Mavs 108, Rockets 133

[mavsluvr]

Luka-Jrich-DFS-Maxi-KP

Its our 5 best defenders. Its our 5 best two way players. This is our best team.

THJ is the perfect 6th man. He is also the 6th best player. Brunson comes 7th IMO.

With regard to the lineup you reference, I might go with that if you're getting the best of Jrich-DFS-Maxi in any particular game. But DFS and Jrich are both shooting at below-par levels, and even if that improves as a general matter, there will be games where they are not hitting their shots. 


The Mavs, as constructed, absolutely have to have at least three guys, much preferably at least four, who can hit jump shots at an above-average clip on the floor at any time. As of now, that lineup has only two. Hopefully, that gets better, but for now, it hasn't.

I don't care about who starts, it's about who plays the most minutes, and who is on the floor at the ends of competitive games. Their team strategy is built around high-percentage shooting. Accordingly, the high-percentage shooters are going to have to be on the court with the two-way players for a majority of the minutes available. 

The Mavs currently depend on three guys to do the bulk of the scoring - Luka, KP and THJ. No one else on the roster can do what THJ does, like it or not. 

I think it would certainly be possible that THJ assumes a sixth man role, if by sixth man, you mean one of the team's best players, who starts off the bench, but plays starter minutes and is usually on the floor at the ends of games. 

But if you mean he will be relegated to a microwave role, I don't see it.

Not sure we disagree. I like the all-two-way lineup, and do expect we will see a lot of it. But it doesn't have enough offense for the team to marginalize the shooters. I predict we'll see THJ in closing lineups rather than Rich/DFS in many cases, or maybe a O/D substitution with one of those. Or a lineup with JRich, THJ, DFS/Maxi, alongside Luka and KP.