Mavs rotation

[StepBackJay]

240 minutes to spend:

Luka 34 mpg

KP 28 mpg
THJ 28 mpg
Brunson 24 mpg
DFS 24 mpg
Bullock 24 mpg
Maxi 20 mpg
Powell 18 mpg

I view that as the core of the team. That adds up to 200 minutes. That leaves 40 minutes for the situational guys. WCS, both Browns, Boban, the sophomores... all those guys will be competing for those roughly 40 minutes.

I think THJ will go back up to 30 with J Rich out of the way. I don't see why they would drop KP under 30, I think he would be unhappy if he's not logging at least close to his career average. Bullock should also be 30 mpg. I think DFS could potentially drop a little bit but I still think he will be heavily used since he has position flex at SF/PF. Powell and Maxi being 20's also makes sense. Brunson was 25 last year which I think is a good number for him.

These are my numbers:

Luka 34 mpg
KP 30 mpg
THJ 30 mpg
Brunson 25 mpg
DFS 28 mpg
Bullock 30 mpg
Maxi 20 mpg
Powell 18 mpg

I think that is more like 215, with 25 to spare that either goes to these 8 or sprinkled in to the others. This is a pretty good 8 all things considered. 

Powell last year had a really rough start coming back from injury (as expected). He really shouldn't have been playing and to the extent he played Rick did not set him up for success playing next to DFS in the front court. Mavs went with Maxi/KP as the frontcourt for many months but eventually went back DP + KP before the season ended and then we had a couple trash games then the playoffs.

I have no idea what Kidd will go but it was clear that DP had a good impact late in the season setting screens, rolling to the basket, going after offensive rebounds, looking like his old self. I like DP (or any good roller) out there with Luka because it makes Luka's life much easier on offense. Maxi was injured and perhaps over-extended. I like Maxi back to the bench as KP's backup and a closer which to make makes more sense. 

Again I don't know how Kidd wants to run his lineups but I would be surprised if it strays too far from the "Luka" offense which is a lot of PnR and finding shooters. Maybe Kidd can get more off-ball movement, I am not sure. One of the bigger things I think he will do is make Luka push the ball more, which was a Jason Kidd staple. If Luka did this he would be basically unstoppable. Harden has done this his whole career which just makes it really hard on the defense bc they never get set and Luka's game is very similar to Harden.

The challenge for Luka of course is that he gets exhausted out there. I do wonder if Mavs can tinker with his rotations more to try to give him breaks without tanking the offense. A Dragic signing would help to that end. Maybe Kidd can figure out how to run the offense through KP more effectively. Who knows.