A New Found Respect For Dwight Powell

[Jason Terry]

This is what I was trying to express the other day. 

Yes, the Drummonds of the world are going to dominate the glass against the Mavs. And actually, Drummond's game tonight was the first time it actually bothered me in a while. I thought it came as close to affecting the outcome of the game as any "mismatch" inside has, recently. 

But...it doesn't really seem like giving up the glass is actually hurting the team that much, generally. This is an oversimplified way of stating my position, but I believe this worry stems from most of our collective viewing experience being from the 2000's. We're all still trying to recreate the 2011 team, and that's simply not how the game is played anymore. 

Being able to defend the pick and roll from the 5 position >>>>>>> being good on the glass. If you can do both, great - you're probably going to the finals. But, I feel like the Mavs made the correct choice for this season, given that they could do NEITHER with Porzingis on the floor.

I like the way you say this. The game has just changed. If you dropped 20 year old Dirk in the NBA today, would he play the 4 or 5? If Drummond or Gobert etc are guarding Luka all game, does that make them point guards? If we don’t rebound well from the 5 with DP/Maxi, but Luka gets 12 boards a night and the rebounding battle is close…….does it matter that guys like Drummond feast on the boards? 

I think it all highlights the importance of 1-5 being able to guard everyone and do some of everything in a team way. It’s made the game fun