Preseason Game 1: Dallas Mavericks (0-0) vs. OKC (1-0) | 7:30pm CST

[Chicagojk]

Alright!  Oct. 6 if anybody needs to know that.  I hope the games are still broadcast over air (TV) since I set up a TV tuner on my computer with a small antenna outside.  This was last year and it worked great.

I'm glad to see DSJ back on the team.  After some maturation he turned out to be pretty good.

DLo seems to be a quality pickup...at a great price.  I hope he is motivated and consistent.

Dante Exum IS a quality point guard if he can stay on the court.  I'm anxious and hope that he can.  Also a great price.

Ryan Nembhard is an interesting project.  I don't think he'll be on the court very much.

Brandon Williams is more of a shooting guard in my opinion.  Hopefully he can engage the rest of the team.

There's more guards on the roster, but I think most of them are just cannon fodder.  Can I say that?  Sorry, sorry, sorry.

No I haven't forgotten about Kyrie.  But he won't be there to play till later in the season...if at all.  I wonder how much moral and technical support he gives to the rest of the team.

I think we are well staffed with guards.

DSJ probably doesn't make the roster.   He just needs to play basketball though.  He really didn't play last year besides a few games overseas.  He can't be sitting out seasons.    Even if he is playing G-league not tied to a team, he needs to be visible to scouts.  It will be a long hard battle to get back into the league, but if he keeps grinding he may have a shot.

I think the Williams and Exum battle will be interesting.   I think the team would want Exum to win those minutes but Williams was good last year.   Can he prove that was not a fluke in a lost season?   I think Exum holds the substantial advantage on the defensive side of the ball.   Exum just can't stay healthy though.

I think Nembhard will always be limited with his size.  It is really tough to get minutes at that size.   I do think there is a path for him to be a third point guard though early in his career.   Time will tell.  He just feels like a guy a coach would have confidence in.   For young players, finding ways to get on the court is the biggest hurdle.  Getting on the court and being effective while your rest of the game evolves can be the biggest advantage over your peers.   Guys like DFS made the most of it.    Omax never could get on the floor and we saw little advancement.

I am not a huge DLO fan.   He will need to hold down the fort for the firs 1/3 or 1/2 of the season.   I do wonder how he looks as a backup when Kyrie is back.  I am sure they want to keep Kyrie's minutes lower, so he should still get 23-25 minutes a night when Kyrie is back.    Having a veteran point who doesn't make a ton of mistake while also having the potential to get hot is a nice thing to have off the bench.