(07-16-2024, 12:57 AM)BigDirk41 Wrote: I read an article today where DJJ said he chose LA because they want him to be aggressive on offense along with his normal defense. I think this was strictly about him wanting to expand his game for a potential bigger payday down the road. Obviously it wasn't about winning. The Clippers aren't going to do any damage in the playoffs. I can't blame a guy for wanting to shoot the ball more, but I wish he would have stayed.

(07-16-2024, 09:19 AM)mvossman Wrote: I think you are underselling what we got from DJJ and overselling both what Klay was defensively, and what he is now.  There is a fine line between running a guy into help defense and blow by.  There will definitely be a drop off in defense, especially when the primary ball handler is a quicker guard.  The hope is that moving Lively into the starting lineup will help mitigate some of the defensive hit, and the improvement in offense will more than make up for the loss in defense.

(07-16-2024, 03:08 PM)audiosway Wrote: That my friend is where you and I differ. Klay wasn't brought in to replace DJJ. Naji Marshall was. Naji is a better defender than DJJ. He is an enforcer that is a great POA defender as well as help defender. Grimes was brought in to replace Josh Green. Grimes was used by the Knicks to always guard the opponents best player.

On a scale of 0-100 I would consider Klay an 80 right now. He was brought in to replace Hardaway Jr. THJ was about a 40 on defense. That is a massive upgrade. Combine that with Klay being one of the best shooters of all time and it's an even larger upgrade.

Grimes and Naji are both lock down defenders. They are better on offense and defense than the two guys they are replacing. I even mentioned right after the finals that I was interested in seeing Naji brought in. Naji is also 6'7" to DJJ being 6'5". Naji is a playmaker and a good shooter.

(07-16-2024, 03:08 PM)audiosway Wrote: That my friend is where you and I differ. Klay wasn't brought in to replace DJJ. Naji Marshall was. Naji is a better defender than DJJ. He is an enforcer that is a great POA defender as well as help defender. Grimes was brought in to replace Josh Green. Grimes was used by the Knicks to always guard the opponents best player.

On a scale of 0-100 I would consider Klay an 80 right now. He was brought in to replace Hardaway Jr. THJ was about a 40 on defense. That is a massive upgrade. Combine that with Klay being one of the best shooters of all time and it's an even larger upgrade.

Grimes and Naji are both lock down defenders. They are better on offense and defense than the two guys they are replacing. I even mentioned right after the finals that I was interested in seeing Naji brought in. Naji is also 6'7" to DJJ being 6'5". Naji is a playmaker and a good shooter.

(07-16-2024, 03:30 PM)Scott41theMavs Wrote: To say that Naji is a better POA defender than DJJ - please pass what you are smoking, and I'll have a great afternoon.

(07-16-2024, 03:08 PM)audiosway Wrote: That my friend is where you and I differ. Klay wasn't brought in to replace DJJ. Naji Marshall was. Naji is a better defender than DJJ. He is an enforcer that is a great POA defender as well as help defender. Grimes was brought in to replace Josh Green. Grimes was used by the Knicks to always guard the opponents best player.

On a scale of 0-100 I would consider Klay an 80 right now. He was brought in to replace Hardaway Jr. THJ was about a 40 on defense. That is a massive upgrade. Combine that with Klay being one of the best shooters of all time and it's an even larger upgrade.

Grimes and Naji are both lock down defenders. They are better on offense and defense than the two guys they are replacing. I even mentioned right after the finals that I was interested in seeing Naji brought in. Naji is also 6'7" to DJJ being 6'5". Naji is a playmaker and a good shooter.

(07-16-2024, 03:43 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: I'm pretty skeptical about this, too, but to be fair, Marshall IS a good defender, and that has been an undersold part of the grieving/acceptance process for all of us here, as has the significant improvement he represents, offensively. Frankly, he's miles ahead of DJJ on that end. 

One way of putting it is that Marshall, unlike DJJ, is a two-way player. We won't know what the drop-off is, defensively, for the team until we see their plan for using everyone. Maybe Marshall is close enough to Jones as a POA guy that this will all work in the aggregate. Maybe, as audiosway believes, he'll be better in that, specific role, even. Maybe he'll be more effective in a different defensive role than Jones was in the POA defense role, and Grimes will be tapped to fill in there more than we think. 

The only area in which I feel confident the Mavs just got worse is transition offense, having lost two of their three running-most players in DJJ and Green. But, even there I have hope, due to the "grab and go" abilities that Marshall, Thompson AND Grimes all bring to the table, to varying degrees. 

Defensively, I think the aggregate skills of the full rotation improved, actually, and maybe significantly. It's up to Kidd and his assistants to put those pieces into the roles that benefit the team. I KNOW the aggregate skills improved on offense. A lot.

(07-16-2024, 04:03 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: @pandahank41
Australia beat Serbia in the warm-up game today.

Dante Exum - 15 PTS, 7 REB, 4 AST, 5/7 FG, 1/1 3P, 4-4 FT, +16 in 24 minutes off the bench

Josh Green - 0 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 2 STL, 0/1 FG, -14 in 13 minutes off the bench

(07-16-2024, 04:14 PM)mvossman Wrote: While I recognize that Naji is a better all around offensive player than DJJ, I'm not ready to call him a two way player.  I'm not sure he will be any better floor spacer than DJJ.  He actually takes less 3s than jones does, and before this last season his career 3 point percentage was under 30.  His career average is now sitting at 31 and while I don't think he will regress all the way back to that, there is reason to believe it won't be as good as last season.  To continue the comparison, Jones has a better TS% and scores the same per 36.  

I am concerned that folks are building him up too much.  He is an energy player off the bench that will play good defense and hopefully won't kill you on offense.  If he continues the trajectory he started last season he could be more than that, but I don't think its something that should be expected, just hoped for.

(07-16-2024, 04:03 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: @pandahank41
Australia beat Serbia in the warm-up game today.

Dante Exum - 15 PTS, 7 REB, 4 AST, 5/7 FG, 1/1 3P, 4-4 FT, +16 in 24 minutes off the bench

Josh Green - 0 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 2 STL, 0/1 FG, -14 in 13 minutes off the bench

(07-16-2024, 07:18 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: @ShamsCharania
Mavericks say Kyrie Irving has undergone surgery to repair a broken left hand. He sustained the injury earlier this month while training.

(07-16-2024, 07:15 PM)Chicagojk Wrote: https://x.com/shamscharania/status/1813364310833537433?s=46

Well even if healthy for regular season, Dallas needs to have point guard insurance.

(07-16-2024, 07:30 PM)F Gump Wrote: I think they have enough already, with Luka-Kyrie-Exum. The conversation has been looking past Exum imo.

(07-16-2024, 03:08 PM)audiosway Wrote: That my friend is where you and I differ. Klay wasn't brought in to replace DJJ. Naji Marshall was. Naji is a better defender than DJJ. He is an enforcer that is a great POA defender as well as help defender. Grimes was brought in to replace Josh Green. Grimes was used by the Knicks to always guard the opponents best player.

On a scale of 0-100 I would consider Klay an 80 right now. He was brought in to replace Hardaway Jr. THJ was about a 40 on defense. That is a massive upgrade. Combine that with Klay being one of the best shooters of all time and it's an even larger upgrade.

Grimes and Naji are both lock down defenders. They are better on offense and defense than the two guys they are replacing. I even mentioned right after the finals that I was interested in seeing Naji brought in. Naji is also 6'7" to DJJ being 6'5". Naji is a playmaker and a good shooter.

(07-16-2024, 03:48 PM)mvossman Wrote: Klay is replacing DJJ in the starting (and finishing) lineup.  The OP was questioning how we are going to guard the POA in those lineups.  Naji won't be in those lineups.

Is Klay an 80 on defense?  The Warriors were a lot better on defense when he was off the court (with a rookie replacing him).  I don't expect much more than average.  That would be better than THJ, but probably not ideal next to Luka and Kyrie.

I am cautiously optimistic about the Naji signing, but there is not a lot of evidence to suggest he is a better defender than DJJ.  He played less than 20 minutes a game off the bench on a middling team while DJJ was starting on a finals team going against the opponents best offensive player.  Naji playmaking includes a lot of turnovers and his shooting is based on a fairly small sample.  I hope he turns out to be better than DJJ, but that would be more projection than description.

I think we got better in the offseason, but there are question marks with all the new guys, and the biggest question mark is fit.  This team fit really well last season.  I hope we can say the same for next season.