GAME 15: DAL (8-7) @ SAS (8-8) | 122-117 Win

[Reunion Mav Old]

Can't believe I'm about to compare these two franchises, but I think the Mavericks made a mistake this year that parallels ONE of the many annual Cowboys mistakes we all know will never stop happening. 

The biggest thing the Cowboys did wrong this season (there are always so many to choose from) was installing a completely new defensive scheme during an off-season when they didn't have the time or ability to do so. Now, the new scheme might have been better, and so this might have been born from a good thought, but we'll never know, because there really wasn't a single game all season where it looked like the players understood what they were supposed to be doing out there. 

I think the Mavericks made a similar mistake, although I hope it's far less catastrophic. They REALLY got serious on this whole "defense first" thing. New players, new schemes, new approach to practices, new lineup philosophies, etc, etc, etc. So, maybe this was exactly the right thing to do in the bird's eye view of the team's timeline, and to their credit, it wasn't just lip service. It's clear that they really mean business with all of that. But, maybe this off-season, with its condensed schedule, wasn't the ideal time to do it? 

I mean, Carlisle has basically told us that they barely worked on offense at all during training camp. To me, the idea should've been to ADD improved defense to the GREAT offense they had last season. They've essentially just FLIPPED their great offense for a pretty good defense. As they get healthy, there will be time to practice throughout the year, and some of this should improve, but even in-season practice time is more scarce than in other seasons, so I'm honestly not sure how much better they'll get. I hope they work a lot of this out, but I don't KNOW they will. 

To me, this would've been a great year for continuity. They have more than enough of it with the roster, but they shot themselves in the foot a bit with play style, imo. Is there any question that simply continuing last season's approach would've resulted in a better record at this point? Again, I'm not saying the changes were bad, just raising the question of whether this was the right time for them. Nothing to do now but hope the team gets better as the year goes by, and honestly, it might!

I totally agree that this emphasis on defense is hurting us and that lack of preparation time exacerbates the problem. Furthermore, given the offensive emphasis of the vast majority of basketball players as they grow up, emphasis on defense is and has always been difficult. 

Since I bought Mavs season tickets on June 7, 1981, we have always struggled on offense whenever defensive emphasis increases. It has long been a curse. The Mavs have never had a team that learned to be good defensively without it taking significant time for the offense to come back. So I totally see this happening for about the 20th time in Mavs history. 

It is a good strategy for this young developing team? Absolutely! Just ask Shawn Marion, who when we traded for him, began the slow accent to a good defensive team, one that proved capable of stopping Lebron James and Dwayne Wade.

Do I think our offense will come back fine at some point. Yes. Will it be this year? That will be very interesting. I am hopeful but more than a little worried it won't. Lack of practice; lack of player continuity; quality of play in the West; what looks like a bad beginning to the year for games missed by key players; all of these dynamics and more make becoming a good two way team more challenging. 

The counter point: We now have and are developing better two way players than we have had since 2011. That is reason for hope. We have a top 5 star and a top 30 or better star who are both seemingly committed to becoming two way players. That is an even better reason for hope.

The Spurs are always a good team to measure our BBIQ progress. Houston is a hot mess with some talented individual players (I live here now and I enjoy the disaster that is Houston professional sports right now). This will be a difficult but incredibly interesting weekend.