RS 21/22 - Mavs @ Suns (Wed, 10PM EST)

[arkuo]

The recent winning streak gave fans inflated expectations. But a lot of those are against bad teams. The good news is Mavs are just right where they are. Probably in the middle of the pack. Placed anywhere between 3 to 5 in the playoffs. You cant expect a young team to be a #1 seed in the West.

FYI

Mavs are like the 8th or 9th oldest team in the league.

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The spare parts will change. Powell, Kleber, DFS, WCS. These guys are a revolving door. The two kids are bound to stay. (Luka and KP).

There is no use running the same team back for 3 seasons in a row. DFS, Powell, Kleber, WCS, Burke are kinda trash for a real contender. Cuban needs to get real starting material. But with limted trade assets, he needs these guys' contracts to run out first. That's next season.

[Mavrelous]

Man, you guys are acting like it's the blow out against the Hawks in the 1st game, they went down to the wire with the scorching hot Suns w/o Luka and Maxi.
I have no idea what happened to WCS, he was never great offensive player, but last year he played very well defensively and as a roll man.

[41Dirk41]

Suns bricked everything

[Mr B]

The recent winning streak gave fans inflated expectations. But a lot of those are against bad teams. The good news is Mavs are just right where they are. Probably in the middle of the pack. Placed anywhere between 3 to 5 in the playoffs. You cant expect a young team to be a #1 seed in the West.

I don’t think anyone expects the Mavs to be the #1 seed. And you’re right they are right where they should be (between 3-5). The easy schedule helped them stay afloat while they weren’t playing very well. They’re no longer playing bad though. The last 3 games they’ve played well. If they can keep that up and stay in the 3-5 range by the trade deadline hopefully they can get some help. Then if they can finish the season within that range they have a shot at getting to the 2nd round. I don’t think anyone is expecting much more from this team as it’s currently constructed.

[sundevil1999]

Suns fan here. I promise I am not trolling.

I am actually really impressed by your team this year. I thought that basically your team really didn't do much this off season, but it seems from an outsiders view, your team chemistry clicked. Frank and Burke for a minute looked really good. I would not have thought of them still being in the NBA. So far really impressed.

As for this game, I thought we would struggle early with you, but win by 15-20 by the end. Boy was I wrong. I haven't watched but 2 other Mavs games this year. Your support players must be playing out of their minds. It seemed they did again tonight. KP played well, but I think you trade him if he cant play better on a regular basis. I just dont know what front court #2 would be available {Porzingus and change for KAT?}. The suns shot like crap, and have been doing so all season, to barely pull out many of their games on the win streak. Most Suns fans are frustrated as hell. Then we kind of chuckle and say ugly win, we take it, but it will bite us in the but. I came across an interesting post on here by Absinthe:

"I do not understand the Suns. I didn’t last year and I don’t this year. If you look at their roster make up they have have no business having the record they do. They run essentially a seven to eight man rotation and I would classify two of those players as great and the others as middling to good. I tip my hat to them because what they have works, but it seems like it shouldn’t. The Mavs were shooting above 50% at one point from three point range and the Suns still might win. It defies logic. In most games they’d be down by 20 points."

Wondering how many of you feel this way, and if most other fan bases do. I am not an expert, but the Suns in the past two years have drafted or signed most players who shoot the three well to compliment the booker/ayton game. CP3 was just luck for us, and believe me I hated him prior, but he is the best pg we ever had, and I loved Nash, Kidd, and KJ. On defense Monty has us basically switching all screens in the pick and roll because Jae, Bridges, and Cam J are all around the same size and capable defenders. So maybe its just something simple that leads to success for us.

Anyways, good luck, but not Friday lol/. Hope Luka gets back for you soon. I love the guy

[Jellybeans]

Mark should start paying refs off so they could start actually do their job.
How many season it will take to start call fouls against KP ? I mean if hitting KP's elbows while shooting isnt foul every single game then im sorry....

[Maverick41]

Man, you guys are acting like it's the blow out against the Hawks in the 1st game, they went down to the wire with the scorching hot Suns w/o Luka and Maxi.

Agreed! We lost but we played well and took a contender down to the wire without our best player. Lot of positives to take from this game.

[Mr B]

Suns fan here. I promise I am not trolling.

I am actually really impressed by your team this year. I thought that basically your team really didn't do much this off season, but it seems from an outsiders view, your team chemistry clicked. Frank and Burke for a minute looked really good. I would not have thought of them still being in the NBA. So far really impressed.

As for this game, I thought we would struggle early with you, but win by 15-20 by the end. Boy was I wrong. I haven't watched but 2 other Mavs games this year. Your support players must be playing out of their minds. It seemed they did again tonight. KP played well, but I think you trade him if he cant play better on a regular basis. I just dont know what front court #2 would be available {Porzingus and change for KAT?}. The suns shot like crap, and have been doing so all season, to barely pull out many of their games on the win streak. Most Suns fans are frustrated as hell. Then we kind of chuckle and say ugly win, we take it, but it will bite us in the but. I came across an interesting post on here by Absinthe:

"I do not understand the Suns. I didn’t last year and I don’t this year. If you look at their roster make up they have have no business having the record they do. They run essentially a seven to eight man rotation and I would classify two of those players as great and the others as middling to good. I tip my hat to them because what they have works, but it seems like it shouldn’t. The Mavs were shooting above 50% at one point from three point range and the Suns still might win. It defies logic. In most games they’d be down by 20 points."

Wondering how many of you feel this way, and if most other fan bases do. I am not an expert, but the Suns in the past two years have drafted or signed most players who shoot the three well to compliment the booker/ayton game. CP3 was just luck for us, and believe me I hated him prior, but he is the best pg we ever had, and I loved Nash, Kidd, and KJ. On defense Monty has us basically switching all screens in the pick and roll because Jae, Bridges, and Cam J are all around the same size and capable defenders. So maybe its just something simple that leads to success for us.

Anyways, good luck, but not Friday lol/. Hope Luka gets back for you soon. I love the guy

What is your opinion on Deandre Ayton? Do you think they will pay him? If so how much and for how many years?

[Mr B]

Man, you guys are acting like it's the blow out against the Hawks in the 1st game, they went down to the wire with the scorching hot Suns w/o Luka and Maxi.
I have no idea what happened to WCS, he was never great offensive player, but last year he played very well defensively and as a roll man.

WCS has definitely been bad this year. I would have played a Boban in those minutes. Overall it was a good game. They showed some grit. KP played well again. Brunson filled in well enough to get a win and Ntilikina played really well. There are some positives that can come out of this loss.

[boogiezen]

LOL @ WCS. Not even putting any effort. A real definition of trash. But Dallas still decided to sign him with a new contract. Very Dallas as usual. When you look at -/=, he is actually positive on the floor. That's why this whole =/- thing is meaningless.

[sundevil1999]

"What is your opinion on Deandre Ayton? Do you think they will pay him? If so how much and for how many years?"
Tough call. From what I understand they offered him MAX for 4 years, and Ayton wanted the 5th year. So I dont think it is so much about the money, but personnel moves. They were saying here locally we choose not to do the 5 yr because they wanted flexibility to sign or trade for a different max player in the future, and you can only have 2 of those type of those type on a team. I am not thrilled with that excuse. I also dont know though if he is worth that deal, but in todays market, probably is. I think the Suns will try to sign him this offseason to something close to Max, and may end up losing him stupidly because of an extra year. They nickeled and dimed Joe Johnson years ago and we practically lost him for nothing (Boris Diaw).

[Mulhollanddrive]

I do not understand the Suns. I didn’t last year and I don’t this year. If you look at their roster make up they have have no business having the record they do. They run essentially a seven to eight man rotation and I would classify two of those players as great and the others as middling to good. I tip my hat to them because what they have works, but it seems like it shouldn’t. The Mavs were shooting above 50% at one point from three point range and the Suns still might win. It defies logic. In most games they’d be down by 20 points.

Dallas are a good 45 win team, maybe even more.

Then consider I think a neutral would choose every one of the Suns starters ahead of the Mavs:

Paul > Doncic
Ayton > Porzingis
Bridges > Finney-Smith
Booker > Hardaway
Crowder > Powell

That gets the Suns to 55 wins and contending.

[Mavrelous]

I do not understand the Suns. I didn’t last year and I don’t this year. If you look at their roster make up they have have no business having the record they do. They run essentially a seven to eight man rotation and I would classify two of those players as great and the others as middling to good. I tip my hat to them because what they have works, but it seems like it shouldn’t. The Mavs were shooting above 50% at one point from three point range and the Suns still might win. It defies logic. In most games they’d be down by 20 points.

Dallas are a good 45 win team, maybe even more.

Then consider I think a neutral would choose every one of the Suns starters ahead of the Mavs:

Paul > Doncic
Ayton > Porzingis
Bridges > Finney-Smith
Booker > Hardaway
Crowder > Powell

That gets the Suns to 55 wins and contending.

Paul > Doncic now?

[Absinthe]

Dallas are a good 45 win team, maybe even more.

Then consider I think a neutral would choose every one of the Suns starters ahead of the Mavs:

Paul > Doncic
Ayton > Porzingis
Bridges > Finney-Smith
Booker > Hardaway
Crowder > Powell

That gets the Suns to 55 wins and contending.

I’ve determined that the Suns’ success mostly is determined by chemistry. Paul is getting old and they did little to improve their team this year. If they max Ayton they’re going to be salary capped hard moving forward. What I was saying is that the team works for Phoenix but it probably shouldn’t. You have an injury prone and aging Chris Paul, the journeyman Crowder, the old school big man in Ayton who is out of place in the modern NBA, the very streaky Booker, and Bridges who is a solid role player but is not what I would consider to be anywhere near a star. On paper this team looks like a dysfunctional mess, but credit to their coaching staff for making it work. The team is held together by duct tape. A serious injury to Paul or Booker would probably prevent them from making the playoffs. They’re that vital to the success of the team. Could Dallas make the playoffs without Porzingis? I think so. Could Phoenix make the playoffs without Paul? I doubt it.

[Darren]

So the Mavs can manage to compete without Luka but won't be able to get it done without paint defense. The Mavs lose the corner 3 battle because of lacking interior presence. Getting Powell and WCS too many minutes is problematic. I start to think I'd rather get Green PT over Brown. Both struggle to shoot right now. I believe Green play better defense and is more versatile. I'd rather play Boban and Moses over Powell and WCS if Maxi continues to sideline. Hardaway is just not efficient enough against elite players. JB , Burke and Ntilikina all exceed expectation. That';s a good sign.

[Archx]

I do not understand the Suns. I didn’t last year and I don’t this year. If you look at their roster make up they have have no business having the record they do. They run essentially a seven to eight man rotation and I would classify two of those players as great and the others as middling to good. I tip my hat to them because what they have works, but it seems like it shouldn’t. The Mavs were shooting above 50% at one point from three point range and the Suns still might win. It defies logic. In most games they’d be down by 20 points.

Suns are incredibly well rounded team. Strong bench and have combination of starters that can do a little bit of all. Obviously they also have a strong leadership in Paul. I'm not surprised they are this good, never have been. I actually expect them to be this good.

As for Mavs, as soon as you play WCS, you're basically already losing. The fact that even Luka can't make WCS look good anymore, just proves my point. Dude is simply not giving any effort out there and is completely lost.
Would almost say the same for Sterling Brown. But it's basically not his fault. This is what happens if you sign guys just to make open shots but then they are bricking them, it renders these type of players completely useless. Unfortunately Mavs have plenty of those types.

Until Luka doesn't go back to his usual "Playoff form" and starts shooting better %'s, Mavs will have hard times against top team. But he has to play, even if he plays bad, because teams pay so much attention to him that it at least opens up the floor for other guys.

[41Dirk41]

Suns are a very good team, by the way not so good for win the ring in my opinion.
Of course last year they had could win but it was a strange season with a lot of injuries.