MAVS NEWS:

[F Gump]

They are very, very, very clearly not tanking. At least not yet. They are fighting like hell to beat the bucks right now. 

"They are very, very, very clearly not tanking." -- Umm not sure I can buy what we saw as any indicator either way. (And for a point of reference, they did get another L, in a home game, didn't they?)

When I think about it....

I agree 1000% the Mavs played hard vs MIL. It was good effort and fun to watch. They almost won!! I want players who want to win and work to win and think the game and do all they can. The Mavs players did that. 

However if you think closer, players are not ever tasked with in-game tanking. Throwing a game gets a player suspended, and can even get them jail time. No one is going to tell them to play to lose, miss shots on purpose, etc. Players are always going to be COACHED to play hard too, when they get minutes.

For a tanking agenda to be seen, we have to observe actions of people at a different level.

GMs can make losses much more common by things like (disadvantageous) roster choices, by simply having a roster with much lesser talent, and by (hyper-protective) organizational injury management. "We are prioritizing younger talent that will take us to the next level." "We needed to sit Sammy Superstar for lots of games, to prevent further injury!!"  (Sometimes they may ask star players to help in tanking by NOT playing, once a season has become impossible, even though they are healthy, but we're far from that point this season. The NBA has added some awards-limiting rules to try to curtail such things, because they happen.) Coaches won't ever tell players to lose or to play badly, nor do anything to damage a player's ability or performance individually, but they can facilitate losing by the way they (oddly) allot minutes, by (weirdly stupid) choices of lineups, and by (poor) plays and defenses chosen at key points.

I agree it's far from certain the Mavs are tanking so far. But I have seen decisions this season at both the GM and coach level that fit the profile and sure do make me think the tank perhaps has already started. And there's no question that this GM-coach combo have tanked one year (without anyone noticing until the very last game when Kidd couldn't keep his mouth shut) and maybe even more. I do think that a good portion of the massive number of injuries last season could very likely have been tanking related. 

This season? Early on, I think our best read on it will be the injury list, and also the Kyrie situation and how they manage him over the season. And agendas can change - a string of losses can make them tank even if they didn't intend to, and an unexpected series of wins and good play can flip the switch from a tank to a title chase. 

Another point of reference - they are on a 22-win pace. That would have slotted them at 5 in the lottery last season and 6 the season before and tied for 2 the season before that.