A Few Thoughts on Mavs 109, Pacers 112

[mavsluvr]

Not sure why it's so hard to see when and how this guy should be playing but you're not alone in wondering whether its 'basketball-wise'.  Some NBA coaches struggle with it too although Popovich and Doc Rivers were 2 that were particularly solid in sort of 'playing the odds' on Boban minutes.   
More strict system coaches it seems to me struggle with this.  The other factor is coaches that just don't want to tolerate potential defensive holes. 

As commentators both Derek Harper and Jason Terry have recently said they think he should get more opportunities, he could help the Mavericks. 

Boban has proven to be as efficient or even more than Shaquille O'neal on offense!  What's hard to understand there? 
The problem is on defense, moving his feet fast enough and protecting the rim aggressively.  He can only do so much about foot speed but IMO he should block more shots and register more 'hard fouls' to help his case on defense more.  
His rebounding and scoring though is a proven but over short minutes IF the plays run don't maximize him on offense then you might get a bad +/- . 
More often than not, its working in your favor.  This the way Doc Rivers put it, chances are at least as good that Boban will hurt the opponent on any given stretch more than they hurt you.  Most coaches will definitely go right at trying to exploit him defensively but that doesn't mean their stretch 5 is hot or they're scoring effectively against him.  Many times the Mavericks are just playing poor defensively in the clutch and in runs against no matter who's on the floor.

Meanwhile Bobi is getting up high % shot attempts, rebounds and racking up fouls against the opponent while still being a solid free throw shooter. Of course another problem is having him on the floor but not really taking advantage of his offense.  If you're going to do that you and just have it set up Giant picks 20 feet away from the basket then please by all means go with Maxi, WCS or anyone

Thanks for your observations. Very thought-provoking. 


I think your last paragraph provides some food for thought. In order to maximize Boban's offense, you have to look for him and play a little differently. Which might well be called for, but maybe Rick is a bit risk-averse with respect to that at high-pressure parts of the game. And you are right, if you're not trying to optimize his offensive strengths, you might as well go with a better defensive player. I will continue to keep an eye on this.