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+--- Thread: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST (/showthread.php?tid=4016)
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - cow - 10-27-2025
Going to be a long season.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - Jakeospikez - 10-27-2025
(10-27-2025, 10:38 PM)ThisIStheYear Wrote: A line of 2-2-0 in 31 minutes isn’t going to cut it, even for a rookie. The lack of a floor game is concerning, even if you expect Flagg to develop some shooting touch.
to be fair, he did make a bunch of passes to open shooters, they just bricked them all. Klay always starts the season off slow so.. maybe the best play isn't always passing to Klay for a catch & shoot this early in the year.
I think AD will be great here once Kyrie is back to break down defenses, just need to hover around .500 until he's back which is doable but will be ugly.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - windjc - 10-27-2025
Morons coming on here and slagging off Cooper is why I’m not a regular poster on here. Overreaction, negativity and stupidity take up too much of the conversation. 18 freaking years old and people are saying he is flashing good team guy only skills. Generationally dumb takes.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - Mavs2021 - 10-28-2025
(10-27-2025, 09:22 PM)SwisherPrice Wrote: Jaden Hardy is a disaster when he's doing anything other than catching and shooting. But when he just sticks to shooting, he is one of the best on the team. In fact, he could probably average 15 in this league if he just focused on being a spot-up shooter. Instead, he's trying to be this combo scoring guard making stuff happen off the dribble. He should workout with Klay to change his entire offensive approach.
He´s not doing that. The Mavs are doing that. Once again out of desperation tasking players with more responsibility than they can handle to magical fix their shortcomings, here play-making. Same as the pressure on Flagg will be growing, when it should be a learning season for him. It´s been that way since the title. All the PG/C combos over the years that were supposed to finally reveal their underrated true self on a minimum to midlevel contract in a Mavs jersey; like Russell now.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - ACMFFL - 10-28-2025
Just four freaking games into the season and people already want to write off Flagg.
Most pathetic fanbase in all of professional sports on this planet.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - DL2RimRocker - 10-28-2025
Christie is beginning to look like he'll be a key piece in our rotation this season and that is great for our future.
Flagg will be fine. I'm not concerned about how he looks now as long as he continues to develop his game.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - ballsrchr - 10-28-2025
(10-27-2025, 11:58 PM)windjc Wrote: Morons coming on here and slagging off Cooper is why I’m not a regular poster on here. Overreaction, negativity and stupidity take up too much of the conversation. 18 freaking years old and people are saying he is flashing good team guy only skills. Generationally dumb takes.
This is why we need people like you who can give us intelligent, reasonable, and well considered comments about the team and individual players. I personally think that Cooper Flagg will become a very good--if not great--player in the NBA. It will take time, but he has shown some flashes of great play. Unfortunately he is being asked to play out of position. I hope that will be sorted out--soon.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - Chicagojk - 10-28-2025
Mavs fought back on a back to back, so that is commendable. I just got the feeling, just like the Dirk Mavs, that OKC was knew they could do what they want and just had to wait until they had a run to put the game away. They almost let the Mavs back in it though. Much different feeling in the arena than that big comeback against OKC two years ago.
First stinker game from Flagg. Lets see how he bounces back. I still really like the Flagg, PJ, Marshall and Max wing player. I am not sure the compliment each other perfectly and we will need to see how Max plays when he is on a cold streak, but a lot to like there.
AD looked much better. I think the offense is just really hard to watch. Him dribbling on the perimeter and then passing with 10 seconds left with nothing going on is tough. As is the getting the ball 18 feet out and him just holding the ball and everyone watching him. Yuck. Where is the Sabonis style offense that they discussed?
We said this after the trade deadline last year, the Mavs had one creator (Kyrie). He is better suited as a scorer over an offense setter. Same thing this year. They really have one table setter in their main rotation. And the issue the more you rely on DLO the lower the ceiling of your team is. Is it just a Nico weak spot? I am not sure I would have done much differently this offseason, but we have last trade deadline and the start of the season wondering if this is just a miss by the guy building the roster.
Ajay Mitchell....wow. He is good. Sort of some Jalen Brunson floaters. Maybe a bargain bin Dylan Harper? He may be better than Harper now, but he looks great for a second round pick last year.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - BigDirk41 - 10-28-2025
(10-28-2025, 03:56 AM)DL2RimRocker Wrote: Christie is beginning to look like he'll be a key piece in our rotation this season and that is great for our future.
Flagg will be fine. I'm not concerned about how he looks now as long as he continues to develop his game.
He should start over Klay imo and make Klay the 6th man once we have Kyrie back.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - meistermatze - 10-28-2025
Alright, some things a clear to me now:
- Christie just makes most lineups work because he’s a good, versatile defender and hits his threes. Who would have thought, in the modern NBA? (I’m joking, obviously, because he’s basically the modern prototype of a useful 3&D guard.) Which brings me, unfortunately, to
- Klay. Giving him 20 minutes a night with 9.5 shots is not possible anymore. I wish he would succeed and write his own comeback story, but the dude is done. If his three isn’t falling, you can’t play him 20 minutes. He should also be smarter than trying to playmake and dribble all the time. Stick to shooting like the old Ray Allen, that’s it. I have huge respect for Klay, all his rings, all his comebacks, top-3 shooter of all time and once a menace on both sides of the floor. But right now, the only thing I’m okay with is giving him the starting spot out of respect – and unless he has a hot night, sit his ass.
- DLo HAS to play big minutes until Ky returns. We can see what this team can be if we play AD (or Lively) with PJ, Flagg and Christie (or Marshall) alongside a competent guard. Imagine pairing them not with DLo but with a healthy Kyrie – that’s a good team, period. Let DLo then be the first guard off the bench, which would suit him perfectly. But right now, he is the solution at guard – any idiot can see that. We had like 40 turnovers the first two games, then we give a real PG serious minutes the next two games and it improves massively… it’s not rocket science, y’all.
- DLo himself is not a special player – he sucks at finishing, his shot is streaky as hell, but if he’s on, he looks like a star because he’s super smooth. I like that he can competently run some plays and not turn the ball over all the time. So as a part-time starter, he should be a steal.
- Trade Lively or Gafford, whichever gives you more in return. Lively is by far the better player, but his injuries concern me – and maybe some front offices as well. With PJ, Flagg, Naji and Christie we have solid size on the wings; AD with one of the two and Powell can man the 5. Not every team in the league has a Wemby you need to throw 15 fouls at (and still get cooked). I’m not even sure who I’d like to get, but we have too many bigs. Playing Lively 16 minutes a game is a crime.
- On the other hand, we need to find a way to reduce AD’s minutes. Does that conflict with my last paragraph? Maybe – but two things can be true at the same time. Playing AD 36+ minutes from day one is a disaster waiting to happen. If the Mavs’ thought process is to keep all the bigs in order to reduce Davis’ minutes, I’m all for it – but I don’t see them trying. So if that’s not the case, trade one of the bigs and upgrade the roster balance.
- AD himself is (when healthy) the best two-way big not named Wemby or Giannis. Even if he doesn’t look 100%. I like the prototype and will root for him as long as he wears our jersey. But I don’t like his game, because he shoots way too many long twos and threes. Go inside, dominate. Stop dribbling the ball and trying fancy passes. Also, get in shape so you can try harder on defense. You can totally tell when AD WANTS to shut somebody down, grab the rebound, go up and throw down a huge dunk. If he wants to, he will – because outside of Wemby and Giannis, he’s the most dominant physical force in the league. But sometimes, he just doesn’t. I suspect it’s a mixture of being out of shape and trying not to get hurt.
- Flagg will be fine. He’s a rookie and sometimes looks like one. On the other hand, he looks like a star in other situations. He’s very, very good for his age, and a couple of weeks will do wonders for his development, especially if he doesn’t have to play point anymore. He has superstar potential on both ends of the floor, and I love his demeanor, his work ethic, and so on. Big fan of that kid.
- Naji is a very nice piece, and we need his playmaking, but if we can upgrade to a solid playmaking combo guard or something (imagine a better version of DLo), maybe package him and Lively for someone like that. It should give you a nice return right now, because Naji’s value is at an all-time high.
- This team can be good if utilized correctly. I also understand that they’re going through more growing pains than others. But the roster construction has a lot of issues, so – health being the biggest factor, of course – playmaking, turnovers, and poor three-point shooting will be recurring themes unless players step up big time (Flagg’s development can be a key, using DLo can be a key, playing Christie instead of Klay can be a key...).
- Almost forgot: I understand Hardy is just playing because all the guards are down. But I hate his game, I hate his defense. I know he played well last night, but every time he does something, I expect the worst. I just can’t take him any longer.
EDIT: I ACTUALLY forgot: PJ, because he has just been awesome. Motor of this team, brings the energy, the aggressiveness. Even his 3-point-shot is falling. If that's the case, he's a top 5 SF/PF-combo wing in this league.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - mvossman - 10-28-2025
(10-27-2025, 11:58 PM)windjc Wrote: Morons coming on here and slagging off Cooper is why I’m not a regular poster on here. Overreaction, negativity and stupidity take up too much of the conversation. 18 freaking years old and people are saying he is flashing good team guy only skills. Generationally dumb takes.
The simple answer is to avoid the game threads, which is where most of this kind of behavior happens.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - KillerLeft - 10-28-2025
(10-28-2025, 09:04 AM)mvossman Wrote: The simple answer is to avoid the game threads, which is where most of this kind of behavior happens.
It's worse this year than ever, actually, which surprises me (but probably shouldn't).
When things aren't going well, which has been a fair amount of time to this point, the game thread is alive and jumping with negativity. Then, the Mavericks will go on an extended run to make it an actual NBA game, and it's crickets in there for 20 minutes at a time. The game thread for the win against Toronto was one of the deadest I can remember the whole time I've been part of this community. I think we've reached an era where there are more people lurking here HOPING the Mavs are bad so they can complain than there are fans who want the team to do well, and it's just sad.
I'm not sure what, if anything, we can do about this, but I'm really bummed that this community has become so negative.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - Chicagojk - 10-28-2025
(10-28-2025, 08:27 AM)BigDirk41 Wrote: He should start over Klay imo and make Klay the 6th man once we have Kyrie back.
Klay just feels like an odd fit. I don't think this is the roster to get the most out of him. He typically starts the season slow, so we will see. I am getting to the point that I hope they find a taker for him at the deadline. Even if it was for a few seconds and clearing out the salary.
I am just wondering if Max plus a guy like Hardy (but with more creatition and defense) is the fit. A guy who can provide offense off the bench. Maybe that is Klay, but the flow in the offense is not one where he can excel at the moment. And the rest of his game is pretty limited.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - ballsrchr - 10-28-2025
I don't like the Negative Nancies either--but I don't stay out of any thread. I generally just skim over the negative comments and really enjoy the many intelligent and well considered comments that are made by most posters. I am often amazed at the knowledge about basketball, the teams, NBA, and sometimes insight to what is done behind the scenes.
Keep it up guys! We can keep this the best Mavs forum by leading by example. There are too many great posters for me to single any one out, but you know who you are! I salute you...thanks.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - Smitty - 10-28-2025
(10-28-2025, 10:24 AM)KillerLeft Wrote: It's worse this year than ever, actually, which surprises me (but probably shouldn't).
When things aren't going well, which has been a fair amount of time to this point, the game thread is alive and jumping with negativity. Then, the Mavericks will go on an extended run to make it an actual NBA game, and it's crickets in there for 20 minutes at a time. The game thread for the win against Toronto was one of the deadest I can remember the whole time I've been part of this community. I think we've reached an era where there are more people lurking here HOPING the Mavs are bad so they can complain than there are fans who want the team to do well, and it's just sad.
I'm not sure what, if anything, we can do about this, but I'm really bummed that this community has become so negative.
I don't think there's anything anyone can do about it. There's still a big portion of the fanbase that'll never be over the trade. I'm not going to tell others how they should feel, but I'm personally over it and ready to move on. I do feel strongly that AD will never be fully embraced here. It's impossible IMO. Had the Mavs traded anyone other than Luka for a top 15 player in the NBA, I think the appreciation for what he brings would be 10x. Until Flagg becomes must see TV, I think we'll be stuck in a rut as a fanbase, and the trolls will keep at it...
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - cow - 10-28-2025
All the offseason talk about Flagg landing in the perfect situation always felt wrong. You have a really unhappy fanbase for reasons that don't need to rehashed and you are the heir apparent to a generational talent that had an immediate and massive impact on the team because he'd been playing professionally for years. Luka also had the benefit of being on a subpar team where getting his was going to much easier to do than the team Cooper is playing alongside which is built to win now. And because this team's best player is hurt, the coach decided to throw him into Mariana Trench instead of dipping his toes into the water by having him run the point. He's had one good game out of four and one bad game. That sounds like he's right on schedule to me. He hasn't shied away from the challenge or is shortcomings. No idea what he'll become, but I don't really worry about him as a competitor or maximizing his potential.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - RGP1981 - 10-28-2025
Lauri Markkanen scored 51 points yesterday, which is almost double what anyone on the Mavs did against the Thunder.
Nico gave the Mavs a lemon with the Luka-AD trade. The NBA magically turned the lemon into lemonade in the draft. It could behoove Nico and the Mavs to take that lemonade and open a lemonade stall, maximizing their good fortune.
Just saying... the Jazz could be open to a trade.
- Mavs get: Lauri Markkanen + Isaiah Collier + 2026 Top 1-5 1st round pick + other 1st round picks.
- Jazz get: Cooper Flagg and matching salaries.
PG: Kyrie, Collier, Exum
SG: Klay, Christie, Hardy
SF: PJW, Naji
PF: Lauri, AD, PJW
Ce: AD, Lively
A deal like this is insane value, and this seems like a team which could realistically compete with anyone for the title and win.
The Mavs will also have replenished their draft pick stock. The Mavs currently don't have a draft pick until 2030, do they?
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - Winter - 10-28-2025
This team is just going to take time. That's all.
This team is running, when last year they were walking and standing. They're shooting quickly now. It's different. It's clumsy... but it's not unexpected.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - Smitty - 10-28-2025
(10-28-2025, 11:28 AM)RGP1981 Wrote: The Mavs will also have replenished their draft pick stock. The Mavs currently don't have a draft pick until 2030, do they?
2026: Own
2027: Top-2 protected owed to CHA
2028: Pick Swap rights (OKC)
2029: LAL FRP
2030: Pick Swap rights (SAS)
2031: Own
2032: Own
They have a first round pick in every draft, except possibly 2027. If you mean they don't control their own pick 2027-2030, you're correct.
RE: Game 4: Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (1-2) | 7:30pm CST - RGP1981 - 10-28-2025
(10-28-2025, 11:51 AM)Smitty Wrote: 2026: Own
2027: Top-2 protected owed to CHA
2028: Pick Swap rights (OKC)
2029: LAL FRP
2030: Pick Swap rights (SAS)
2031: Own
2032: Own
They have a first round pick in every draft, except possibly 2027. If you mean they don't control their own pick 2027-2030, you're correct.
Thank you, Smitty. That's what I meant, the Mavs don't control their own picks 2027-30.