Listen guys, I get the frustration. I do. Lets calm down and look at this realistically.
1) Luka came out of shape
2) Majority of our roster were out either due to COVID-19 related issue or injuries. KP (9 games), Brunson (4 games), DFS and Josh Richardson (9 games) and Maxi Kleber (10 games).
3) Factor in the rust, the lack of practice and chemistry between a full roster (meaning starting unit).
4) Poor 3 point percentages
5) Playing the toughest stretch of games in the first month of the season than any team.
Mavericks aren't the only one who is struggling. Look at Miami, who made it to the finals is 7-13 with a worse record than the Mavericks. The season is still very early. We're only 2 and a half games back from 8th and 4 games back from 6th place (if I'm doing my math right)
We've had the worse luck out of everyone, we have had no chemistry at all. Things can only go up from here. I still expect the Mavericks to make the playoffs. They are too talented not to. Stay calm and relax.
There is no hope with this offense. They need to go back to what they were doing last season, unless that left town with Silas. And COVID had an impact, but the offense looked awful even before they lost their (all mediocre) players. I want my 2020s offense back.
(02-01-2021, 11:41 PM)ThisIStheYear Wrote: [ -> ]There is no hope with this offense. They need to go back to what they were doing last season, unless that left town with Silas. And COVID had an impact, but the offense looked awful even before they lost their (all mediocre) players. I want my 2020s offense back.
As great as our offense was, defensively we were garbage. For us to really compete and actually try and win a series in the playoffs, the defense needs to be there. Seth Curry was not the reason why our offense was better. He's just one man who averaged 13 points off the bench last year. This is entirely a lack of consistency, chemistry and cohesion due to COVID keeping these players out from playing together.
Lets not forget that we have played a TON of road game. It might not seem like it would be rough because of the lack of a hostile crowd but it is really rough to go to another city, basically just sit in a hotel room, play in a game, then fly off to another city to repeat the process
The schedule makers have really screwed with the Mavs
(02-01-2021, 11:46 PM)Sepher Wrote: [ -> ]As great as our offense was, defensively we were garbage. For us to really compete and actually try and win a series in the playoffs, the defense needs to be there. Seth Curry was not the reason why our offense was better. He's just one man who averaged 13 points off the bench last year. This is entirely a lack of consistency, chemistry and cohesion due to COVID keeping these players out from playing together.
I’m becoming convinced it was Stephen Silas. I didn’t realize how much his influence would be missed. The offense has regressed 10 years since he left. It looks constipated this season. The offense was bad before COVID. It was bad during COVID. It was mediocre at best tonight. Last year, it was the best ever. It was always good, regardless of who was playing. And, unfortunately, if the coach was the special ingredient that made last year’s Mavs offense the greatest ever, there’s no getting that back. It’s the only thing that really makes sense.
(02-01-2021, 11:53 PM)MFFL Wrote: [ -> ]Lets not forget that we have played a TON of road game. It might not seem like it would be rough because of the lack of a hostile crowd but it is really rough to go to another city, basically just sit in a hotel room, play in a game, then fly off to another city to repeat the process
The schedule makers have really screwed with the Mavs
the mavs are 2-6 at home and have lost 5 in a row at home, so I dunno if that's it
Atlanta
GSW
GSW
Atlanta
T-Pups
Pelicans
Blazers
Pistons
Rockets
Grizzlies
I predict 8-2
Tonight was the first game we had all of our roster available in over a year. We were competitive.
(02-02-2021, 12:33 AM)Hypermav Wrote: [ -> ]Atlanta
GSW
GSW
Atlanta
T-Pups
Pelicans
Blazers
Pistons
Rockets
Grizzlies
I predict 8-2
Can we get to 1 win first before the predictions.
(02-02-2021, 12:35 AM)cow Wrote: [ -> ]Can we get to 1 win first before the predictions.
This is the calm down stay positive thread. I am positive that I need to predict this to calm down.
“We’ve got to stay positive. I think this is where you can see who we are, in the tough moments. We’re sticking together. I think the last two games were way better than before, and this is where the big things come together,” the Mavs star said
I blame it on the defensive player of the game award that is only given out after wins. I suspect Willie is secretly tanking games to ensure he never loses his fancy belt.
I am positive that we will get better. I am positive that we are not there yet and have some miss matched pieces. I am positive that we have a star that doesn’t require a roster of specific types players to be successful.
My biggest hope for the season is that the MBT doesn’t do anything drastic. Let’s get our team back in sync again, see what we have, and make intelligent choices on how to improve moving forward. If we are surprised and end up better than expected, that’s just the cherry on top.
(02-02-2021, 01:16 AM)RDB Wrote: [ -> ]I am positive that we will get better. I am positive that we are not there yet and have some miss matched pieces. I am positive that we have a star that doesn’t require a roster of specific types players to be successful.
My biggest hope for the season is that the MBT doesn’t do anything drastic. Let’s get our team back in sync again, see what we have, and make intelligent choices on how to improve moving forward. If we are surprised and end up better than expected, that’s just the cherry on top.
More you.
Just putting this here so others can read.
"To be fair, the Mavs got what was probably the biggest turd sandwich in terms of scheduling among all teams. They've had the 3rd hardest schedule in the NBA in terms of quality of opponent. Surpassed only by the Heat (another hugely underperforming team ravaged by COVID) and Pistons.
Add on top of that brutal schedule, of the Mavs first 20 games 13 of them were road games, which included 3 B2B's and a stretch of 5 games in 7 nights. In comparison the Heat had 9 of their first 19 games as road games and 2 B2B's.
Thats before we even broach the fact the Mavs were missing 5-6 guys for the majority of that stretch that were all key role players. Putting it in that perspective, are we really surprised that they are underperforming this bad?"
I think if the Mavs dig down and stay the course they can turn it around. Hopefully they don't dig themselves a hole too big.
4 cases at once is a bigger problem than every other NBA team had. Which West team even had big problems with Covid? The current top 8 are more or less not much effected by Covid so far.
Because its totally possible players start at basically 0 again condition wise. This isn't some type of flu, where you are kinda guaranteed to come back and are back to 100 % asap. Some might be ok, some take weeks/months (worst case) to get back to "normal". This is basically my biggest fear that 1 or 2 players of the 4 have a total "average" season because of Covid.
Otherwise i agree nothing is lost, but the margin for error is slim now. Because freaking Silver post poning every game now, if other teams have Covid related problems. As long as the Mavs stay out of Covid/injuries problems the rest of the year. There is still the play in
Make the playoffs as the 10th seed and beat the Clippers
(02-02-2021, 01:16 AM)RDB Wrote: [ -> ]I am positive that we are not there yet and have some miss matched pieces.
(02-02-2021, 01:16 AM)RDB Wrote: [ -> ]Let’s get our team back in sync again, see what we have, and make intelligent choices on how to improve moving forward.
If you're positive we have some mismatched pieces, that means they are identified which means we don't need to see what we have, we need to move on from those mismatched pieces.
I mean, other teams are going to go through a stretch like this due to being COVID ravaged and injuries. It happens every year, and this year the liklihood is even worse. We'll get through this and look good on the other side. I'm encouraged by the last 2 games. Looks like there is some work being done outside of Luka constantly handling the ball. JRich looked pretty decent out there. KP looked better out there. Some of the others will improve as the guys get re-acquainted with themselves.
Pretty much look at the Jazz. Last year they had huge expectations after adding Conley and Bogdanovic. They stumbled out of the gate, Conley looked washed for most of the year. They pulled it together some as season went along, but went into the COVID lock down with Gobert and Mitchell hating each other and on non-speaking terms. Then came back to the bubble and got bounced in the first round. Returned basically the same roster with one small uprade from Jeff Green to Favors, and now they're the 2nd best team in the NBA in winning%. Franchises don't move linearly, even with largely the same rosters. Teams are never as bad as they are at their worst and never as good as they at their best.
(02-02-2021, 12:37 PM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]If you're positive we have some mismatched pieces, that means they are identified which means we don't need to see what we have, we need to move on from those mismatched pieces.
Not really...as I have said in other threads, I think all of our primary players individually have value on a contending team, including ours. However, my belief is that having too many players with incompatible/specialized skill sets creates challenges which I think is the issue in moving to the next level. I am not of the belief that we need to blow this up and we have a number of ways we can go.
For instance, if KP stays (likely), do we need another big that can cover some of his deficiencies? If we keep DFS, does he go to the bench or play the 3 if KP is our big? I think the KP/Maxi duo is the best we have now but it’s tough to have two bigs that love the 3 more than the paint. Do we keep THJ or move him to the bench and look to replace/improve his skill set? Do we keep J Rich or look to improve our shooting & playmaking in that spot? Do we utilize our expiring/bench players to try to upgrade with limited interruption to our primary starters?
Lastly, my comments are focused being a legitimate contender when the Luka bill is comes due. As I said in my post, Luka’s style is very accommodating to a variety of lineups but that doesn’t mean we can just throw any group of 4 around him and succeed at the level that he expects. We are a good team now but I am positive that in order to be great, there will need to be some improvements and there are a number of ways we can go. Hence the comment, “let’s get back in sync, see what we have, and make intelligent decisions moving forward.
(02-02-2021, 04:22 PM)RDB Wrote: [ -> ]Not really...as I have said in other threads, I think all of our primary players individually have value on a contending team, including ours. However, my belief is that having too many players with incompatible/specialized skill sets creates challenges which I think is the issue in moving to the next level. I am not of the belief that we need to blow this up and we have a number of ways we can go.
For instance, if KP stays (likely), do we need another big that can cover some of his deficiencies? If we keep DFS, does he go to the bench or play the 3 if KP is our big? I think the KP/Maxi duo is the best we have now but it’s tough to have two bigs that love the 3 more than the paint. Do we keep THJ or move him to the bench and look to replace/improve his skill set? Do we keep J Rich or look to improve our shooting & playmaking in that spot? Do we utilize our expiring/bench players to try to upgrade with limited interruption to our primary starters?
Lastly, my comments are focused being a legitimate contender when the Luka bill is comes due. As I said in my post, Luka’s style is very accommodating to a variety of lineups but that doesn’t mean we can just throw any group of 4 around him and succeed at the level that he expects. We are a good team now but I am positive that in order to be great, there will need to be some improvements and there are a number of ways we can go. Hence the comment, “let’s get back in sync, see what we have, and make intelligent decisions moving forward.
This doesn't sound like you believe we have ill-fitting parts like you said.