(10-26-2023, 07:19 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: Probably not as long as THJ is getting nearly 30 minutes

But, at this point, I think you lump him in with those other three guys as one-dimensional.

(10-26-2023, 06:42 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: Since this is a Green thread, I’ll mention that the Lively, GWill, Green, Luka and Irving minutes were outstanding last night.  They played together mid-second (+3) and to close the second (+6).  Same thing in the second half.  They were together mid-fourth (-6) and closed the game +9.  That grouping isn’t an issue whether you call Green a starter or not.

(10-26-2023, 06:42 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: I don’t think you can beat Kidd up for this decision.  It worked.  Even the most optimistic Lively Fan Boys among us didn’t see this coming.  We can’t know if we’d have seen the same thing had he started.

The Maxi minutes were awful.  He had two positive stints (early second and end of third).  Both of those would have been against subs.  All of his minutes against starters were just awful.  But, Lively can’t play 48. I’m actually more shocked at 30 minutes than I am at the scoring.  He’s going to get points off of lobs.  The pleasant surprise (and we saw this in preseason) is the non lob scoring.  There is more to his game than the Duke highlights show.  History tells me we will eventually be fine between Powell and Maxi in the non-Lively minutes once Kidd puts Lively in the starting lineup.

Since this is a Green thread, I’ll mention that the Lively, GWill, Green, Luka and Irving minutes were outstanding last night.  They played together mid-second (+3) and to close the second (+6).  Same thing in the second half.  They were together mid-fourth (-6) and closed the game +9.  That grouping isn’t an issue whether you call Green a starter or not.

What we really need is one more guy who takes the DJJ/Exum/Curry minutes (23 last night).  We essentially ran a playoff-tight 7 man rotation with these three guys sharing an 8th spot.  Each of them has an NBA skill, but not all the skills a rotation player needs.  This kind of points out the beauty of someone like Green.  He does all of the things that are the best skills of those three guys (D, secondary creation and outside shooting) at a fairly high level and is only 22.  We could probably use another Green, not less of the one we have.

(10-26-2023, 09:12 AM)mvossman Wrote: I can see this settling fairly quickly into a starting front court of Lively/Williams and the second unit being Powell/Maxi, with 5 or 10 minutes of small ball shenanigans.  

Exum has the best chance to be the 8th man out of those guys.  We need a point of attack defender when Green is off the court and he possesses some secondary playmaking skills.  If his 3 translates from Europe, he will be the perfect backup to Green.

(10-26-2023, 10:40 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: I predict that if they keep that up, they will eventually find their way into the starting lineup.

(10-26-2023, 11:07 AM)omahen Wrote: I was busy whole day, so I will just post my observations here, before reading the actual game thread. Mavs won, although the overall performance was not that impressive. Defense, especially first half, was terrible. Offense remains three point heavy, which is ok as long as the teams shoots well. 31 % was far from impressive, but enough for SA.

Lively was of course awesome, far above anything it was expected in the summer or preseason. Hope he can keep it up. Maxi being terrible made him look even greater. On the Maxi topic - wasn't it established long ago, that Maxi as the only big on the floor just doesn't work?

DJJ "experiment" (predictably) failed in the first instance, although his pairing with Maxi makes way more sense than with Lively. Defense was terrible even with him on the court at game start and he doesn't bring much (anything in this game) to offense. Personally I still firmly believe any team should start 5 best players and rotate afterwards. Green is the clear starter as the second guard and the only possible alternative (imho) that could be considered is THJ.

Green was basically himself. Always active and still passive offensively. Five shots in 30 minutes is just meh. Its great that he hits most of those, but Guys like THJ have zero problem launching almost every time they touch the ball, while Green is the definition of opposite. If he wants to earn big money anytime in his career, he will have to step it up. Good things do happen when he is on court, the question is if that is good enough for a starter spot on a contender.

GW was efficient and is quick to pull the trigger. The rest were around at what is expected from them. Kyrie was not terribly efficient, but we can expect this is more of a one game thing.

Looks like Mavs don't intend to play Holmes, as he didn't saw the floor even with Powell out and Maxi being bad. I wish some minutes would be found for OMax.

(10-27-2023, 10:25 AM)Ghost of Podkolzin Wrote: As much as I was harping on Luka to play off the ball, it seems the focus is for him to add defense to game and stop complaining to the refs.  IMO, this is SO MUCH more important than playing off the ball.  Luka has shown flashes of defensive brilliance; it's just been a matter focus and dedication.  This could make Luka the hands down best player in the league.

(10-27-2023, 11:45 AM)michaeltex Wrote: Kyrie played a team-high 36 minutes, while Luka played 34 (Williams played 35). Are these good target PTs for our star players, specifically Kyrie?

He was sort of the Swiss Army knife and will be a key to success this season, and hopefully post-season.

(10-27-2023, 12:18 PM)Chicagojk Wrote: We will see.  Luka prefers to play the whole quarter but i liked him getting breaks earlier.   With this being early in the year and him coming off an injury, I would like to see them do this to start the year.  I think Luka likes getting into a flow, but I think at the end of quarters where he plays the whole quarter is where you also get the lazy step back shots, the mental mistakes and the complaining.     

One of the things I think that gets passed over last year that the coaching staff and front office deserve massive blame for is the overplaying of Luka.  There were games mid year where he was playing the full second half.  That is malpractice.  Kidd for doing it and the front office for not getting the right kind of support players here.   We saw Luka was broken down by the time of the Kyrie trade.  Was the overplaying the reason for this?  Maybe or maybe not.  Or maybe just a part.  But just a terrible plan all the way around.

(10-27-2023, 11:45 AM)michaeltex Wrote: Kyrie played a team-high 36 minutes, while Luka played 34 (Williams played 35). Are these good target PTs for our star players, specifically Kyrie?

He was sort of the Swiss Army knife and will be a key to success this season, and hopefully post-season.

(10-27-2023, 01:32 PM)surfpuckmd Wrote: Kyrie probably deserves more love on this board.  He seems like an ideal superstar next to Luka-  willing to defer on offense and play off-ball but able to step in and run the offense at an elite level when Luka rests.  

Kyrie works hard on defense as well and although he's not great defensively, he's better than a lot of other superstar point guards-  e.g.  Dame Lillard, Steph Curry and Ja Morant.  

I still think the Kyrie trade was one of the best moves the Mavericks organization has made since 2011.  I also think Kyrie took a small discount to stay a Maverick.  I am aware of his off-court history elsewhere but thus far, he has been excellent as a Maverick so I'll judge him based upon that.