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5-2 and looking like a good choice to make the postseason out West.

There are plenty of weaknesses. Could use more wing length. Could use more athleticism. Defense really not that good.

Still, they have a potent offense and they are deep. Even deeper than I realized when they rolled out JJ Barea tonight as a key sparkplug in the Magic win.

Carlisle is still experimenting heavily with lineups and rotations. There still appears to be no pattern, rhyme or reason with what he's doing. I'm just guessing it has to be to build up some data to use to figure out how he's going to order his rotation going forward.

Here's the approximate depth chart. Only the guys in parentheses ( ) don't play or really have little chance to play. I'm going to include Lee in that group even though he played early in the season (seems bench fodder now).


Doncic............Wright............Barea
Curry..............Brunson..........(Lee)
Finney-Sm.......Hardaway........(Broekhoff)
Porzingis.........Jackson..........(Roby)
Powell.............Kleber............Marjanovic


My guess is they'll dump Hardaway and his contract when they can, although that may come next year and not this year. Still, even he was taking a charge late in the game tonight to help cement the win. He hasn't been a hyper-chucker so far this season, I don't think. His offense has helped at times, I feel.

The defense is a very real issue. If you get past the first line of defense (which many times is a pretty simple task), it's very likely you're going right to the rim. Porzingis and Kleber have helped as they can protect the rim, but it's not enough. Real effort needs to be made to improve things, including from Doncic, on defense.

Barea and Marjanovic are useful. Each has the ability to change the flow of a game, in different ways. Mavs dont win tonight against Orlando without Barea. He's older and coming off the Achilles tear, but if he can give them the occasional burst like he did tonight he'll be well worth the salary.

Boban is Boban. His presence changes the physics of a game and he's extremely hard to stop when he's on offense. He's been a nice boost the last few games for the Mavs.

Plenty of 1-way players on the squad, but things are working right now. Porzingis should only improve if he stays healthy. Chemistry should improve.

If the team stays healthy, they look like they have a real chance to make the playoffs. It won't be easy, especially with teams like Phoenix bursting onto the scene. But I have a lot more hopes for this squad than I did coming into the year, when I thought they possibly had a chance to be ok in a transition season.

They look better than that. How much better remains to be seen.

Mavs have looked good and from where I sit, they look like who I thought they would be. They have done what is needed to to stay in the hunt. December schedule looks pretty tough with quite a few games against some legit playoff teams. Get out of November looking pretty good and they should be able to stay above .500 even with the tough December.

They barely won against a terrible Orlando team.
Their wins have come against trash teams.

I'm excited about my team, but they're not going to do any damage in the playoffs. They lack a reliable #2 guy and #3 guy.

jourdy wrote:They barely won against a terrible Orlando team.
Their wins have come against trash teams.

I'm excited about my team, but they're not going to do any damage in the playoffs. They lack a reliable #2 guy and #3 guy.

The Magic are far from a terrible team, don't let the record fool you. We haven't really hit our stride on offense yet, but our defense is among the best. That's the reason you barely won, because of how great our defense is.

Also, KP is a great 2nd option, just need to give him time to get back to what he was. He's coming off of a major injury that stopped him from playing a single game last season. Not sure why you're so sour on your team, and mine for that matter.

I'll give em like a 60-65% chance of making it.

As a Mavs

I find them very soft and it will show in the big games

Need to get KP involved way more especially in the post

Need to dump THJ and Lee for a better 3 & D player or a board gobbler at the 5

I do think they make the playoffs but they aren't doing any damage this year.

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Tonight was easily their worst game of the season. A home game against a eastern conference team on a B2B shouldn´t be close.
Nevertheless I am really happy that they grinded it out. Late game FT shooting has been a problem since the start of the season but thankfully the Magic couldn´t take advantage on the final possession.

Last season the Mavs would have lost a game like this. This year they have an improved Luka that can take over when no one else is able to score and they also have a really deep bench. Brunson, Wright and Curry had off nights. RC resurrected Barea and he delivered.
They might lack consistency but the strength in numbers approach is working. 1-2 bench guys will step up and take over for a few minutes. One game it is Wright with 5 steals. Next game it is Boban with a quit 10/8 in 12 minutes.
This game the bench combined for 49 points. 7 players scoring 10+ points again.

Not really sure how this will translate to playoff success but it seems to be a good way to get wins in the regular season.

Still not sold, but is looking better than I thought.

Plus Golden state problems helped us a bit as well

The Real Dalic wrote:

jourdy wrote:They barely won against a terrible Orlando team.
Their wins have come against trash teams.

I'm excited about my team, but they're not going to do any damage in the playoffs. They lack a reliable #2 guy and #3 guy.

The Magic are far from a terrible team, don't let the record fool you. We haven't really hit our stride on offense yet, but our defense is among the best. That's the reason you barely won, because of how great our defense is.

Also, KP is a great 2nd option, just need to give him time to get back to what he was. He's coming off of a major injury that stopped him from playing a single game last season. Not sure why you're so sour on your team, and mine for that matter.

Yeah, but the Mavs are the first to give up 100 points to this ORL team, and they are coming off a B2B.
Orlando should have won this game - it was a wide-open 3 by Vucevic

zonedefense wrote:Tonight was easily their worst game of the season. A home game against a eastern conference team on a B2B shouldn´t be close.
Nevertheless I am really happy that they grinded it out. Late game FT shooting has been a problem since the start of the season but thankfully the Magic couldn´t take advantage on the final possession.

Last season the Mavs would have lost a game like this. This year they have an improved Luka that can take over when no one else is able to score and they also have a really deep bench. Brunson, Wright and Curry had off nights. RC resurrected Barea and he delivered.
They might lack consistency but the strength in numbers approach is working. 1-2 bench guys will step up and take over for a few minutes. One game it is Wright with 5 steals. Next game it is Boban with a quit 10/8 in 12 minutes.
This game the bench combined for 49 points. 7 players scoring 10+ points again.

Not really sure how this will translate to playoff success but it seems to be a good way to get wins in the regular season.

The Magic have been better on the second nights of B2B's since last season. Especially AG. Again though, the reason the Mavs didn't look as good tonight as they usually do, is because the Magic are one of the best defensive teams in the league. It's hard to score against us.

The Mavericks may not be contenders yet, but you guys have what could be the best player in the game very soon, and a great sidekick for him. They're both still very young though, I'd give it some time.

Mavs need a better center...Powell and Kleber are too small and soft to properly fill the gap.

If they had assets to give, Adams would fit in perfectly here..

But yeah they do look good so far

jourdy wrote:

The Real Dalic wrote:

jourdy wrote:They barely won against a terrible Orlando team.
Their wins have come against trash teams.

I'm excited about my team, but they're not going to do any damage in the playoffs. They lack a reliable #2 guy and #3 guy.

The Magic are far from a terrible team, don't let the record fool you. We haven't really hit our stride on offense yet, but our defense is among the best. That's the reason you barely won, because of how great our defense is.

Also, KP is a great 2nd option, just need to give him time to get back to what he was. He's coming off of a major injury that stopped him from playing a single game last season. Not sure why you're so sour on your team, and mine for that matter.

Yeah, but the Mavs are the first to give up 100 points to this ORL team, and they are coming off a B2B.
Orlando should have won this game - it was a wide-open 3 by Vusevic.

The Magic are better offensively than they've shown so far. Last year, we were in the middle of the pack offensively averaging over 100ppg easily. We've started off slowly because we haven't been hitting our wide open shots.

Just look at career great 3pt shooters like Ross and Augustine, they're both shooting under 30% from 3's. Ross is actually shooting under 30% from the floor and less than 20% from 3's. Trust me though, this Magic team is better than you think and we've kept every game close except for the Bucks game.

My point being that you shouldn't feel bad about just barely beating the Magic, cause we're a tough out. The Mavericks have the pieces to start something special. Just give it some time and fill the rest of the roster with some good role players and defenders and you'll be fine.

They need to get more youth talent, and not lose sight of the rebuild just to compete for a second round exit

They may make the playoffs, but it would be better if they landed a top 5 pick. Chris Paul may be a nice addition, if okc would trade him for CLee and THJ... and add a young player in exchange for eating the contract

jourdy wrote:

The Real Dalic wrote:

jourdy wrote:They barely won against a terrible Orlando team.
Their wins have come against trash teams.

I'm excited about my team, but they're not going to do any damage in the playoffs. They lack a reliable #2 guy and #3 guy.

The Magic are far from a terrible team, don't let the record fool you. We haven't really hit our stride on offense yet, but our defense is among the best. That's the reason you barely won, because of how great our defense is.

Also, KP is a great 2nd option, just need to give him time to get back to what he was. He's coming off of a major injury that stopped him from playing a single game last season. Not sure why you're so sour on your team, and mine for that matter.

Yeah, but the Mavs are the first to give up 100 points to this ORL team, and they are coming off a B2B.
Orlando should have won this game - it was a wide-open 3 by Vucevic

There was actually less then 50% he hit that three just going by %

zonedefense wrote:A home game against a eastern conference team on a B2B shouldn´t be close.

Comments like this are a good example of how exaggerated the East/West disparity has become...

I mean, the disparity only exists because the bottom of the East sucks a lot more than the bottom of the West. There's no gap between the mid and top tier teams.

If KP stays healthy and if Doncic can maintain a high level of play, then yes I think they can grab a spot in the playoffs.

euroleague wrote:They need to get more youth talent, and not lose sight of the rebuild just to compete for a second round exit

They may make the playoffs, but it would be better if they landed a top 5 pick. Chris Paul may be a nice addition, if okc would trade him for CLee and THJ... and add a young player in exchange for eating the contract

Eating that huge contract to develop bad chemistry habits and take ball away from Luka? Hell no!

GeorgeMarcus wrote:I'll give em like a 60-65% chance of making it.

538 has them at a 68% chance to make the playoffs right now.

homecourtloss wrote:

GeorgeMarcus wrote:I'll give em like a 60-65% chance of making it.

538 has them at a 68% chance to make the playoffs right now.

Interesting, not far off. I had them slightly lower than consensus going into the season.

GeorgeMarcus wrote:

zonedefense wrote:A home game against a eastern conference team on a B2B shouldn´t be close.

Comments like this are a good example of how exaggerated the East/West disparity has become...

I mean, the disparity only exists because the bottom of the East sucks a lot more than the bottom of the West. There's no gap between the mid and top tier teams.

There is no difference between the top or bottom teams in my opinion. But the mid tier is better in the west. Pistons, Pacers, Hornets or Nets simply aren´t as good as the Mavs, Spurs or Jazz.

In this case we had a 4-2 west team vs a 2-5 east team on a B2B.

Eastern fans are trying to down play the difference every year but at the end of the season the record will tell the same story. Prior to tonight games it was 18-15 in favor of the west. That trend is going to continue.