Mavs rotation

[ItsGoTime]

This is the main point for me. 

Hardaway is skilled enough on offense to be used as a weapon. They run actions with the intent of creating shots for him, and it's his job to get them off. The opposing team knows this and plans ways of combatting it, so possessions sometimes end with him taking some of what fans who don't care for him consider bad shots, for sure, but that doesn't mean he's not required by the team to get those shots off. (I'm speaking about things in general here, not suggesting that THJ never takes a shot he shouldn't. Just about all players do that from time to time)

Absolutely THJ is a weapon on offense! I would love him in a JET role! Not starting but mostly ending the game with roughly the same minutes as the starters. To me, with them signing defenders in Bullock and Brown, this is putting your money where your mouth is. Kidd said they will play defense. We’ve heard that from RC every single year and yet we’ve stayed mostly bottom 10 of teams in defense every year.

I think shooting percentage is absolutely a fair thing to factor into our opinions about how successful he/the team are with this strategy, but I don't think it's fair at all to compare his 3pt% with that of DFS (whom I love) and suggest that if DFS's is a little higher that he should be given that role. He's not remotely qualified for it, imo. He takes wide open shots that occur when the defense is forced to commit extra defenders to take away angles/looks from guys like Hardaway. It's an important role, but distinctly different, imo. 

I think it’s much more than shooting %. I think it’s the combination of shooting % and attempts pg. That combo is what makes THJ who he is on offense. It’s not the only thing he brings (I say this so you don’t have to), but it’s what makes the rest of his game so much more deadly.

Here’s the rub for me and what I’ve been trying to say. Instead of having 1 guy do all of that, what if 2 guys water that down and make up for the attempts he doesn’t get by increasing their attempts? What if those two guys can pick up that “slack” and are better on the defensive end than THJ? I think at that point a decision should be made by the coach and with what we know he’s said the defenders should get the nod in that situation. Either that or like I said, the 3 of them need to be good enough to fill the small, med and large wing spots. DFS hasn’t looked as good there, but maybe he would with this new system? Otherwise, the coach isn’t putting the team in the best position to succeed, right?

I also don't think it's wise to consider taking away that role altogether in order to add an additional DFS-type role in its place. I think what the Mavs ask Hardaway to do on offense is extremely necessary, and it's just a matter of whether or not the player who plays that role is good enough to succeed. 

To be fair, I'm not abundantly familiar with Bullock yet, though what I do know about him so far has me thinking he's in line for a DFS type of role, not a Hardaway type of role. Who knows, though - maybe he's better at moving without the ball and has a quicker release than DFS. That would be an improvement for the team, regardless of how the players are used.

I’ve tried to be mostly fair with THJ. I like him less than some and more than others. He has more to his offense than DFS can get to in 1 year and like you I don’t know much about Bullock to know if he can make up for some of the other things THJ brings to the offense. My point of contention is in the cost/benefit to the defense that our new coach is supposedly focused on?