2021-2022 MAVS NEWS: 4th in West | WCF loss [ARCHIVED]

[Kammrath]

https://twitter.com/townbrad/status/1443268617563516929

[Kammrath]

https://twitter.com/townbrad/status/1443269234272915457

[Kammrath]

https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status...9501409290

[mavsluvr]

https://twitter.com/coopmavs/status/1443...92416?s=20

[omahen]

https://twitter.com/coopmavs/status/1443...92416?s=20

So when Mavs say the big offseason is ahead they actually mean they are running it back

[mavsluvr]

https://twitter.com/CallieCaplan/status/...55424?s=20


https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status...82757?s=20

[Chicagojk]

So Kidd trying to mimic the championship Lakers team?   Powell is in the McGee role.  McGee better on defense than Powell but Powell is more reliable than McGee.  Neither are high minute players.

Obviously a lot depends on KP.  I am sure things are pretty flexible.   It is a tough ask to try to match up with Michael Porter Jr of the worlds on the perimeter.

[F Gump]

So when Mavs say the big offseason is ahead they actually mean they are running it back

Like most teams, the core and bulk of the roster is still the same. And you have to work with what you have.

The biggest potential change this season comes if they get an upgrade via KP's play and better availability.

Otherwise, what has changed is the apparent quality and depth of the 2nd team, with Bullock and Brown replacing Richardson and Johnson. That impacts not only what they can do in normal game rotations, but also in what happens when players are sick or injured. And while not as flashy, a difference in only 2-3 points per game can make a major difference in the record over a long season. Progress at the margins matters more than people realize.

[F Gump]

So Kidd trying to mimic the championship Lakers team? 

Not really.

The Dallas coach has changed, but the players (for the most part) have not. All the starters and the top two backups are returning. Everyone is healthy. 

So the starting lineup to begin this year is what it was last year as we ended the season. The depth chart (of primary positions) is probably something like this (new players in bold):

PG: Doncic, Brunson, Terry
SG: Hardaway, Brown, Burke, Ntilikina
SF: Finney-Smith, Bullock, Green
PF: Porzingis, Kleber
C:  Powell, Cauley-Stein, Marjanovic, Brown

[soog]

Not really.

The Dallas coach has changed, but the players (for the most part) have not. All the starters and the top two backups are returning. Everyone is healthy. 

So the starting lineup to begin this year is what it was last year as we ended the season. The depth chart (of primary positions) is probably something like this (new players in bold):

PG: Doncic, Brunson, Terry
SG: Hardaway, Brown, Burke, Ntilikina
SF: Finney-Smith, Bullock, Green
PF: Porzingis, Kleber
C:  Powell, Cauley-Stein, Marjanovic, Brown

Let’s not forget addition by subtraction of JRich.

[omahen]

Like most teams, the core and bulk of the roster is still the same. And you have to work with what you have.

The biggest potential change this season comes if they get an upgrade via KP's play and better availability.

Otherwise, what has changed is the apparent quality and depth of the 2nd team, with Bullock and Brown replacing Richardson and Johnson. That impacts not only what they can do in normal game rotations, but also in what happens when players are sick or injured. And while not as flashy, a difference in only 2-3 points per game can make a major difference in the record over a long season. Progress at the margins matters more than people realize.

 I can get your meaning, but my comment was refering to a vast difference between publicly revealed plans/ambitions and results. 

While I agree there are a majority of teams that keep "the core and bulk of the roster is the same", I think the most ambitious teams are clearly showing that, trying their best to make the next step. Either to make playoffs (think Chicago) or to become/stay a serious contender (LAL, Miami). Obviously it will not work for all of them, but I think the difference in approach is apparent. Due to a strange season, there are a bunch of teams that might be totally correct in thinking that injuries were the one thing that was keeping them from taking it all and big changes are not needed: BKN, DEN, LAC to name a few. Mavs are trying to appear to be the most ambitious team in their public statements, yet the reality is that they either lack the ambition or are just uncapable of actually aggresively building a contender around arguably top5 talent. Neither option si good. I really have a problem accepting the result. After all the big words they change a couple of bench players and you are satisfied?

I may be wrong, I hope they prove me wrong, but I don't believe Mavs were a couple of minor changes away from being a true contender. Better bench (if it turns out that it is in fact better) might help in the regular season but playoffs will again expose the low ceiling and lack of talent behind Luka. I just can't see this roster, as it is constructed now, being capable of more than second round exit.

[omahen]

PG: Doncic, Brunson, Terry
SG: Hardaway, Brown, Burke, Ntilikina
SF: Finney-Smith, Bullock, Green
PF: Porzingis, Kleber
C:  Powell, Cauley-Stein, Marjanovic, Brown

What I see in this depth chart is a low ceiling team that will lack developmental minutes to turn youngsters into assets. Which is fine if you think this roster is great and capable of making it. But if it is not, there will be limited options (assets) to actually make the big move needed to take the next step.

[mavsluvr]

I just can't see this roster, as it is constructed now, being capable of more than second round exit.

Well, you never know, but I think a second round exit would actually be considered a successful season for this roster.

[omahen]

Well, you never know, but I think a second round exit would actually be considered a successful season for this roster.

I agree. What I don't think is that this would be a successful season for a team with a top5 player.

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

I agree. What I don't think is that this would be a successful season for a team with a top5 player.

Top 5 player who is still 22 years old though...

Not saying there shouldn't be a sense of urgency, just saying we're still in a better place than most teams for a long time.

---

Not really.

The Dallas coach has changed, but the players (for the most part) have not. All the starters and the top two backups are returning. Everyone is healthy. 

So the starting lineup to begin this year is what it was last year as we ended the season. The depth chart (of primary positions) is probably something like this (new players in bold):

PG: Doncic, Brunson, Terry
SG: Hardaway, Brown, Burke, Ntilikina
SF: Finney-Smith, Bullock, Green
PF: Porzingis, Kleber
C:  Powell, Cauley-Stein, Marjanovic, Brown

Interesting to see you have Sterling Brown that high.  If we assume Burke is gone I could almost see a three man battle between Frank/Brown/Green for a lot of those minutes behind Timmy.

[IamDougieFresh]

Replacing the Dwight lover with a domestic abusing Dwight lover. Basketball gods hate me for some reason.

[omahen]

Top 5 player who is still 22 years old though...

Not saying there shouldn't be a sense of urgency, just saying we're still in a better place than most teams for a long time.

I can agree, but I can't accept this as an excuse for failure. Inability to bring a solid starter level player in three years, two of them with max cap space. Building around Luka will be much more difficult from now on.

[DanSchwartzgan]

So the starting lineup to begin this year is what it was last year for the final three games as we ended the season. 

FIFY

Powell started next to KP six times in 20/21.  Three times to end the season, two times with Luka, DFS and JRich joining them and one time with Brunson, THJ and JRich joining them.

Powell the starter next to KP was not the norm last season.  If you wish to argue Powell/KP is the norm, you have to look at 19/20 when they were paired in 27 of the 37 games Powell started.

[KillerLeft]

https://twitter.com/HoopMixOnly/status/1...81320?s=20

[F Gump]

Interesting to see you have Sterling Brown that high.  If we assume Burke is gone I could almost see a three man battle between Frank/Brown/Green for a lot of those minutes behind Timmy.

About the backups on that depth chart, I agree that it's really up in the air for the PG-SG-SF positions once we get past the starters plus Bullock and Brunson. I don't see any one of Terry, Brown, Burke, Ntilikina, or Green having a lock on the regular rotation, over the others.

I basically see the wing minutes (SG/SF) going to THJ-DFS-Bullock, and once you perhaps give some to Brunson, not much is left until someone is injured. Or until one of those deep backups somehow shows something special that sorta forces them to use him..

On another point, you really made an astute note about Luka's age, and the growing pains that are part of the process (if you are the top player, and not joining an already-contending team). NBA experience and learning how to climb the NBA ladder successfully is a real thing to be learned, and skipping to the top and being a major contender quickly is very rare to almost-never.