PRESEASON GAME 4: DAL (4-0) @ MIL (1-3) | 114-103 win

[DanSchwartzgan]

I was thrilled by the performance last night.

Brunson was awesome.   Sterling Brown fate will determined largely by him hitting threes, but I have liked what I have seen so far.   He looks like a guy who does a lot of little things and he is a guy who also looks for his shot.  And not a guy who only shoots when he is wide open.  There may be some play making potential there too.   Powell hits two more threes and again his form looks much improved.  Frank hit a low percentage of three point attempts but I thought his form looked good.   These are the type of games where you take those shots.  His defense looked great.  I liked the time he spent where he was pretty much playing the DFS position on offense. 

I was thinking of doing a long “what have we learned” post, but you hit on a number of the things I was going to say:

Brunson looks to be in mid-season form.  If he gets enough minutes with Luka he’ll be a good candidate for sixth man (how much money did Dinwiddie get?  Hollinger may not be that far off).

S. Brown looks like a player.  I think you could make an argument for him or Bullock starting in the DFS spot.  That is great depth and versatility.  Similarly, Maxi could start for Powell (probably not enough mobility to say the same for Willie or Moses, but they are perfectly fine NBA backup bigs)

But, Powell it is as the starter.  And, he looks great.  I’ve seen him hit 20 corner 3’s in a row before warmups.  I always thought he tried to get too much lift on his 3’s.  It isn’t totally a set shot like Maxi, but he’s not doing what he did in the past either.

Green’s three was a step-back (but to the side) shot.  The kid doesn’t lack for confidence apparently.  Out of all the wings we have, he is the one with the most upside.  I think there is an NBA starter hidden in there and it wouldn’t shock me for Green to unseat Finney some day.  He’s young and super-athletic, but inexperienced.  The archetype is a challenge.  Kelly Oubre, but with a brain.  Caris Lavert when he was younger.  Wiggins.  Its not like we demand a ton from DFS.  Make nice cuts, hit open 3’s and play D.  Green can do two of those things and is already better at passing and driving with the ball.  We should all be routing for this because it is the easiest route to substantial improvement without a massive trade.

I think the last thing we learned is atmosphere matters.  The shackles of a highly controlled approach are off. The regular season should be a much more enjoyable watch.  But, we may also see more mistakes than we used to see under Carlisle.  The question is whether this team can also thrive late in games and in the playoffs when things slow down and defenses clamp down.  I think we’ve seen enough to have a good feel for rotations with the exception of end of game.  I’m curious to see how that evolves as the season progresses.

Prediction:  Third in the West