. Taken some fliers. They've got a lot of drab midcareer retreads hanging about who you both know aren't that good, and never will be that good. you can't possibly ask Luka to average more than an Oscar Robertson statline, so what's the plan on upside there? Just hope "The Unicorn" gets it together and blows up?

There were guys out there this summer. Interesting names to beef up that frontcourt (like Westbrook in Washington, Luka does most of their rebounding). Why not go sign Whiteside given Unicron's fragility? Or take a flier on Cousins? Why not try to get into one of the sweepstakes for unwanted big $$ talent around the league? Hield maybe. Oladipo. Even Love. Something. They've got $55 million invested in non-impact guys like Hardaway Jr., Richardson, Johnson and Powell. Even if it all worked perfectly those are maybe guys that help you win 45-50, not be a threat.

[Winsome Gerbil]

The teams should be as good as last year. Some people just went wild at the start of the year + covid hit them hard. The only difference with last year is Curry for Richardson... It doesn't make you go from a 7th seed to a top 3 seed. It's probably just a lateral move : less offense and more defense.

But honestly, if KP can't defend Gobert, when they have about the same frame, I'm not sure what to think of him as a supposed good defensive center. It's not as if he was trying to defend Shaq.

Thing is, when he was building his 'Unicorn' rep, he was mostly playing PF. Kind of like Ralph Sampson I guess. Unparalleled length at that position. But he's not a physical banging guy, and I don't know he's an instinctive defender. Just huge. But more huge at PF than at C where he can be overpowered.

[Scalabrine]

[url][/url]

I'm confused by the wording in the title. Are you asking if Luka is sorry if the Mavs miss the playoffs? I mean I think obviously the answer would be yes.

The dash indicates a break in thought. It's insinuating that Luka is the whole Mavericks team.

Ah, I was confused as well. Makes sense now.

I think the Mavericks are in a weird spot this season. They are saving flexibility for this offseason, but they are only gonna have capspace if they get rid of THj, Richardson, James Johnson, WCS, Boban. They can't trade any picks till 2025 because 21 and 23 are owned by NYK.

The way I look at is, is they have a legit superstar, KP is probably best as a number 3 or a 2b, and then the rest of the roster is filled with 5th starters and JAG's. THj is their 3rd best player right now, and he should really be a 6th man, spark plug type. Lukas extension is gonna kick in after next season so this offseason is their only chance at any capspace with out making a major shakeup between KP and Luka.