MAVS NEWS:

[Winter]

I go back and forth on what will happen, too. Not on what I think should happen though. 

Even when I try, I can't see a good reason not to start AD/PJW/Flagg as your front court on opening night. I don't expect that to happen, but I do expect that group to close together most games (if PJW is here and extended, of course). 

...and then I remember that Kidd was on that 2020 Lakers staff, and that Harrison was obviously a huge fan of that team. That worries me. 

But, bouncing back to the other side again, as much (too much) as was made back then of the cheap Howard/McGee tandem (hmm...McGee, interesting) and their contributions, I think it's interesting to note that during that season, with those guys both in the rotation and both Kidd and Vogel on the staff, Davis played about 40% of his minutes at center. In the ensuing years, that percentage has climbed drastically, to the point where that's almost exclusively where he was playing before the Luka trade. What is notable about the 2020 Lakers playoff run is that Howard/McGee continued to play some minutes in the playoffs. However, Davis was younger/quicker then, and they had LeBron freaking James at the very end of his prime, along with quite a few uber-effective perimeter defenders. 

I like how insulated the team is against any front court injury. I do. I just wish the starting back court wasn't so wanting, and I worry that having 5 of your top 9 (depending on how you view Flagg) best players be either 5's or 4's might influence the team to be played in such a way that the team is worse than it might otherwise be.

And following that thought, I never imagined I would be a fan of the team that might really go places if D'Angelo Russell performed better than expected. That guy was never on my bingo card... and now I need to root for him. Hard.