MAVS NEWS:

[Reunion Mav]

This just reminded me that something that was discussed after Brunson left actually came true.  The Brunson loss was compared to the loss of Nash and it was pointed out that the team went to the finals two seasons later (the loss to Miami).

Well, that will never happen...except it just did.  Hopefully we won't win 60 and lose in the first round next season.

We won an epic 67 games.

[Reunion Mav]

I’m not finding anything on the Kyrie headline. What happened to his hand?

[F Gump]

I’m not finding anything on the Kyrie headline. What happened to his hand?

DALLAS – The Dallas Mavericks announced today that Kyrie Irving has undergone surgery to repair a broken left hand. He sustained the injury earlier this month while training. Further medical updates on Irving’s status will be provided as appropriate.    (Source: Dallas Mavs Press Release, 07/16/2024)

[SleepingHero]

Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon)
A team source expressed optimism that Kyrie Irving would recover in time to participate in training camp.

[LukaMVP]

Klay is not as good a defender as DJJ but he even at this age he is still a better defender than 80% of the guys we had on roster before February. I think a main reason why he is often compared to DJJ defensively rather than offensively or all-roundly is that D seems more important to our starting lineup, where luka and Kyrie are not very good defenders and need defensive helps. we can afford to start a player at SF who has good D and limited offensive skills (and that's why I believe someone like Thybulle would work just as fine as DJJ for us), but never a player who is quite good offensively but is a loophole on the other end of floor (hield, Kennard etc.). Klay may not be the same defender he was, but he's by no means a defensive liability imho.

[Reunion Mav]

Thanks guys on the Kyrie update. I wonder how he did it exactly though while training is ok. Good thing we actually have some guys who can be the next man up and play effectively. Having both of our stars in serious healing mode is not great though the timing is not so bad.

[michaeltex]

What you are dealing with right now is a combination of bad info and the appearance of him not being engaged and miserable. The talking heads are upset that he chose Dallas over the Lakers. The Lakers are a better story for them and more clicks. They will all come across as "shocked" when Klay performs in Dallas. They will all say they didn't see it coming.

You guys seem to quickly forget how good Kidd was on defense at 37 and how good Marion was at 35 still. I'm not saying Klay is on the level of Matrix. But, to say he can't defend anymore is very misguided.

Here is another video from this past season. It's just snippets of his play but he is guarding all types of players at times and guarding them well. He can guard in the post, perimeter, etc. He isn't done like people are saying. He's not prime Klay anymore but he will be a massive upgrade to THJ.

Thanks for sharing this. 

Klay may not be quite the individual defender from the glory years of GSW, but I think he will be fine as a team defender. He's tenacious and doesn't seem to get lost defensively, so I'm not too worried about that side of the game.

The real explosion is going to come in the offense. Looking at the video, Klay makes a lot of contested, hand-in-your-face, shots, so imagine his effectiveness when playing with the dual gravity wells of Luka and Kyrie. Alternatively, he will attract enough attention to make their jobs easier. Win-Win!

One thing I noticed was how comfortable Klay looks shooting when his body is still moving laterally to the basket. I see that from Kyrie a bit also. 

So a deadly set shooter from anywhere beyond the arc with excellent shot making abilities as you move closer to the basket. And now you put him on the floor with the Luka and Gaff/DLive PnR game? The scoreboard pressure generated by the DAL offense will help them defensively as the other teams try to keep up and get forced into bad decisions.

And that's my positivity for the day....

[mvossman]

And yes, Klay is still a very good defender. I have a video of his defensive highlights from the 21-22 season. Last season the Warriors were a mess. CP3 completely destroyed the flow of the team and how they have always played. CP3 is a mid shooter. He is the exact kind of player that throws off the system they run. 

Klay was also not happy due to the FO not showing that they wanted to keep him. Then, there is Kerr benching him because the front office is retooling the team and wants to see what they have before paying these young guys. As far as the ones saying the Warriors had better defensive numbers with Klay off the floor need to consider that the Mavs numbers on offense were better with Luka OFF the floor last year. I don't remember which numbers it was but during the finals they flashed it on the screen.

Numbers are great for sports with a large starting lineup like Football or Baseball. They don't always show the truth though in basketball since it's just 5 players on the floor at a time.

You never actually answered the question.  Getting back to the OP question, do you think Klay is going to be guarding small quick point guards while in the starting lineup?

As for numbers in sports, they are best when there are less variables.  Having less players on the court means less variables, so in that sense its easier to evaluate in basketball than other sports.  The reason they work so well for baseball is because it is essentially pitcher vs hitter with the defense playing a fairly minor role.  That has less variables than other team sports.

[audiosway]

You never actually answered the question.  Getting back to the OP question, do you think Klay is going to be guarding small quick point guards while in the starting lineup?

As for numbers in sports, they are best when there are less variables.  Having less players on the court means less variables, so in that sense its easier to evaluate in basketball than other sports.  The reason they work so well for baseball is because it is essentially pitcher vs hitter with the defense playing a fairly minor role.  That has less variables than other team sports.

At times I think he will. He still can. Just not for entire games while also being the 2nd option on an offense predicated on movement. But, while he is in the starting lineup he'll have no problem slowing small PGs. He essentially bullies them. Most of the time if Klay is guarding a smaller player he will body them up. The reason is due to his size. When he is right up on them they have trouble seeing over him to pass out of it and they can't just go around him due to his quick hip switch. If they do somehow get by him it's normally close enough to the rim that he's able to recover with length and block or effect the shot or just guide them right into the rim protector.

He's never been quick footed but has a quick first step when players start to drive. He also has a tendency to put his leg around a screen making it so that the opposing guard has a hard time shaking him around it. Most of the time I think they will have Luka guarding either a wing or in the post (3-4). Kyrie will probably be used similar to Steph on defense. If he got on a guy that was trouble for him Klay would switch over quickly with Steph.

It will actually work well since Klay will mostly be shooting spot up. He will be able to be fresh on defense. With Klay as the second option in GS he was having trouble playing 30+ mpg, shooting well, and guarding the other team's best perimeter player. GS's system is like running a track meet. They never stop moving.

So now with Klay being the 3rd option it's going to make it so that he looks closer to 85-90% of his prime self since he won't have to move so much. Offense with Klay will be way less movement on him. He will also have much more open shooting. If not, Luka and Kai will be destroying teams inside.

I also think that Kidd will stagger minutes during the game to make sure that there is always great defense on the court. So, Luka, Klay, and Kai will start and finish games. But, during the games they will be staggered quite a bit with Gafford, Grimes, Naji, Exum, and Hardy. I have a feeling that we'll see Kidd run that top 10 most of the time for the season. That way he can trim it to 8 in the playoffs with the option of 10 deep depending on matchups.

All of this said, if I'm being very nit picky Klay does have the tendency to space at times on defense. It's normally during the long season. So, he will have some lapses here and there. That's just that he doesn't lock in for all 82 games 48 minutes. He will also have some poor shooting nights. Nothing like THJ but it does happen. Steph even has them. Normally if you see Klay go 3-10 from 3. Expect his name game to be 6-10. He doesn't do it back to back and it doesn't happen often or a lot. Even though he is a top notch defender still and one of the best shooters of all time he's not perfect. Just keeping it real.

[Ghost of Podkolzin]

You never actually answered the question.  Getting back to the OP question, do you think Klay is going to be guarding small quick point guards while in the starting lineup?

As for numbers in sports, they are best when there are less variables.  Having less players on the court means less variables, so in that sense its easier to evaluate in basketball than other sports.  The reason they work so well for baseball is because it is essentially pitcher vs hitter with the defense playing a fairly minor role.  That has less variables than other team sports.

I'd say that totally depends on matchups.  Klay will be guarding 1-3, probably heavy on 1-2.

[mvossman]

At times I think he will. He still can. Just not for entire games while also being the 2nd option on an offense predicated on movement. But, while he is in the starting lineup he'll have no problem slowing small PGs. He essentially bullies them. Most of the time if Klay is guarding a smaller player he will body them up. The reason is due to his size. When he is right up on them they have trouble seeing over him to pass out of it and they can't just go around him due to his quick hip switch. If they do somehow get by him it's normally close enough to the rim that he's able to recover with length and block or effect the shot or just guide them right into the rim protector.

He's never been quick footed but has a quick first step when players start to drive. He also has a tendency to put his leg around a screen making it so that the opposing guard has a hard time shaking him around it. Most of the time I think they will have Luka guarding either a wing or in the post (3-4). Kyrie will probably be used similar to Steph on defense. If he got on a guy that was trouble for him Klay would switch over quickly with Steph.

It will actually work well since Klay will mostly be shooting spot up. He will be able to be fresh on defense. With Klay as the second option in GS he was having trouble playing 30+ mpg, shooting well, and guarding the other team's best perimeter player. GS's system is like running a track meet. They never stop moving.

So now with Klay being the 3rd option it's going to make it so that he looks closer to 85-90% of his prime self since he won't have to move so much. Offense with Klay will be way less movement on him. He will also have much more open shooting. If not, Luka and Kai will be destroying teams inside.

I also think that Kidd will stagger minutes during the game to make sure that there is always great defense on the court. So, Luka, Klay, and Kai will start and finish games. But, during the games they will be staggered quite a bit with Gafford, Grimes, Naji, Exum, and Hardy. I have a feeling that we'll see Kidd run that top 10 most of the time for the season. That way he can trim it to 8 in the playoffs with the option of 10 deep depending on matchups.

All of this said, if I'm being very nit picky Klay does have the tendency to space at times on defense. It's normally during the long season. So, he will have some lapses here and there. That's just that he doesn't lock in for all 82 games 48 minutes. He will also have some poor shooting nights. Nothing like THJ but it does happen. Steph even has them. Normally if you see Klay go 3-10 from 3. Expect his name game to be 6-10. He doesn't do it back to back and it doesn't happen often or a lot. Even though he is a top notch defender still and one of the best shooters of all time he's not perfect. Just keeping it real.

Hmmm.  I have heard of smaller guys using strength to guard up, but I have not heard of bigger players using strength to guard down.  I guess we will see.  I think its reasonable to have concerns that he will be able to play that role.  I do agree that he will likely be staggered with Luka and Kyrie so it shouldn't be much more than 10 minutes a game.

[audiosway]

Hmmm.  I have heard of smaller guys using strength to guard up, but I have not heard of bigger players using strength to guard down.  I guess we will see.  I think its reasonable to have concerns that he will be able to play that role.  I do agree that he will likely be staggered with Luka and Kyrie so it shouldn't be much more than 10 minutes a game.

It's the way Klay has always guarded. He body's players up and is very active with his hands to make it difficult for them to see over him or be able to really move since he closes off their space entirely. Watch in the video below where he guards McCollum, Westbrook, Donovan Mitchell, etc. He will give them a little space at the 3 point line but as soon as they cross the line he gets into their body's and starts using his hands to try to strip the ball. It generally ends up in the ball handler getting pushed into the rim help, a strip, or a poor pass back out to the 3 line.

He essentially gives them zero space to move once they cross the 3 point line. Once he has them smothered inside it will lead to some bad decisions by the smaller player. My absolute favorite parts of Klay's defense has always been how he swipes down and will get turnovers that way as well as that he is very hard to put in jail. His strength and ability to recover make it very difficult to put him in jail. He positions himself early in the possession and uses his quick hip flip to make it very tough on ball handlers.

[SleepingHero]

Dirk is the greatest shooting big man ever, and it's not close.

[Mavs2021]

Dirk is the greatest shooting big man ever, and it's not close.

Made even better by putting two lines through KG.

[Scott41theMavs]

Dirk is the greatest shooting big man ever, and it's not close.

Hmmm.... looking at that, I wonder if Kobe scored the most from just inside the arc, or if he made lots of corner threes.

Anyway, just as Dirk revolutionized the PF position, he also broke the conventional wisdom of efficiency - that you have to either attack the basket or shoot and make threes. He was mostly midrange, and he scored and scored and scored and won a championship.

[DallasMaverick]

Dirk is the greatest shooting big man ever, and it's not close.

Wait. I thought it was Karl-Anthony Towns!

[RGP1981]

Hmmm.... looking at that, I wonder if Kobe scored the most from just inside the arc, or if he made lots of corner threes.

Kobe took and made a lot of shots from everywhere.

https://malteranalytics.github.io/kobe/

"Below is a shot chart containing all 30,699 shots that he took from 1996-2016, separating his makes from his misses. There’s essentially nowhere on the court that Kobe couldn’t score from, but he especially excelled with his mid-range jumpers from the shoulders and baseline."

[SleepingHero]

@OlgunUluc
Danté Exum suffered a dislocated finger in the Australian Boomers’ pre-Olympic warmup game vs France today, sources told ESPN. New story on @ESPNAusNZ

[Razzmatazz_Hopskidillydoo]

@OlgunUluc
Danté Exum suffered a dislocated finger in the Australian Boomers’ pre-Olympic warmup game vs France today, sources told ESPN. New story on @ESPNAusNZ

Mavs would need a PG with full training camp.
Luka's all banged up but would surely be there.
Kyrie probably won't.
Exum? Dude takes time to get going after an injury.

When all 3 are healthy, Mavs do not need another PG, but the timing of Ky's and Dante's injuries could make the Mavs chose SD.
I don't like it, but DSJ just couldn't shoot.  A Mavs PG (even a reluctant Exum) can shoot it afar. DSJ can't.

Can any of the wings on the Mavs get minutes at PG while any of the 3 are away? They all have varying degrees of playing making abilities (Klay, Naji, Grimes, Hardy and possibly -- THT).

[SleepingHero]

Quick update on Exum:

https://nbl.com.au/news/report-exum-clea...r-olympics

"Dante Exum has reportedly been cleared to feature in the Boomers' Olympic campaign after scans on his injured finger revealed a compound dislocation, but no fracture."