08-27-2025, 08:49 AM
(08-26-2025, 09:58 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: Your memory isn't failing you I don't think. The Mavs did at least TRY to make Powell a stretch big man. Carlisle definitely made it a point to get him to shoot threes. Especially during the tanking years. But they did not give up quickly. Powell shot threes pretty routinely for a ~20mpg guy right up until his achilles tear. 4 years of consistent 3pt shot taking. Not so much shot making.
Did it succeed? No. Powell never was that good at range like we know. And his rim rolling ability just far outweighed anything else he did on the court. His best season was a paltry league average 35% and on very little volume.
Now with Lively we have yet to see him even take a consistent amount of threes. I want to see it. It has yet to happen. We're all waiting!
Until Lively got drafted, the Mavs were a big bagel, mostly good stuff but with a hole in the middle. DLive was brought in to plug that hole. Then Gaff was acquired to fortify the position. Add in AD and it is now a position of strength. My point is that Lively, although he wowed scouts at the draft combine with 3pt shooting, has never been in a position to move outside to take the shot. He primarily functioned as a lob candidate for Luka, a short roll distributor and a rebound getter on both ends. With AD, in theory, he could move outside on offense while leaving AD the inside duties. Not a bad concept with other bigs like Webby and Holmgren taking shots now. 7'2" guy taking shots on the perimeter is damned hard to defend.
BTW, the Powell experiment was sooo ugly I had purged it from memory. DP has always brought energy but when he was the "best" option for a starting center a few years back, I knew the team was in trouble. Now his best contribution is as a community outreach guy.