X's and O's: An Ongoing Discussion of the Exquisite Art of Basketball

[michaeltex]

Thanks for posting this.  Interesting that the Cav’s can be 7th in O-Rating league-wide with two bigs that don’t hit 3’s.  It helps that Garland, Mitchell and Love are killing it from 3 right now.

I think this points out the need for flexibility if you don’t have a dominant situation up front (and we certainly don’t).  Need to cover one kind of team one night and something completely different the next.  It is so interesting to try to figure out what kind of addition would help this team the most.  Some think that third creator, but Luka and SD are pretty darn good as a top two.  Some think wings, but there is a lot of potential in DFS/Green and with THJ and Bullock on the roster, the opportunity for minutes is very limited.  To me, I’d probably pay up for a starting level big.  The combo of Powell/Wood/Maxi with some minutes from DFS at the four, seems like the bigger hole.

The Mav's current situation feels a little like pre-2011 in that there seems to be a constant effort to plug the hole in the middle. They finally landed Haywood and Chandler, although the latter was viewed as risky due to previous injury history. Ty got a lot of the credit for firming up the defense and on court leadership, both of which were justified. Hay was a more than suitable backup, even though he signed understanding he'd be the starter, and held the fort when Ty wasn't having a good night due to fouls or matchup problems. Of course, having 7'+ Dirk around helped as well.

Then Cuban had to prove he was the smartest guy in the room and basically let a championship team disperse rather than re-signing a bunch of key players.

Anyway, in the interest of this thread's theme, I offer a Luka-centric vid on how you don't have to be a Ferrari to win in the NBA. My apologies if it's been shown elsewhere on the site.