Game 32: DAL (12-19) @ GSW (15-15)

[Mavs2021]

I was just wondering this myself. You can't really send AD home if he's healthy. He's playing for his next contract extension.  One thing they could do is to be overly cautious every time he has an injury. If he tweaks an ankle and needs a night off, give him the week off. If he strains his groan and needs a few weeks, give him a month. Also don't let him play any back to backs. That would probably take care of much of the season. When he is playing, keep him on a strict minutes limit. Ideally he would come out after a short stint in the 3rd quarter of every game and not return.

Between that and keeping Kyrie out for the year, I think they could successfully navigate a tank with him still on the roster. They're going to be walking a tightrope the entire way though. And the hardest part might be to keep their coach from opening his big mouth. The league tends to look the other way about this sort of thing unless you tell on yourself.

This whole idea that the Mavs play so much better with AD is BS anyway. 

The main reasons Mavs get wins are

1) starting PG
2) Flagg´s improvement
3) firing Nico
4) homecourt

Mavs are 2-5 away from home without AD
Mavs are 1-5  away from home with AD

Mavs play 13 of the last 16 games away from home.

Mavs are 8-8 with AD.
Mavs are 9-12 since Nico got fired.
Mavs are 7-6 when Nembhard plays over 20 MPG.

[FireNicoHarrison]

I hate street clothes like a player, too lazy. He can dominate every game (where he plays) but he takes long 2s or 3s.

Like i said just after the trade (and a lot of people here disagree) his midrange game is horrible. His stats were under everybody eyes.

He is the perfect example of player Who doesn't care too much about basketball and Nico Harrison trade for him because culture that's hilarious.

Anyway he is in still our second best player this year, he has good stats. But if he can't play 5 games in a row we can't trade him well.

[FireNicoHarrison]

Flagg is 10x times mentally stronger than AD. That kid is special.

[Mavs2021]

He is the perfect example of player Who doesn't care too much about basketball and Nico Harrison trade for him because culture that's hilarious.

Bingo.

[Winter]

This whole idea that the Mavs play so much better with AD is BS anyway. 

The main reasons Mavs get wins are

1) starting PG
2) Flagg´s improvement
3) firing Nico
4) homecourt

Mavs are 2-5 away from home without AD
Mavs are 1-5  away from home with AD

Mavs play 13 of the last 16 games away from home.

Mavs are 8-8 with AD.
Mavs are 9-12 since Nico got fired.
Mavs are 7-6 when Nembhard plays over 20 MPG.

I'm not sure I buy that.

While I want AD to go away badly, his PPG can't be absorbed by our roster that easily. PJ has not been a threat. Bwill and Max are up and down. Dlo? Nope. The Mavs just won't be that competitive until maybe Kyrie comes back. They don't have enough scoring without AD. If the Mavs win games, then it means the Mavs aren't turning the ball over, they are playing good perimeter defense, and Flagg is scoring around 35 ppg every night.

The Mavs can win a few games because they have decent talent, but without AD, the poor perimeter shooting is now coupled with a big hole in the middle.

[Mavs2021]

I'm not sure I buy that.

While I want AD to go away badly, his PPG can't be absorbed by our roster that easily. PJ has not been a threat. Bwill and Max are up and down. Dlo? Nope. The Mavs just won't be that competitive until maybe Kyrie comes back. They don't have enough scoring without AD. If the Mavs win games, then it means the Mavs aren't turning the ball over, they are playing good perimeter defense, and Flagg is scoring around 35 ppg every night.

The Mavs can win a few games because they have decent talent, but without AD, the poor perimeter shooting is now coupled with a big hole in the middle.

AD gambles for offensive rebounds, cause he´s too lazy to run back. He´s great at both these things. He also grabs a decent amount of steals and rebounds, cause he´s nowhere near the basket on defense, but rather a complete wildcard, a Maverick in the passing lanes that grabs long rebounds from missed 3pt shots, because he just arrives at the FT line from jogging back. Or he´s already going the other way again, cause the 3pt was made. 

Obviously our 4 forward line-ups, where nobody shoots more than 35% from three does not work, but it seems people have zeroed in on Washington as the problem all of a sudden. 

I seriously wonder if they are stealth tanking or Kidd just hates Hardy/Russell as much as Kerr hates Kuminga. Hardy was +13 in the Nuggets win, which tracks with his On/Off which is +12.4 this year, the majority +9.8 coming on the defensive end.

People lose their sh*t about this perceived top 15 player AD. The guy is averaging 21.3 PPG. That makes him literally the 23rd best scoring #1 option in the whole league on the worst offense. Barely ahead of guys like Lavine, Murphy III or Miles Bridges. If he was actually as good as people claim, he´d average 30 PPG and 6 APG like Jaylen Brown.

It would be dumb to suggest that AD has no positive impact on winning, but to suggest he prevents tanking is dumb, when we are 1-5 on the road with him, 2-5 without him and the majority of games going forward are on the road now. We have this super increase in form, but we gained or lost no more than one game over the 10 on most teams around us.  We only gained big on the obvious tankers from Indiana, Sacramento and Washington. Otherwise we just keeping pace with the Nets, Grizzlies, Bulls, Pelicans, Hornets, Blazers etc.


Also I thought the goal was winning the championship, not being the least shitty of the shitty teams. So what are we doing here?

This GS Warriors teams old trash. That first half was G-League levels.

[Winter]

Hell, I'm OK with being bad. But you need to play AD if he's healthy. And when he and Kyrie are healthy, you can't tell them not to compete.

No one is going to be happy with the results of the AD trade. It's not possible. That was the worst trade in sports history. We arent going to be happy with the offers at the TDL, and we're not going to be happy with the offers in the summer. There is no being "happy" with AD. But we are going to have to trade him at some point. No GM with a lick of brains will extend him. Even ours ... whoever it is.

We are probably going to play Kyrie when he's healthy. At this point in the season, you can't really tank and not have it be obvious. The fan base is just going to have to live with whatever season record we have. We just have to find whatever trades we can to make us younger. I don't care anymore about getting the right "value" for AD. We never will. We just need a GM to do everything in their power to make us younger. AD and Kyrie have to be turned into picks and youth. It won't be enough, but that's all on Nico. I think the Mavs just have to move on. The sooner the better.

[Chicagojk]

Obviously our 4 forward line-ups, where nobody shoots more than 35% from three does not work, but it seems people have zeroed in on Washington as the problem all of a sudden. 

I have been one of the ones really hard on PJ.  I think he is a good player.   I just haven't liked what I have seen from him this year.   I think he is best when you simply his role.   I feel like every time he tries to pass the ball in from out of bounds or try to initiate offense it is likely to end bad.  He will always be a streaky shooter.  Personally, I would prefer him to only take open threes off passes.   I also don't think his defense has been so great.  He is a good rebounder and has some highlight blocks.   To me though, he looks locked as a PF.  The question is if this prototype works best with Flagg or if you would prefer a more versatile player.

He can't be traded this year anyway.   It is Kidd's job to get the most out of PJ and Gafford.  They are better players than they have showed recently.

[Chicagojk]

really can't make up that exactly a year earlier Luka gets hurt on Christmas day and it is the last time he wears a Mavs Uniform.  Only for this Christmas day his replacement gets hurt running up the court.  I am so glad Nico is gone.

[KillerLeft]

Kind of telling that Gafford only gets 15 minutes in a game that AD leaves with injury and only plays 11 himself. I know it was against the Warriors, and you can't really play centers against them (so much for forcing the other team to match your size, but we all knew it doesn't really work that way, anyway), but they are hardly the only team that plays that way.

[windjc]

AD gambles for offensive rebounds, cause he´s too lazy to run back. He´s great at both these things. He also grabs a decent amount of steals and rebounds, cause he´s nowhere near the basket on defense, but rather a complete wildcard, a Maverick in the passing lanes that grabs long rebounds from missed 3pt shots, because he just arrives at the FT line from jogging back. Or he´s already going the other way again, cause the 3pt was made. 

Obviously our 4 forward line-ups, where nobody shoots more than 35% from three does not work, but it seems people have zeroed in on Washington as the problem all of a sudden. 

I seriously wonder if they are stealth tanking or Kidd just hates Hardy/Russell as much as Kerr hates Kuminga. Hardy was +13 in the Nuggets win, which tracks with his On/Off which is +12.4 this year, the majority +9.8 coming on the defensive end.

People lose their sh*t about this perceived top 15 player AD. The guy is averaging 21.3 PPG. That makes him literally the 23rd best scoring #1 option in the whole league on the worst offense. Barely ahead of guys like Lavine, Murphy III or Miles Bridges. If he was actually as good as people claim, he´d average 30 PPG and 6 APG like Jaylen Brown.

It would be dumb to suggest that AD has no positive impact on winning, but to suggest he prevents tanking is dumb, when we are 1-5 on the road with him, 2-5 without him and the majority of games going forward are on the road now. We have this super increase in form, but we gained or lost no more than one game over the 10 on most teams around us.  We only gained big on the obvious tankers from Indiana, Sacramento and Washington. Otherwise we just keeping pace with the Nets, Grizzlies, Bulls, Pelicans, Hornets, Blazers etc.


Also I thought the goal was winning the championship, not being the least shitty of the shitty teams. So what are we doing here?

This GS Warriors teams old trash. That first half was G-League levels.

You are kinda a negative guy. Rosters evolve quickly all the time. Just look at Detroit and Indiana this year and compare to last. 

We are not winning a championship this year. But whining about everything like it’s the end of the world and can’t be fixed is chicken little syndrome. The Mavs are closer than most.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

"The Mavs are closer than most."


The Mavs need to blow it up. 

I imagine everyone in the Mavs front office already knows they need to blow it up.

My guess is they can't blow it up based on the kind of trade offers they are currently getting.

[SwisherPrice]

AD is done. I don't even know what team would be desperate enough to trade for him. There are younger players out there who also have injury concerns like Zion and LaMelo that teams would rather take a chance on. AD is just damaged goods...sure he can be great for the few games that he is healthy but that's the problem. When he has a big workload that you would expect a player like him to have, that's when the wear and tear gets to him. He would have to go to some team that is so loaded that he can be a #3 or #4 option like Porzingis on the Celtics.

[Winter]

My guess is they can't blow it up based on the kind of trade offers they are currently getting.

I don't think that's much of a choice. They have to blow it up now or in the summer.

It may be that they wait until summer. I think that's better than 50-50. But if you do, you have to "presume" AD is healthy. You also have to presume your offers will be better. This is a gamble the current or new GM makes at this point.

Since I will never know what the offers are, I can't say there's a right answer now. But you can safely bet AD's value now is terrible relative to what we paid, and very likely won't get better.

[mvossman]

AD is done. I don't even know what team would be desperate enough to trade for him. There are younger players out there who also have injury concerns like Zion and LaMelo that teams would rather take a chance on. AD is just damaged goods...sure he can be great for the few games that he is healthy but that's the problem. When he has a big workload that you would expect a player like him to have, that's when the wear and tear gets to him. He would have to go to some team that is so loaded that he can be a #3 or #4 option like Porzingis on the Celtics.

It's a little early to make that call.  If he is out until the TDL, then its not looking good.  If he misses a couple of games, this won't be a big deal.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Another game AD pulls up lame before halftime. It's too bad. He had been playing well. Hurry up and put him out his misery and trade him.

[Mavs2021]

It's a little early to make that call.  If he is out until the TDL, then its not looking good.  If he misses a couple of games, this won't be a big deal.

I don´t know why AD playing five healthy games should change a perception that has been established for a decade, that he´s injury-prone, lazy and now old, too.

Distance covered per game in the league. That´s obviously a stat heavily influenced by MPG, where AD ranks 74th.

Flagg 8th
Luka 49th
Grimes 53rd
Washington 74th
Christie 122nd
Marshall 125th
AD 127th

There is no player that plays more minutes than AD and runs less. Even grandpas like LeBron, Curry, DeRozan and Durant run more than AD.

Here let me put this in better perspective PER MINUTE in their last seasons as Dallas Mavericks BOBAN and DIRK ran more than AD. DIRK at age 40 covered more distance than this sloth and somehow he still gets injured all the time with fatigue injuries at that pace.


If you do a deep dive, we should be thankful to get Collins, Huerter, White and the Bulls pick. That would be a good haul. If he made 25M/year, he´d have trade value.  Maybe they will find some miracle trade, but realistically he´s expensive toast.