Fellow Mavs fans, why not tank?

[ChuckChilly]

So Dallas went from being the deepest team in the league to #1 pick bound in a week?

[Archx]

So Dallas went from being the deepest team in the league to #1 pick bound in a week?

It's a lot of factors. Kidd can't figure out what to do with Flagg, DLo can play like MJ for 2 minutes and then next 2 minutes he looks like he belongs in China. AD is out of shape and injured again and he's also been far from a defensive anchor as Nico thought he would be. Lively is kinda lost on offense without a certain playmaker and Klay looks washed.

Obviously it's early but these few games have been horrible to watch. Even last night when they won vs IND missing half of their team, Mavs played horrible and won on the last possession basically.

On top of it all, the only guy who could potentially bail out Kidd will still be sidelined for quite some time.

[cupcakesnake]

Mavs have acheived the tanking last year w/o tanking, what's troubling is that they have put Flagg in a bad spot, the goal should be to maximize Flagg development, and playing him as ball handler in a non- spaced offense kills his development.

So much this.
I heard plenty of fans being like: 'this is great for Flagg. He'll get on ball reps!'
But these are the worst kinds of on-ball reps for any player. Driving the ball on hard mode. Driving lanes are tighter, passing windows are smaller, kick out passes are to poor shooters.

The Mavs are stuck between 3 different team builds:
- A roster built around Luka, who does 90% of the dribbling, so shooters and finishers are prioritized.
- A microwaved imagined contender around Kyrie and AD. Whatever that is.
- A new era around the #1 pick.

There's a huge population of lob catchers on this roster, but no one to dribble the ball and throw the lob, and limited spacing. Jason Kidd is back to his experimental mode, which is something I honestly think he's a disaster at. I usually love experimental coaches, but it doesn't suit Kidd. For whatever reason, he seems to be at his best when he's optimizing an offensive strategy and leaning on defense. Usually I'm screaming at conservative coaches to "try things" but Kidd is the exception.

The offense is dead last and doesn't look like an NBA offense. This is despite playing Toronto (a total awful joke defense to start the season), and Indiana (without a healthy guard on the roster). It's a -12.2 rOrtg to start the season, despite playing mostly joke defenses (they did play OKC and SAS though). If it werent' for that Toronto game, this would be close to a -20 rOrtg, which is like... what a college team might accomplish if they had to play 10 games in the NBA.

Flagg is such a versatile prospect. Shades of Tatum, Kawhi, Shawn Marion, Kirilenko, Bobby Jones, Havlicek, Iguodala, James Worthy. I don't think you really need to build around Flagg, because I think he can fit in next to anyone. You don't want to put him in an awful situation, and this is an awful situation, offensively.

[liquidswords]

Once again Football logic has infiltrated NBA minds...its a longgggggggggg season. Dallas has played 5 games with 77 left lol. Why the hell are we talking about tanking two weeks into the season?

[LarsV8]

I am a big fan of timelines....

The moment they got Flagg, it should have completely changed the approach to the next five years, starting with a sell off of all their win now pieces.

They should be selling off AD / Kyrie, taking on bad contracts for assets, in the running for top seeds for the next years, etc.

[badpotato]

I am a big fan of timelines....

The moment they got Flagg, it should have completely changed the approach to the next five years, starting with a sell off of all their win now pieces.

They should be selling off AD / Kyrie, taking on bad contracts for assets, in the running for top seeds for the next years, etc.

Defensive-oriented juggernaut set up perfectly for playoffs by moving lazy Luka by prophetic GM Nico should tank? They were just fine without Flagg according to them and unless NBA is rigged Nico had no way of knowing they'll be getting him in the first place.

I get your point, but FO hubris would never allow for that to happen.

[Johnny Firpo]

So Dallas went from being the deepest team in the league to #1 pick bound in a week?

The two aren't necessarily as mutually exclusive as you think. The worst team in the league could theoretically be the deepest. The Mavs is so frontcourt heavy, but there is no one to create for those players. The Mavs have a bunch of good players, but the team construction is terrible at the moment, Nico, khmm.

[The Master]

I am a big fan of timelines....

The moment they got Flagg, it should have completely changed the approach to the next five years, starting with a sell off of all their win now pieces.

They should be selling off AD / Kyrie, taking on bad contracts for assets, in the running for top seeds for the next years, etc.

The problem for Mavs has always been the fact that they don't control their 2027-2030 draft picks.

That's why they were in pretty awful spot with 33yo Kyrie and 32yo AD prior to the 2025 lottery - and that's why now they don't have that much of room to actually rebuild around Flagg, especially in the West. They obviously can trade their players for long term assets and wish that they won't be bad in 2027 with Flagg, but it's not like right now AD or Kyrie have that much of value, and in the West it's certainly not given that they won't be bad while not having their draft picks.

2026 is the last year they can tank, but I guess it needs to be very circumstantial (AD getting down for majority of the season, being more precise).

[nate33]

Dallas should absolutely trade Anthony Davis for youth. The difficulty is finding a trade that works. The receiving team needs to have a hole at center but otherwise be ready to compete for a title.

Maybe something involving Orlando, with Davis going to Orlando, one of Paulo/Wagner going to some other team, and a good young guard going to Dallas?

I thought about Philly being that third team, but they probably wouldn't trade either VJ or Maxey for one of Paulo/Wagner. At the moment, it seems like there is no ceiling on VJ and Maxey.

I can't think of another team who has surplus star caliber guards available.

[Archx]

I am a big fan of timelines....

The moment they got Flagg, it should have completely changed the approach to the next five years, starting with a sell off of all their win now pieces.

They should be selling off AD / Kyrie, taking on bad contracts for assets, in the running for top seeds for the next years, etc.

Defensive-oriented juggernaut set up perfectly for playoffs by moving lazy Luka by prophetic GM Nico should tank? They were just fine without Flagg according to them and unless NBA is rigged Nico had no way of knowing they'll be getting him in the first place.

I get your point, but FO hubris would never allow for that to happen.

After the Mavs landed nr1 pick in the draft, Nico had the balls to go to the media and said "Hopefully fans can see the vision now"

So yeah, he either admitted that the whole trade was rigged or he's dumb enough that people believed he'll be able to land nr1 pick with 1.78% odds. Funny thing is, Mavs didn't even try to tank, it's just that MEM were better and AD got hurt in that game again so they missed the playoffs lol.

[Jadoogar]

Mavs have acheived the tanking last year w/o tanking, what's troubling is that they have put Flagg in a bad spot, the goal should be to maximize Flagg development, and playing him as ball handler in a non- spaced offense kills his development.

Development always looks bad because the player is learning. People were complaining about Wemby shooting too many threes last year. That turned out ok.

I'm not saying the team is well put together (shout out Nico), but you will have ups and downs when you're developing a rookie's play style. It looks worse because the Mavs were expected to be competitive but if they were tanking to begin with, no one would care about this.

[louc1970]

100% tank.

I know people say it's early but the handwriting is on the wall. This roster is going nowhere. And since Dallas has given away nearly unprotected FRP swaps for 2027-2030, this is their only chance to pair Flagg with another high lotto pick.

Trade AD immediately, trade Kyrie after he returns and his play hopefully persuades a contender to give up a decent haul. Get expiring contracts to open cap space ASAP, hopefully in 2027 but if not then massive space in 2028.

Ride Klay's massive net negative value until the AS break and then give him a buyout since no team is taking him unless Dallas attaches assets.

Emerge next summer with Flagg, a top-5 FRP, the returns from AD + Kyrie, PJ, Lively, Gafford, Christie, Naji, Hardy and filler. Hopefully Flagg and the other high lotto pick both pan out which would set them up to be competitive in the following seasons.


As an aside, I've seen some franchises self-sabotage but the Adelsons may take the cake. To go from having Luka Doncic and making the Finals to their current predicament is really something.

The problem is Irving is a 33 year old PG coming off a major injury. I do not see anyone willing to give "a haul" for him.
AD mis similar is that he is 32 and injury prone.

The luck is that this coming draft is deeper than most. You have 8 freshmen that could be top 3 picks.

[Texas Chuck]

they aren't going to tank so it doesnt matter suggesting it
AD's health may solve that problem regardless
Their offense may solve that problem regardless

As to Flagg he shouldn't be bringing the ball up the court except in transition. But I'm totally fine with him having the ball in his hands. He's got good vision and is a willing passer. He's not a great shooter so he's not doing much for the offense playing off-ball particularly since they are playing him in these jumbo lineups.

He's going to be inconsistent. He's the youngest guy in the league. The lineups around him don't make a ton of sense and other than Max Christie and the rep of Klay Thompson nobody worries about Mavs shooters at all. Freaking out over his development right now is just silly and so unnecessary.

I see a guy who clearly belongs and just as important realizes he belongs. He's not shying away from anything on either end. He's going to be fine. He's never going to be Luka. He's never going to be Dirk. If he becomes a franchise player its going to be different. And that's okay.

[Effigy]

What's the point in tanking? The NBA's just going to give the top pick to whoever helps out the Lakers this year.

[pipfan]

I wonder if ATL would deal for AD? He's an AWESOME fit with KP and Trae

Johnson, Luke K (when eligible) and another contract, plus the NO pick?

[ConSarnit]

Let me start by saying this: Tanking will not happen under Nico Harrison watch. He backed himself into a corner and his roster construction reeks of arrogance and hubris (while not making any sense).
I don't think they should "tank" like Nets or Jazz are doing by bottoming out, but I think they should be in the "buy for 1 dollar, sell for 2" market like OKC did with Paul George/Chris Paul/Hortford/Schroeder and so on. They can still sell high on Anthony Davis/Irving and redundant pieces like PJ Washington/Gafford, get good pieces + draft picks. Build around Flagg, see what they have with Christie/Hardy/Lively and find your Jalen Williams/Siakam with the gazillion picks you will get from the trades.

Nico had an almost perfect out and he failed to capitalize. He could have said “we tried to give ourselves a strong 3 year window but Kyrie’s injury cost us the first 2 years of that window and as such we have decided to pivot (ie trade AD, PJ, etc). We’ve decided to take a more long term view given our injuries and landing Flagg in the draft.” He could have started the rebuild this off-season and I think most fans would have understood. Landing Flagg gave him a get out of jail free card.

Instead he’ll probably dig in further.

[jpengland]

Mavs have acheived the tanking last year w/o tanking, what's troubling is that they have put Flagg in a bad spot, the goal should be to maximize Flagg development, and playing him as ball handler in a non- spaced offense kills his development.

Yep. Said this since the draft.

We should be doing everything to prioritise Flaggs development. Playing him on a non spaced floor and asking him to make plays is ludicrous.

He shouldn’t be playing on a team with AD at 4. He should be playing as a 3/4 with one big man on the court alongside him and shooting and movement everywhere else.

Of course Nico can’t possibly trade AD but that’s what should be happening.

[jpengland]

Oh and **** Nico and **** Kidd

[PapaBear53]

Yes, because tanking is the answer to everything.

[Duke4life831]

Ya I think they should tank. Their roster construction right now is just so bad. And I agree with some of the people on here that it really is the worst case scenario for his development. There are basically 2 options for Flagg at the moment in this offense

#1. Stand in the corner and watch ball hogs go ISO and never pass. The amount of possessions with 0 or just 1 pass is very noticeable.
#2. Play as the ball handler in a very crowded paint.

It feels like he can go 2-3 minutes without getting a touch. There is just zero chance for him to build any kind of rhythm on offense.