MAVS NEWS:

[mvossman]

Agree. I think overall the team is better than last season and I would hope they spend less energy in the regular season. New additions will hopefully take some load off the stars to bring them as healthy as possible to playoffs. I hope we will not have again extended stretches of games with Luka playing 40+ minutes on a nightly basis when Irving is out (which is likely, according to his injury history). I expect SD to be a good enough addition in times when injuries/rest to one of the stars so that we will not need to overload the other one. I expect offense to be good and I think a combo of Thompson/Grimes/Naji is much better than a combo of Green/DJJ/THJ. I think better offense and additional player depth and versatility will overweight a likely drop in defense in regular season and make Mavs have an easier job. I will be dissapointed if they don't finish top4, assuming reasonable health, of course. 

While I think Mavs will be better in the regular season, I am not sure if they will be better in the offseason. With now three players on likely heavy minutes and none of them being a great defender, they might become easier to target and even more difficult to hide. There will be even more minutes in playoffs when all three of Luka/Kyrie/Klay will be on the court together. Looking forward to see how they make it work

The playoffs are a long way away, but how much they play together will depend on total minutes.  If Luka and Kyrie play over 40 minutes a game again and Klay plays well over 30 then they will get more minutes together.  But if its more like upper 30s for Kuka/Kyrie (which might be better) and lower 30s for Klay then they don't need to be on the floor together any more than the default 12 minutes of starting and finishing games.

The 10 to 15 minutes Klay is on the court with the starters will be a definite downgrade on defense compared to DJJ, but it will also be a massive upgrade on offense.  His remaining minutes will be replacing THJ and Hardy, which will be an upgrade both offensively and defensively.

I think by the time we get to the playoffs Lively will be starting, which should help mitigate the lack of POA defender.  It makes sense when you have your top three offensive players on the floor together that you also have your best defensive center.

If Naji/Grimes can hold their own replacing remaining DJJ/Green minutes (I think they can) then its hard to see this team not being better than last season in the playoffs (if healthy).  They might be a little less on defense, but they will be significantly better on offense.