MAVS NEWS:

[mvossman]

@Gump and @Dan

I respect both of your opinions, but I just think you're going down a path that has zero credibility or reason at this point. The identity of this team is/was supposed to be double Bigs that dominate inside, running a Princeton style motion offense through one of the Bigs in the half court, and being a team that runs in transition with having multiple "capable" ball handlers on the floor to do so, rather than one heliocentric "PG".

I agree with everyone here that the first two games made it very obvious that the team needed a real "PG" on the court at all times. But Kidd told us exactly what he was going to do with Flagg, so it's hardly a surprise that we see him on ball that much to start the year.

In game 3, I made a post about how well Kidd and Co. adjusted to the lineup data and had excellent rotations and minutes distribution. Lively is then out with a knee injury. 

In Game 4 he did what he could against the defending Champs in a b2b. Davis has to play 38 minutes at the 5 because Lively and Gafford are both out, after playing 35 minutes the night before. He's then hurt in Game 5, just 7 minutes into the game.

Game 6 Gafford makes his season debut, but on a minute's restriction, and to this day still doesn't look 100%.


I just see no evidence that the coaching staff is doing anything to deliberately lose winnable games. The team has no identity. They have no chemistry. They have no Alpha. They have below average shooters. Their best player, Davis, came into the season out of shape. The roster is absolutely flawed; that's not the argument. I've said all summer that the double Big thing is not ideal, but even then, they don't even know how that looks. Davis and Lively have played 29 minutes together. Davis and Gafford 0. We're 8 games into a season that is already showing us why it's a bad idea to build around injury prone players.

Do I think Kidd will go the "tank" route if Davis, Lively, Kyrie, Gafford remain on the injury report more than the court? Of course. I just don't think that's what's happening at the moment.

Completely agree.  We knew going into this season that this team was going to struggle with creation, shooting and injuries.  I feel like Kidd blew the Wizards game by not having a PG on the court for much of the game, and it was demoralizing to lose at home to NO even with all of the injuries, but otherwise this season is playing out as expected.  I thought it was general consensus that this is probably a lottery team if AD reverts to "street clothes" this season.