(07-09-2025, 01:44 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: Well, the Mavs seem to be playing a different game. And frankly, a lot of teams are starting to go the way they're going, which I wasn't super clear about, but tried to bake into my point. Even when the point of your bigs is not to space out to the perimeter for the purpose of clearing driving space (it's not in Dallas), the bench big who can do that is still a player many if not all teams find valuable.
Its the formula that seems to work. If you look at most contenders/champions in the past, they have two rotational bigs on the roster and at least one of them can space the floor or create. The Mavs are sort of following that model as AD can create, and you can argue that Gafford is necessary depth given AD/Lively health issues, but normally he would be able to shoot. Houston seems to be following the Mavs route, but I'm not really sure why.