GAME 1: San Antonio Spurs (0-0) vs. Dallas Mavericks (0-0) | 8:30pm CST ESPN!

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Yeah, not only were they in foul trouble, they were in ridiculous foul trouble. All three of their best defensive front court players were affected, and almost immediately. Not a great situation to find yourself in against Wembenyama.

Get use to it. Not saying he's going to be a free throw merchant like SGA, but he's going to start to get the benefit of calls. Wemby is working towards being the face of the NBA, or one of them. Somebody has to take the baton from our aging stars.

[Hooper21]

Get use to it. Not saying he's going to be a free throw merchant like SGA, but he's going to start to get the benefit of calls. Wemby is working towards being the face of the NBA, or one of them. Somebody has to take the baton from our aging stars.

That baton now resides on the West coast...

[Chicagojk]

Not excusing Cooper and his uninspiring first game, but it is only 1 game.  You remember Wemby's first game?  It was against Dallas.  He had some moments.  Probably more than Cooper.  But he had 15 pts,  5 rebounds and 5 turnovers in the loss against Dallas.   In fact, Lively may have gotten the better hand against him.   How time changes.

[SleepingHero]

Not excusing Cooper and his uninspiring first game, but it is only 1 game.  You remember Wemby's first game?  It was against Dallas.  He had some moments.  Probably more than Cooper.  But he had 15 pts,  5 rebounds and 5 turnovers in the loss against Dallas.   In fact, Lively may have gotten the better hand against him.   How time changes.

Michael Jordan’s first game was a nice 16 points on 5-16 shooting.

Luka had 10 points on like 5/16 shooting too. 

Flagg looked pretty okay all things considering and more importantly the team looked better with him on the court than off

[myconsumerclub]

Tanking was a thought I embraced after watching the game especially after seeing Wemby tear us a new one.

JAG types are what we have compared to that.

Coopers development and the 2nd time line are what I see as being important to keep Cooper here and not lose him come free agency.

Without Irving the team is going to be needing to play guards who might not ever play on other teams.

Everyone on the team looked to be dragging early and I thought the team looked good up until they tired out in the 2nd and the Spurs started to run away with it. In hindsight that was somewhat encouraging.

Cooper did okay for a rookie his age so we need to be patient with him he is not going to do Luka things early on in his rookie year.

Irving getting healthy is the most important thing we can hope for now if we want to see massive improvement.

Imagine Irving Cooper AD PJ or Klay & Lively now that we know what the teams production is going to be initially. Also factor in our vets improving drastically as they work themselves into shape because I cannot believe they are in true playing condition after seeing them start to suck halfway into the 2nd quarter.

Gafford being back would help as well. Brandon being healthy likely helps and I would like to see Exum back and healthy as well.

Lots of ifs and question marks now so its a year we need to focus on healing and getting Cooper to develop his game. If Nembhard's ceiling is a backup PG that concentrates on 3's and distributing but a bit bad on D then we may consider him a solution for the short term.

Younger PG talent is what we need to find and that is best found in the draft or overseas. I see acquiring big's as being very important because we now need an athletic 7'5" guy to add into the mix that can guard Wemby.

[hakeemfaan]

The Lively discussions are not an overreaction. In the rush to blame Luka, Nico and the national media totally overlooked how our centers were a liability against Boston. At the same time, without those centers we don’t beat OKC

That’s the same dilemma a lot of teams are having. You need defensive centers to be a strong team but the deeper you go into the playoffs, some sort of an outside shot, even if it is a midrange, is needed from everyone on the floor. We would be lucky if Lively developed into a Gobert type defensive force but even Gobert becomes a liability the deeper his teams progress.

Two centers like we have are a luxury. We need to move one when their value is still high. Kai Jones and Moses Brown have shown that there are alternatives for 10-15 min backup.

Again this is not asking to just trade anyone for anything but in a team bereft of assets that might interest others, having two centers that will draw interest should definitely be looked at as an option to improve other positions

[mvossman]

The Lively discussions are not an overreaction. In the rush to blame Luka, Nico and the national media totally overlooked how our centers were a liability against Boston.  At the same time, without those centers we don’t beat OKC

That’s the same dilemma a lot of teams are having. You need defensive centers to be a strong team but the deeper you go into the playoffs, some sort of an outside shot, even if it is a midrange, is needed from everyone on the floor.  We would be lucky if Lively developed into a Gobert type defensive force but even Gobert becomes a liability the deeper his teams progress. 

Two centers like we have are a luxury.  We need to move one when their value is still high. Kai Jones and Moses Brown have shown that there are alternatives for 10-15 min backup.

Again this is not asking to just trade anyone for anything but in a team bereft of assets that might interest others, having two centers that will draw interest should definitely be looked at as an option to improve other positions

I don't think it makes sense to lump Lively and Gafford together.  What you need from a playoff center is the ability to guard in space.  You don't need him to be a shooter as long as he can provide vertical space (and the other four guys can shoot).  Lively was great in the playoffs because he could defend in space, whereas Gafford struggled mightily.  I would argue Lively was far down the list of reasons why this team struggled with Boston.

[hakeemfaan]

I don't think it makes sense to lump Lively and Gafford together.  What you need from a playoff center is the ability to guard in space.  You don't need him to be a shooter as long as he can provide vertical space (and the other four guys can shoot).  Lively was great in the playoffs because he could defend in space, whereas Gafford struggled mightily.  I would argue Lively was far down the list of reasons why this team struggled with Boston.

That's fine. Move Gafford then.  As for Lively being great in the playoffs, Gafford was great too until they ran into Boston. In the Boston series both those guys were exposed though.  I wouldn't give Lively too much of a pass over Gafford, though I fully agree that Lively is hands down the better prospect.

I put Lively there because I believe the Mavs can get more for him than for Gafford for the reasons you mentioned. I am also concerned about his constant injuries.  You will get to a point with him soon where you don't know if he is worth the money you will have to pay to retain him, but you can't lose him for nothing either, and they will be forced to overpay him. 

This team when fully healthy will be a pretty solid team, but they are not contenders.  I am not asking to gut the team and put Flagg in a terrible situation.  Keep some seasoned veterans, but also make a few bold moves that could pay off big down the road.

[mvossman]

That's fine. Move Gafford then.  As for Lively being great in the playoffs, Gafford was great too until they ran into Boston. In the Boston series both those guys were exposed though.  I wouldn't give Lively too much of a pass over Gafford, though I fully agree that Lively is hands down the better prospect.

I put Lively there because I believe the Mavs can get more for him than for Gafford for the reasons you mentioned. I am also concerned about his constant injuries.  You will get to a point with him soon where you don't know if he is worth the money you will have to pay to retain him, but you can't lose him for nothing either, and they will be forced to overpay him. 

This team when fully healthy will be a pretty solid team, but they are not contenders.  I am not asking to gut the team and put Flagg in a terrible situation.  Keep some seasoned veterans, but also make a few bold moves that could pay off big down the road.

Gafford got exposed in the OKC series.  He had a net rating of -20 (Lively was +24).  We survived his minutes when Giddey was on the court, but as soon as OKC stopped playing him Gafford was useless.  He had similar issues against Boston.  In both series he had the worst defensive rating on the team (with Lively being significantly better).  The pattern is clear, when they played against teams that spread the floor he was a liability on the court.