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Powell starting strong with his first triple single. 2-1-2 in 18 minutes. So many screens and non rebounds!

Ryan of MMB takes on the task of questioning whether Powell's role should be re-evaluated. 

Takeaways:

Defensively, --
   he is undersized, which is an issue against traditional big men;
   he has a high center of gravity, which makes it difficult when he is backed down; 
   he offers little in the way of rim protection. (Rim protection appears to be a weakness of the Mavs in general. According to Dan Devine, the Lakers were 20 of 21 at the rim against the Mavs. Yikes!)

Offensively, he doesn't space the floor, which throws the whole attack off. Ryan offers a shattering picture of Luka's performance when Powell is on or off the floor. Put in words, Luka has shot 32% when Powell is on with him, versus 56% when Powell is off, and the difference is most profound around the basket. The lack of spacing is dramatically affecting the output from the shooters, as well. 



Some counters to consider --
  two games is a ridiculously small sample size from which to draw conclusions, although some of the issues are longstanding;
  he is playing without KP, who is the ideal big man on the roster to make it easier for the Mavs to take advantage of his vertical spacing threat; and,
  he is just returning from a long injury layoff. 

Powell analysts should find the piece interesting.

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https://twitter.com/mavsmoneyball/status...26561?s=20

Not sure what to think about all of this Powell stuff. 

I tend to side with @"DanSchwartzman" about the importance of his impact last season. I think it was much more crucial than many believe.

I also worry about the injury, just like everyone else. 

Through two games, the eye test has told me he’s moving fairly well - better than I expected. But, the pick and roll game hasn’t been effective, yet. Is that because of Powell, or is Luka just in a conditioning related funk to start the season? I honestly don’t even have a confident opinion. 

I think through 2 games he has been much, much better on the defensive end than Kleber, who is really concerning me. But, if the WORST thing about the defense is clearing the glass, which seems to be the case so far, I can definitely concede that he’s not the answer to that. 

What does it all mean?

It means that the first two games went exactly as expected. Achilles injuries suck and it doesn’t matter how awesome DP‘s PnR percentiles have been in the past. He’s a different player, at least for now.

(12-26-2020, 02:04 PM)JamesConway Wrote: [ -> ]It means that the first two games went exactly as expected. Achilles injuries suck and it doesn’t matter how awesome DP‘s PnR percentiles have been in the past. He’s a different player, at least for now.

Ok, but are you legitimately convinced that Powell is the main culprit for the early issues? I’m not, personally. I mean, he might be, but it’s not like any of the other bigs have “solution” tattooed on their foreheads, so far.

I’m definitely ready to work WCS in more. Johnson, too. But, I think it’s going to take some time for them to know the Mavs’ stuff as well as Powell/Kleber.

Powell's never been a great rebounder. He's had some moments on defense and while he is moving okay, I'm not sure his springs are anywhere close to where they were pre-injury.

How's his knee today?

(12-26-2020, 02:08 PM)cow Wrote: [ -> ]Powell's never been a great rebounder.  He's had some moments on defense and while he is moving okay, I'm not sure his springs are anywhere close to where they were pre-injury.

How's his knee today?

Yeah, for sure. Rebounding is a legit gripe against him.

(12-26-2020, 01:48 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: [ -> ]Not sure what to think about all of this Powell stuff. 

I tend to side with @"DanSchwartzman" about the importance of his impact last season. I think it was much more crucial than many believe.

I also worry about the injury, just like everyone else. 

Through two games, the eye test has told me he’s moving fairly well - better than I expected. But, the pick and roll game hasn’t been effective, yet. Is that because of Powell, or is Luka just in a conditioning related funk to start the season? I honestly don’t even have a confident opinion. 

I think through 2 games he has been much, much better on the defensive end than Kleber, who is really concerning me. But, if the WORST thing about the defense is clearing the glass, which seems to be the case so far, I can definitely concede that he’s not the answer to that. 

What does it all mean?

Good question. The author of the article doesn't reach a conclusion, and I think the answer is more nuanced than some others do. 

When Powell went down last season, I thought his absence weakened a key portion of our offense, with his superior screening and rolling game and his lob threat. It remains to be seen whether he recovers completely. Carlisle says he is 90%, but really, that last 10-15% is often what separates a good player from a replacement level guy. 

To some extent, I think it will be tough to judge the situation while KP is out. All the big guys are having to step up a notch, and they can't always meet the challenge. Asking Powell to stop AD (often one on one), imho, is asking him to do something he just can't do, and thus putting him in a position to fail. This is not necessarily Carlisle's fault -- none of the other options have been any more effective, in the limited sample size we have. He has who he has. 

Offensively, when KP was out there, he was often at the three-point line drawing at least one defender, which left room for Powell to roll. With little spacing, there isn't much room for Powell to do what he does best. 

My way-too-early guess is that Powell is never going to develop into that prime Tyson Chandler center who is a way-above-average contributor on both ends of the court. I'm not convinced that he can't be helpful in a more suitable role, though. If the Mavs offloaded him, I wouldn't be crushed, but for now, I don't think they have a better alternative. Rick is already giving Maxi and Powell roughly equal minutes, WCS is just lost out there at the moment, and Bobi can be an offensive juggernaut but sometimes gives a lot back on the other end. 

I clearly might be wrong on any/all of this, and I welcome being corrected. It's a tantalizing conundrum, in any case.

I don't think Powell should start, but I will continue to say our biggest issue is our generational talent being out of shape. It's hard to gauge any of our players when Luka isn't himself. He makes the game so much easier when he can get to the hole at will. I'm not a Powell fan, but this isn't completely on him. He's just part of the issue, but there's many issues right now.

(12-26-2020, 01:34 PM)mavsluvr Wrote: [ -> ]Offensively, he doesn't space the floor, which throws the whole attack off. Ryan offers a shattering picture of Luka's performance when Powell is on or off the floor. Put in words, Luka has shot 32% when Powell is on with him, versus 56% when Powell is off, and the difference is most profound around the basket. The lack of spacing is dramatically affecting the output from the shooters, as well. 

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

https://twitter.com/All_Things_Mavs/stat...5777049603

Edit: on Mavsforum

Mavs need to trade Powell this year. Donnie needs to save Cubes and Rick from themselves.

(12-27-2020, 03:22 PM)JamesConway Wrote: [ -> ]https://twitter.com/nickvanexit/status/1...95014?s=21

Wow.  And Rick has Dwight in the starting lineup.  SMH.

That was a beautiful one-handed dunk!

At halftime, Powell is sitting at a paltry +20.  

The worst of any Maverick.

Laggard!

Didn't get his patented triple single in a game that was a massive blowout. 4 rebounds, 4 rebounds. Pretty sad but he actually looked pretty good when he was out there. I liked his one-handed alley oop. No idea why he is starting though.