Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[audiosway]

I don't consider myself a Mavs hater, but here are the reasons I don't think they are currently a contender:

Continuity.  Your core needs time to play together and our core will have virtually none of that due to the trade and injuries.

Fit.  This team was built to be P&R centered around Luka.  Now we have no true P&R PG with P&R centers.  Lots of questions.

Creation.  Most NBA champions have an elite (top 5) creator.  Kyrie is better off ball and AD does not create a lot for others.

To be fair, I only really consider OKC, Cleveland and Boston to be true contenders.  There is a big drop off after those three teams.  Dallas is probably in that second tier, but its hard to know even that without seeing the team healthy.

I agree that continuity can really help. However, with vets it's really mitigated. You also have to think that Kyrie and AD have played together on team USA. Look at the pass from AD to Gaff at the start of that game we saw with AD.

The main aspect of how this team was built it focused on Defense first. Every player out there besides Luka and Kyrie are D first. Now you see Kyrie sticking his nose in there as the leader and playing hard defense. You are talking from an offensive perspective. Gaff and Lively both have a decent post game. AD has an incredible post and mid game. Kyrie just makes buckets. PJ has a good post game as well as an outside shot now. P&R is just an aspect of offense. There are so many other ways to create offense that this team can do. And P&R will be one of them.

Dallas has 2 elite creators in that Kyrie and AD are both elite shot creators. Most NBA champions do NOT have elite PGs. Jasons Kidd won a title when he became a 3&D PG. CP3 has never won a title. John Stockton never won a title. Tony Parker was a scorer, Jrue Holiday is 3&D.

Elite shot creation means they can get their own shot at an elite level. Most creators are NOT distributors also. LeBron and Luka are. But, I would argue that LeBron has cost himself titles by passing the ball and not being the one to own it and take the shot. I've said in the past that if the game is on the line I would rather see Kyrie take the shot than Luka.

Ball movement is the key. You can't double ball movement like you can a single player. Most NBA champions have very good ball movement with an elite shot creator or two. And they play defense first. Look no further than the Warriors and Spurs Dynasty's.