09-06-2022, 10:58 AM
(09-06-2022, 08:52 AM)mvossman Wrote: However, It should be pointed out that there was a lot of consternation last offseason regarding 3rd playmaker. Cuban stated their biggest need was a playmaker with size (which screamed DeRozan or Dinwiddie) and they failed to get anything. When Luka or Brunson missed time before the TDL, this offense was a shit show without one of them on the court. It makes it more frustrating because this mistake has already been made once. Why are they repeating it again?
This.
Also, "When Luka or Brunson missed time before the TDL, this offense was a shit show without one of them on the court" -- it wasn't just a problem when one of them missed games, but also that Luka-Mavs became much better playing TWO playmakers on the court together, ie when it was Luka/Brunson together and not just Luka creating offense.
This didn't become an issue until Brunson was promoted to a starting position alongside Luka about 1/3 of the way through the season. Before then, he was backing up Luka and then at times they would play together to give JB more minutes. They discovered that the overlap part where they played together was much better. Once they paired them to starting together, it clicked, but it also created a gaping hole when either Luka or JB were resting or missed a game, when there were huge chunks of the game that it was only 1 PG. They tried to fill that hole with the very same sort of plan they have now - give those minutes to some sort of mix and match hodge-podge of iffy-to-mediocre playmakers - and it was finally solved when they got SD.
Having figured out what they NEED, it's a weird fail that they set their lineup accordingly featuring 2 playmakers as starters, yet fail to fill the position of 3rd playmaker (backup to both PG1 and PG2) that will be a significant part of their rotation needs.