01-24-2021, 05:04 PM
(01-24-2021, 04:43 PM)burekemde Wrote: Against the very best teams, that almost all have great big wings, we cant have Jrich and THJ same lineup. Its for this fact I argued beginning of this season that we wont see both of them on the same lineup, and that quickly happened after some games THJ was benched. The lineup that played most last season is DFS on the wing. He is our best player defending the biggest best wings, and our best option for this.
I'm not really arguing this, except to say that if true, the roster construction is suspect. Again, the team doesn't really work without THJ on the floor, as has been pointed out countless times by countless people.
I actually believe that DFS has a similar importance, though this might be a less popular opinion. I'm not advocating for him to play the 4, necessarily, just saying that I believe the way the team is constructed, having to move him to the bench when things matter at the end of games in favor of Richardson isn't "progress" for the roster. For this reason alone, I believe that the Luka/THJ/Richardson/DFS lineup will get more chances, at some point. Maybe not starting, but if those four can't play together with either KP or WCS, I think this team is in a ton of trouble.
(01-24-2021, 04:43 PM)burekemde Wrote: Luka-Jrich-DFS-Maxi-KP
Its our 5 best defenders. Its our 5 best two way players. This is our best team.
100% agree that this is a great lineup, and one we will see often when everyone is healthy. My guess is that it's the best defensive lineup they can play without completely abandoning the offense. But, to my point, if THJ can't be substituted for ANY of Luka, Richardson, DFS or Kleber, resulting in the effective rearranging of the lineup to play still effective albeit slight different basketball, then again: the roster isn't built correctly.
(01-24-2021, 04:43 PM)burekemde Wrote: THJ is a bad defender. He is not among our 5 best players. Maxi is a better player than THJ.
I disagree with all three of those sentences. Not interested in debating it for the 1,975th time this year, but I just don't see things that way, and frankly, I don't believe the Mavs do, either.
(01-24-2021, 04:43 PM)burekemde Wrote: THJ is the perfect 6th man.
I...THINK I agree. However, my experience is that different people use "6th man" to mean different things. I would love to start the lineup you have above and then bring THJ off of the bench. I was saying that about a week before they tried it, and when they started doing that for 2-3 games before Covid hit, I think we were all encouraged by the progress being made.
Having said that, I don't think the 6th man is necessarily the 6th best player. Jason Terry was literally the 2nd best player on this team and came off of the bench for years, as I'm sure you know. Do we actually think Lou Williams has been the 6th best player on all of his teams?
Again, I'm not trying to get into a pissing match over player rankings, but I also don't think Carlisle's first instinct is going to be benching THJ down the stretch of close games where the spacing gets even more precious. I really, really don't believe that, like, even for a second.
I'll stick my neck out this far: As the roster is currently constructed, the Mavericks' closing lineup has three names written on it in PEN. Luka, KP and Hardaway.