12-28-2021, 05:16 PM
(12-28-2021, 02:32 PM)mavsluvr Wrote: Cato had an interesting slant in today's article on this. --
Tim puts a lot of blame for the Mavericks' lifeless offense on THJ, Bullock, and Maxi -- players he refers to as below-average passers who hesitate too long when windows emerge. He acknowledges that this keeps turnovers low, which was a fundamental for Carlisle, but it comes at the cost of having to repeatedly recycle possessions.
Tim didn't want to make the discussion about Luka's conditioning issues, which he thinks have already been talked to death, but adds that Luka's lack of enthusiasm for the system is part of the problem. He suggests that these four players have not bought into Kidd's offense, and the result has been a "mushy" approach where Luka wants to run pick-and-rolls "until the icecap melts," while KP tries to post up directly in his path.
He realizes that the more fundamental problem is the roster's lack of talent, rather than the coaching schemes. He doesn't suggest that Green, Frankie, Mo, and the emergency guys are any kind of real answer to that issue. He also doesn't suggest that Kidd's system (which is not all that different than Carlisle's) will necessarily make the team better. But he does suggest that this COVID interlude has given us a window into just how stagnant the Mavs offense has become, and what types of players might be helpful in changing it.
I will not put Green in the retread category. This was a relatively high first round choice who has not played much even in college. Give him some time before we just categorize him as a retread . Whenever he has been on the court he has played tough man on man defense. That by itself should get him more minutes on this squad. He is long, physical, can play defense. Yes what he did yesterday was against a depleted Blazers team but we are depleted as well. If it were a Blazers pick dropping 10 dimes on us we would have bemoaned how other teams keep finding talented youngsters. So why just dismiss it when one of our bench players does it? Some of the passes he made were really good and not just an extra pass because their defense played poorly.
I am not giving up on Frank N either. I have always felt that the Knicks were the wrong team for him since he was so raw and expectations were so high given his draft position. While I like Moses and some others, Frank and Josh are to me guys who do a little bit of everything apart from being a real force on defense. This team that has too many one dimensional players or overrated defensive players should be finding every opportunity to see how to give them both more minutes.