MIKE SHEDD GIVES COACHING PERSPECTIVE ON MAVS

[mavsluvr]

Sorry to but in, but I think both points are stipulated by the majority here. 

The concern is that Luka is a team focus and is judged behind the curve of his critic's expectations for fitness and leadership, not without some validity.

I'm not thrilled with his performance so far this season, but I'm empathetic enough to understand that his schedule the last 1 1/2 years hasn't left much down time and willing to cut him some slack. Although I worry he's going to become Zion Junior if he doesn't pay attention to his health. 

That said, if the rest of the team was performing efficiently and Luka was an anchor on their success, then I'd be much more in favor of isolating him as the problem, but the problems are team-wide and having Luka 15 pounds lighter isn't going to solve that. 

I know Kidd wants to reduce dependency on 3pt scoring, but to shoot this poorly for this long with essentially the same roster that lit it up the last two years is concerning. The guys that are gone (excepting Curry) were not 3pt magicians either, so something is going on with scheme or confidence that isn't working.

No apologies necessary, these are open conversations. 

There seems to be a variance of opinion as to just how much disgust Luka merits, with some being on the end of the spectrum holding him to the highest professional standards in all cases, and you and I maybe being a little more willing to consider the circumstances and cut him a bit of slack. I think both points of view have some merit, and I don't know that there is an objectively correct answer. Personally, I am less interested in pointing fingers than in looking to where we go from here.

Agree with your last paragraph. The continued collapse of the three-point shooting is confounding. There have been enough games now that I am not convinced by reassurances that the averages will inevitably regress to the mean. I don't think that's a given. 

I have studied some of the material about the Mavs getting as good looks as most any team in the league, but I'm not sure I agree with that. I heard one of the analytics guys (sorry I can't remember which one) on a podcast within the last week or so, and he was saying that the teams have their own proprietary stats on shot quality, realizing that most of the stats available to the public on that issue are "bunkum." 

That was because some of those stats only took into account location on the court and distance of the nearest defender, and didn't take into account such other important factors as the quality of the shooter. Thus, for example, an open shot for Powell would be treated as a equal quality shot as an open look for Steph. Maybe there is something to that, I don't know.