RS 22/23 - Mavs @ Pels (Oct. 25, 7:30PM EST - TNT)

[Maverick41]

DFS+Bullock+Kleber+Green = 110 minutes played 16points/16rebounds/4assists 5/18 from the field and 2/12 from the 3s.

One dimensional players who play defense really well and occasionally can make a shot. The problem is that it’s FOUR of them. Frank is also a part of that group. It’s the same issue they had last year. I never see any of these players cut to the basket or create their own offense. I don’t know if it’s the offensive scheme or major failings on the players themselves.

It's a combination of both. The Mavs personnel is built to need AT LEAST 2 ball handlers (that can shoot, pass and dribble) at all times to make up for the other 3 players on the court (usually 3 of DFS, Bullock, Maxi, THJ) not having adequate ball handling skills to drive to the basket and make a good decision. Our offense was unlocked when we got a 3rd ball handler as it enabled this to happen all the time or even 3 of them at the same time in closing lineups.

As currently constructed, we only have Luka and Dinwiddie playing together at the start and finish of the games. That leaves an in between that causes issues. The issue gets exacerbated when Kidd plays Maxi as the lone big instead of Wood as then Luka has 4 stand still shooters. An example of this was the 3rd quarter against the Suns.

[XTraderXL]

The Mavs are not winning anything if they let Doncic do whatever he wants with this type of usage. He is just not good enough and has not made any progress for years now. He is already in his prime which wont last for long. Dallas is not in a good place if we assume they are trying to win the title.

[Bob8]

Luka having 41%+ usage against opponents without 3 starters is a big problem that won't go away. He can't survive RS with that kind of insane usage. Roster construction would have been good, if Luka was a robot with unlimited energy, but in real world this cannot work, because you have 12 players, who can't do anything alone. Many of them totally useless in offense. Josh has attempted 3 shots in 3 games.

[41Dirk41]

I wanted to see Dorsey on the floor... If he doesn't play with THJ out when will he play?

Kidd rotation is still horrible.

[Bob8]

I wanted to see Dorsey on the floor... If he doesn't play with THJ out when will he play?

Kidd rotation is still horrible.

Kidd knows exactly what he has, but he knows it's not enough, so he wants desperately to find some other solutions. The easiest way is to put Wood in the starting lineup, but who will do something in the second unit? Losing Brunson is huge, not signing Dragic for minimum is bad, Mcgee already looks like wrong signing for 3 years, Campazzo was a desperate move and they clearly don't know how to use him. Add useless trio Josh//Ntilikina/Pinson and I can only stand in the corner players DFS/Kleber/Bullock/THJ and Luka's historical usage is the only logical thing.

[XTraderXL]

I wanted to see Dorsey on the floor... If he doesn't play with THJ out when will he play?

Kidd rotation is still horrible.

Kidd knows exactly what he has, but he knows it's not enough, so he wants desperately to find some other solutions. The easiest way is to put Wood in the starting lineup, but who will do something in the second unit? Losing Brunson is huge, not signing Dragic for minimum is bad, Mcgee already looks like wrong signing for 3 years, Campazzo was a desperate move and they clearly don't know how to use him. Add useless trio Josh//Ntilikina/Pinson and I can only stand in the corner players DFS/Kleber/Bullock/THJ and Luka's historical usage is the only logical thing.

But I thought players will want to play in Dallas because of Harrison and Luka

[Michaellam1987]

Bad and disappointing loss. Oppponents just choose not to double team and let Luka to do 1 on 1 whole night and waste his energy. And it is very clear that Luka cannot work with too high of usage rate, and as a result he will shoot a lot of step back 3 instead. He has no choice, because he don't have sufficient energy.

[Bob8]

I wanted to see Dorsey on the floor... If he doesn't play with THJ out when will he play?

Kidd rotation is still horrible.

Kidd knows exactly what he has, but he knows it's not enough, so he wants desperately to find some other solutions. The easiest way is to put Wood in the starting lineup, but who will do something in the second unit? Losing Brunson is huge, not signing Dragic for minimum is bad, Mcgee already looks like wrong signing for 3 years, Campazzo was a desperate move and they clearly don't know how to use him. Add useless trio Josh//Ntilikina/Pinson and I can only stand in the corner players DFS/Kleber/Bullock/THJ and Luka's historical usage is the only logical thing.

But I thought players will want to play in Dallas because of Harrison and Luka

The biggest problem with this very average roster is that it costs 168 mio and next years' salaries are already 143 mio, without Wood and for only 10 players.

[leolozon]

I wanted to see Dorsey on the floor... If he doesn't play with THJ out when will he play?

Kidd rotation is still horrible.

Kidd knows exactly what he has, but he knows it's not enough, so he wants desperately to find some other solutions. The easiest way is to put Wood in the starting lineup, but who will do something in the second unit?

Just stagger most of the minutes. It has been done forever by every team. But Kidd thinks he's smarter than everyone by putting his 2nd best player on the bench and playing him 24mpg.

If you play Wood 35-36 mpg like he should, you just made life easier for Luka for 6-10 more minutes, which is huge.

Kidd rotations are mindbogglingly stupid.

The team has to win and lose with Luka having a usage rate in the mid 30s. The "we have no choice but to let Luka get tired and go 2/13 from 3." makes absolutely no sense. It's a losing proposition and it will get worst as the season goes on (and the playoffs).

[Bob8]

I wanted to see Dorsey on the floor... If he doesn't play with THJ out when will he play?

Kidd rotation is still horrible.

Kidd knows exactly what he has, but he knows it's not enough, so he wants desperately to find some other solutions. The easiest way is to put Wood in the starting lineup, but who will do something in the second unit?

Just stagger most of the minutes. It has been done forever by every team. But Kidd thinks he's smarter than everyone by putting his 2nd best player on the bench and playing 24mpg.

If you play Wood 35mpg like he should, you justade life easier for Luka for 6-10 more minutes, which is huge.

Kidd rotations are mindbogglingly stupid.

The teams as to win and lose with Luka having a usage rate in the mid 30s. The "we have no choice but to let Luka get tired and go 2/13 from 3." makes absolutely no sense. It's a losing proposition and it will get worst as the season goes on (and the playoffs).

Luka, Dinwiddie and Wood have made 75% of all points against a team without 3 starters, 2 of them best players of the team and it wasn't enough. Someone else will have to do a little bit more.

[leolozon]

Kidd knows exactly what he has, but he knows it's not enough, so he wants desperately to find some other solutions. The easiest way is to put Wood in the starting lineup, but who will do something in the second unit?

Just stagger most of the minutes. It has been done forever by every team. But Kidd thinks he's smarter than everyone by putting his 2nd best player on the bench and playing 24mpg.

If you play Wood 35mpg like he should, you justade life easier for Luka for 6-10 more minutes, which is huge.

Kidd rotations are mindbogglingly stupid.

The teams as to win and lose with Luka having a usage rate in the mid 30s. The "we have no choice but to let Luka get tired and go 2/13 from 3." makes absolutely no sense. It's a losing proposition and it will get worst as the season goes on (and the playoffs).

Luka, Dinwiddie and Wood have made 75% of all points against a team without 3 starters, 2 of them best players of the team and it wasn't enough. Someone else will have to do a little bit more.

DFS, Reggie,THJ and Kleber have all a history of showing once every 2-3 games. The Mavs need to startby giving Wood over 15 shots per game consistently.

[Bob8]

Just stagger most of the minutes. It has been done forever by every team. But Kidd thinks he's smarter than everyone by putting his 2nd best player on the bench and playing 24mpg.

If you play Wood 35mpg like he should, you justade life easier for Luka for 6-10 more minutes, which is huge.

Kidd rotations are mindbogglingly stupid.

The teams as to win and lose with Luka having a usage rate in the mid 30s. The "we have no choice but to let Luka get tired and go 2/13 from 3." makes absolutely no sense. It's a losing proposition and it will get worst as the season goes on (and the playoffs).

Luka, Dinwiddie and Wood have made 75% of all points against a team without 3 starters, 2 of them best players of the team and it wasn't enough. Someone else will have to do a little bit more.

DFS, Reggie,THJ and Kleber have all a history of showing once every 2-3 games. The Mavs need to startby giving Wood over 15 shots per game consistently.

I agree that Wood should have played more, but it's very questionable how much more points can he realistically average in the long run, so Kidd will have to find some other solutions that only those 3 players and my best guess is that he's trying to find lineups that can work in the long run. Problem is the total lack of creativity from vast majority of players.

[dirkdiggler4177]

The Mavs have lost two away games by a clutch shot in each game. Meaning if Luka made 40 shots and not 38 in 3 games, the Mavs would be 3-0.

[XTraderXL]

The Mavs have lost two away games by a clutch shot in each game. Meaning if Luka made 40 shots and not 38 in 3 games, the Mavs would be 3-0.

Luka is one of the worst clutch players in the NBA in terms of eFG% so...

You cant expect him to be hitting those game winners with any kind of good % especially when everyone knows what he will do. In fact it would probably be better if they tried someone else.

[41Dirk41]

The Mavs have lost two away games by a clutch shot in each game. Meaning if Luka made 40 shots and not 38 in 3 games, the Mavs would be 3-0.

Luka is one of the worst clutch players in the NBA in terms of eFG% so...

You cant expect him to be hitting those game winners with any kind of good % especially when everyone knows what he will do. In fact it would probably be better if they tried someone else.

Maybe arrive fresh at the end could help... But if he shooted less the game was over in the first half.

The supporting cast was awful.

[Mavrelous]

This was a poorly coached game, against a team with players playing the game of their lives to prove themselves when the Mavs themselves had a horrible demeanor, especially DFS and Bullock.
We know the FO **** up the Brunson situation, then **** up his only resource, TPMLE, with the McGee signing, then **** up the Dragic situation, but this wasn't the main reason for that loss.

[Archx]

We know the FO **** up the Brunson situation, then **** up his only resource, TPMLE, with the McGee signing, then **** up the Dragic situation, but this wasn't the main reason for that loss.

This is really a bigger deal than people even realize. These type of f'ck ups potentially set franchises back for years. They're locked up with cap and still owe high draft pick to NYK. Too many bad players locked for multiple years and Wood will demand Brunson money if he continues to play like this. All in all, doesn't look good unless DFS/Bullock get back to form.

[Bob8]

We know the FO **** up the Brunson situation, then **** up his only resource, TPMLE, with the McGee signing, then **** up the Dragic situation, but this wasn't the main reason for that loss.

This is really a bigger deal than people even realize. These type of f'ck ups potentially set franchises back for years. They're locked up with cap and still owe high draft pick to NYK. Too many bad players locked for multiple years and Wood will demand Brunson money if he continues to play like this. All in all, doesn't look good unless DFS/Bullock get back to form.

Wood is averaging 24/9 with crazy 72.7 efg% in only 26 minutes. If he continues like this and play more, he will be max. player. Not very likely, but Mavs not using his fantastic form to win games is really discouraging. I have a feeling that Mavs will pump Wood's and Dinwiddie's value in stratosphere, basically killing themselfs.

[Mavrelous]

We know the FO **** up the Brunson situation, then **** up his only resource, TPMLE, with the McGee signing, then **** up the Dragic situation, but this wasn't the main reason for that loss.

This is really a bigger deal than people even realize. These type of f'ck ups potentially set franchises back for years. They're locked up with cap and still owe high draft pick to NYK. Too many bad players locked for multiple years and Wood will demand Brunson money if he continues to play like this. All in all, doesn't look good unless DFS/Bullock get back to form.

Yeah, it was a series of catastrophic mistakes, and we've written about it extensively in the off season, but I don't think this team (sans Luka and Wood) is as bad as they played in this game.

[Archx]

The Mavs have lost two away games by a clutch shot in each game. Meaning if Luka made 40 shots and not 38 in 3 games, the Mavs would be 3-0.

Luka is one of the worst clutch players in the NBA in terms of eFG% so...

You cant expect him to be hitting those game winners with any kind of good % especially when everyone knows what he will do. In fact it would probably be better if they tried someone else.

Are you joking? He had 67% clutch win% last season and was statistically better than guys like Jokic, Durant, Tatum, Curry, Morant etc... By all metrics he was one of the best clutch players. (yes even counting eFG%)

We know the FO **** up the Brunson situation, then **** up his only resource, TPMLE, with the McGee signing, then **** up the Dragic situation, but this wasn't the main reason for that loss.

This is really a bigger deal than people even realize. These type of f'ck ups potentially set franchises back for years. They're locked up with cap and still owe high draft pick to NYK. Too many bad players locked for multiple years and Wood will demand Brunson money if he continues to play like this. All in all, doesn't look good unless DFS/Bullock get back to form.

Yeah, it was a series of catastrophic mistakes, and we've written about it extensively in the off season, but I don't think this team (sans Luka and Wood) is as bad as they played in this game.

That is true, yes.