06-29-2024, 02:17 PM
(06-29-2024, 02:07 PM)mvossman Wrote: One interesting thing to point out regarding the MAVs offensive issues in the finals is that the offensive rating may have been 101 but the Luka/Kyrie minutes were 113. And that was with Kyrie issues in Boston and Luka being cold from 3. Are we sure the issue is with the starting lineup? Maybe bringing in a legit 6th man will solve a lot of the offensive problems in bench minutes. Maybe that same player can keep Luka from taking such a heavy load during the season, allowing him to be more fresh in playoffs. Maybe those two things in addition to a younger team improving is enough to bridge the gap?
It's an interesting point, but 113 isn't good enough, either.
And, while the load on Luka and Kyrie's shoulders, minutes wise, is a concern to consider, I suspect that the Mavs are highly unlikely to find a third guy good enough to make it seem like a good idea not to play both of them 40 minutes+. Maaaaaaybe Kyrie, but not Luka. Big minutes is just what stars sign up for in the playoffs. The answer there is the board's other "Coke vs. Pepsi" jihad - conditioning. If Luka wants to plant his flag at the top of the NBA mountain, he'll have to be more physically up to the tolls of 4, grueling playoff rounds than his opponents, and not just more skilled than them. He doesn't need to be more athletic than them, but he needs to be less tired than they are in the late 4th quarters of these games.
I'd suggest that a much better way to help him with this mission is to ensure that his entire time on the court isn't spent going 1-on-1 with the other team's best defenders and not trying to find ways for him to be on the court less. I don't know that Thompson represents a solution to that problem, really, but I do think it's possible he gets them closer to the kind of spacing Luka/Brunson feasted on in '22. It's not nothing, as long as it doesn't represent a major setback for the newly found defensive identity.
If they do this, it will mean they think they can hold onto that identity, somehow, not that they're abandoning it. They might be wrong, but that's the point I'm trying to make above.
If this ends up being instead of Jones, or "take these 30 minutes, Klay, even if it's not working" or one of the hundred other things we're assuming, I'll be right there with you saying it was a mistake.