MAVS NEWS:

[BigDirk41]

I actually buy the potential ball-handling part of this point. I was wondering about that almost right away - can Flagg literally step into Luka's shoes, offensively, just (hopefully) not in such a heliocentric way, where the ball moves a lot more?

I do NOT think that combination holds up, defensively, no matter how good the individual defenders involved might be (and I admit, they're all very good). At some point, being too big just means you're too slow. I think Flagg's defense is one of the main points to get excited about with all of this - doesn't mean I think he should be on the perimeter trying to stay in front of Donovan Mitchell, lol. Davis, PJW and Flagg are ALL great defenders, but they're all great low HELP defenders. I suppose there's a high value in creating a lineup that can't be schemed out of low help defense, and that part is cool, but something tells me this lineup of Brian Dameris's wouldn't be effective against many teams. 

Either way, so nice to have something basketball-related to think out/debate around here again!

Killer, I think Flagg becomes Luka without the ball sticking in this offense. Especially with Kyrie out, it makes sense for him to handle the ball a lot. He's so versatile so the opportunity for him to play so many positions and guard multiple positions is really exciting.