Prediction: Mavs Regular Season Record

[JamesConway912]

I was hoping for someone to start a thread like this thread. I am still extremely negative about the direction of the team so I have decided to post very rarely in order not to flood the board with negativity but here we go (for today):

I expect them to crash down pretty hard and quickly due to the lack of a real alpha. AD is not in the same stratosphere as Luka / Dirk were in their times here when it comes to being leaders of a team on the court on a day to day basis. He will look great for stretches, then fade before he is out for x amount of weeks. Just like a high calorien version of Porzingis. That’s who he has been his entire career and he has already shown it immediatedly after the trade.

34 wins. At most. I don’t see what makes this team go any further than those Pelicans-teams AD lead when he was still younger.

Best case scenario for the season: firing Harrison as quickly as possible

Imo the organization is putting up an absurd scharade. The days of „win now“ were over the second they traded away the guy that was Dirk‘s heir and who lead them to the finals. I fully expect them to continue to have the „success“ they had after the trade.

Best thing would be to rebuild around Flagg. He is the sole X factor but realistically hes still just super young and will go through some ups and downs. I cant believe we’re back to watching another rookie give us hope but here we are.

Still absolutely insane that we went from being a finals team with a young superstar in his prime to this….

[F Gump]

Best case scenario for the season: firing Harrison as quickly as possible

THIS ^ no matter how the season goes!!!!! 

Nico is still a proven idiot, and they need an expert decision-maker to do the deals that are surely coming. I'm hoping Dumont quickly wakes up to the fact that he's going to be flushing over $100M he didn't have to spend, that gained him nothing, because of Nico's pure idiocy in cap and trade decision making, and moves to get rid of the stupidity running his multi-billion dollar business.

[meistermatze]

Realistic: 41 - 41 as a frustrating, albeit nice tribute to you know who, due to the expected injuries to AD, Kyrie not coming back, Lively being injury prone, us trying out a lot of goofy rotations early in the year.

Optimistic: 50-32 if we get a surprisingly healthy season out of everyone (especially AD due to job sharing for the bigs), Flagg turns out to be even better than advertised and Ky comes back hitting the ground running.

[DL2RimRocker]

32-50 Lotto Bound
Injuries will lead to our demise.

[Mavs2021]

I take a different approach. Most interested if I can actually care about the team during the regular season. I tried to get into Summer League and Preseason, but I just didn´t care fore more than 1-2 games/halves. I can´t stand AD. Think he´s a poor leader, not a winner and not very likeable as a player. We, Mavs fans, have been spoiled with Dirk and Luka, in terms of skills, leadership and personality. They might happen again with Flagg, but I could not care less about AD.

As far as a record prediction goes. I´d say if Nico was not a complete moron, this team cannot be anywhere between 43 wins and 45 losses. Cause either this weird as f*** roster outperforms in the early part of the season in which case Kyrie is "rushed" back and they go like 45-37 or they stink in the early part of the season. trade AD, ease Kyrie back and go like 32-50. The fact that Vegas has seen so much action on the under that they had to lower the wins total, suggests that the money banks on the 2nd scenario.

I tend to lean in that direction, mainly cause I don´t see AD as the sort of talent that can make this weird roster configuration work offensively. Dirk and Luka could have. AD does not have the skills nor personality to do so.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

I take a different approach. Most interested if I can actually care about the team during the regular season. I tried to get into Summer League and Preseason, but I just didn´t care fore more than 1-2 games/halves. 

Yeah man, same here.  I haven't even bought a way to watch Mavs games so far.  Usually I'm hyped for the start of the season. 

This 4 bigs lineup is going to be a slog, even if they are competitive.  You need dynamic playmakers to make basketball fun.  First game is on national TV.  I might just wait until Kyrie is back and the NFL season is winding down to switch from Youtube TV back to Fubo.  Mavs need to show me they deserve my money.

[Chicagojk]

ESPN predictions

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/4665...nba-champs

[Kidnova]

ESPN predictions

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/4665...nba-champs

Dave McMenamin has the Mavs winning the title.  

[Jym]

I feel like I'll end up watching more regular season games than the past several years
Regular season Lukaball just wasn't nearly as fun as it should have been. So an interesting mixed bag of not feeling hopeful for the win total but being excited to see what the hell this bizarro collection of players look like

[Benskix2]

I'm going with 41-41 because I'm a fence rider.

[mvossman]

I'm going with 44. I think its going to be a rough start. I see AD slowly gravitating to the 5 and Nico making a win now trade at the deadline involving Gafford.

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

Bold prediction: This season Cooper Flagg will record the fifth quadruple-double in NBA history.

[KillerLeft]

Bold prediction: This season Cooper Flagg will record the fifth quadruple-double in NBA history.

Points, rebounds, assists and what...blocks? 

That would be one hell of a game!

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

I feel like I'll end up watching more regular season games than the past several years
Regular season Lukaball just wasn't nearly as fun as it should have been. 

That was my attitude (yay moving away from heliocentric ball) until I found out the best playmaker on the team is Dangelo Russell.  And he might not even be in the starting 5.

[DallasMaverick]

Points, rebounds, assists and what...blocks? 

That would be one hell of a game!

Turnovers

[KillerLeft]

That was my attitude (yay moving away from heliocentric ball) until I found out the best playmaker on the team is Dangelo Russell.  And he might not even be in the starting 5.

I have had similar feelings. Heliocentric ball is tough to watch, and up until last year had never successfully won a title to my knowledge. I had become pretty convinced Luka ball was never going to win a ring for our Mavs, so I am thrilled to see it go. However, I personally don't think the answer is to assemble a roster comprised of (almost) only secondary ball-handlers at best. I'd much prefer the tried and true method of convincing a lot of really talented offensive players that it's in their best interest to move the ball, rather than monopolize it. Yes, this roster is almost definitely going to pass willingly, but I think that will prove to be due to lack of alternatives more than anything else, which isn't where I intended them to be back when I complained about the heliocentric style. 

I do think they'll be GREAT in transition, and on nights when the defense is working, there's a chance they'll make their opponents seem like HS teams. But, in a close game, late in the fourth quarter? I can't see the vision, at least not yet.

[KillerLeft]

Turnovers

A real possibility, if he's going to play as much on the ball as they're hinting. I hope that type of quadruple double doesn't happen.

[mvossman]

Turnovers

I actually thought about posting this response, but while I don't think its a remotely good idea to play Flagg at the PG for significant minutes, I have been very impressed with the limited number of mistakes he makes.

[Mavs2021]

I actually thought about posting this response, but while I don't think its a remotely good idea to play Flagg at the PG for significant minutes, I have been very impressed with the limited number of mistakes he makes.

People put way too much on him. He will likely win ROY, but I think it will be controversial, since he won´t have the highest PPG in the rookie class imho, but more of a swiss army knife season. What impressed the most in the pre-season was indeed his ability to take care of the ball, make the right plays and don´t look now 100% from the FT line.

[Mavs2021]

A real possibility, if he's going to play as much on the ball as they're hinting. I hope that type of quadruple double doesn't happen.

I hope he has 82 of them. I can live with a rookie season in which he becomes the first forward in NBA history to average a triple double.