(07-25-2024, 04:17 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: This seems hostile and condescending. I'm not sure if you mean it that way or if I just don't jive with your writing style. I will choose not to take offense.
While I don't have the time (or will) to refute this "manual minutes count" of yours right now, I'm almost positive it's inaccurate, at least in the context I offered (down the stretch, during the win streak, after the trades). I vehemently disagree with your conclusions, especially the "what they have been doing" part.
PJW, Luka and Marshall will all play defensive 4 much, much more than Kleber. That's pretty obvious, imo. I guess we'll just have to see what happens!
In the future, if something I write makes you angry, you have the option of simply not responding. I've recently adopted this approach with a few people who irk me the way it seems like I'm irking you, and I have been having a better experience for it. Remember, you were the one who responded to my post today - it wasn't something I did "to you."
Irked? Angry? Not at all. I responded to what I believed to be your wrong assumption on what has already happened, and went to look at the numbers to be sure I wasn't missing something. Then I simply replied to exactly to what you asked (" Is there some info I missed?"). If I didn't word in the right way, my apologies.
I will summarize my points and opinions to make them easy: (1) in the Mavs view, Maxi is more PF than C -- or, to put it in playing terms, he has perimeter skills (on BOTH ends) and is not a roll man or traditional lane protector (although he has some skills in those areas), (2) that is based on when I watch the games, not on theory or personal -preference, (3) Mavs have few minutes available at C, and need a backup PF, so (4) Maxi will continue to be used primarily as a PF, assuming he is healthy.
That was my observation from watching games. I got it that you observed differently. Both of us could not be correct as to what they HAD done, so, wondering "Did I not see what I thought I saw?" I went to look it up in the best way I could get. I figured actual playoff minutes by lineup would offer that, since they would have prioritized best rotation possible, from their pov. I recognized the impact of Maxi's injury, but feel that his minutes in the playoffs were in whatever lineup they felt he was most valuable. So while quantity of minutes and quality of play may have dropped off due to the injury, the preferred lineups would be revealing.
Obviously his use with/without a C over the 82-game season as a whole was altered by the change in the team. Full season stats are useless.
They changed their approach (by multiple accounts) starting either vs MIA or the following game at DET, and went from an offense-priority to defense, with a steady diet of big men attacking the rim and blocking shots and trying to be a menace. If there is lineup data for just those last 18-20 games, that would help, although I think playoff data is more revealing. I don't have those 18-20 game numbers anyhow.
SUMMARY. If you think next season Kleber will be used sparingly and almost entirely at C, so be it. (I certainly disagree. I think there are very few minutes to be had at C, Maxi is good and Kidd values his play.) If you want to dismiss how he was actually used in the playoffs, so be it. (I certainly disagree, and imo that was the best lens into their thinking.) And if you think it's somehow hostile to share what the playoffs lineup minutes were, have at it! But I promise you, I do know how to count!
How many minutes will NEITHER Gafford or Lively be on the floor? I think that's typically going to be close to 0. Yet I think Kleber will still get significant minutes (I'm expecting avg in the 15-20 mpg range) when healthy.