2021-2022 ROSTER TALK: [ARCHIVED]

[mvossman]

I do think there are a few more minutes left for the wing backups than outlined above, but minutes are definitely needing to be part of the planning.

I think the Mavs will continue with the 1 BIG, 2 WING, 2 POINT setup that works for them.

BIG (3-4) - 48 mins - Wood / Maxi essentially split the 48. Powell may get a few of the 48 and will step in when there's an injury or rest day.

Observation: Not sure there's a route to a 4th big that's helpful. If another big is sought as a free agent, they aren't likely to get minutes very often, so it will be hard to sell a good free agent to come and rarely play with those 3 all here. The one exception might be a crusty veteran traditional center on minimum who can be used situationally and won't have expectations for minutes. But that's Boban the 2nd, and we saw how that went. If another big is sought via trade (presumably with DP outgoing), that sounds like a path to an unhappy camper who is a good center but gets few minutes. In theory Wood or Maxi could play PF to open some minutes, but that won't be enough to make a good player happy, and I think their minutes for a big wing who can shoot will go to Bertans (who could also be an emergency big). 

POINT (4) - 96 mins - Luka / Brunson / Dinwiddie split the 96. Dragic may get a few of the 96 and will step in when there's an injury or rest day. While another player might be added to develop or in case of injury, Franky or Green may be that emergency guy.

CHEERING (1) - 0 mins - Pinson. It is what it is.

WINGS (6-7) - 96 mins. DFS / Bullock will get 60-65. The other 31-36 go to others. So far, those others are Bertans, THJ, Green, Franky. On paper, maybe Bertans gets 15-20 (the only big wing backup, and presumably the most lethal shooter), THJ gets 20-25 (good scorer, former starter, etc), Green or Franky get a few here and there. But as previously noted, all of that doesn't fit into the minutes available.

Observation: Not sure how they split the backup minutes, but adding a free agent wing doesn't make sense - there's no minutes. So to have a different 3rd wing to rotate with DFS / Bullock, it would mean THJ has to go, and maybe Bertans too. Their contracts are too big to waive, so if you want to alter the wings, it will almost certainly take a trade. (If I can tell Nico to create some more magic, he keeps the top 7 on the roster and adds Collins via trade.)

In the regular season I am guessing Powell gets more than a few spot minutes.  He is probably the backup big with Maxi spending more time at the 4 (as a big wing).  That means even less minutes available behind DFS/Bullock.  I expect Timmy to get the majority of those with Bertans and Green getting scraps.  I don't see any way Bertans gets 15-20.  He got less than 14 when there were plenty of minutes to be had.

You mention Bertans is too big to waive, but if we sign Brunson and add the tax MLE and argument could be made to stretch waive Bertans.  His third year is not guaranteed so I think you could do it over 7 years at around 5 mil per.  That would save a ton on the tax bill and open up some minutes.

I agree that sending out Timmy and/or Bertans makes the most sense, but its hard to come up with a trade involving those two that would address our issues on defense.  I like the Timmy for Hart idea, but I think we would have to add something to that and we don't have much to add.

Not sure why Collins would be a target at this point considering what his cost will be.  We already have a Collins clone in Wood and it would be doubling down on offense without really addressing defense.  This team is going to struggle to be a top 10 defense and replacing Bullock in the starting lineup with Collins would not really change that.