Expectations for 23/24 season

[Chicagojk]

What is everyone’s expectation for this next season?  Personally, I hope we make the playoffs (preferably missing the playin), but for me this season is much more than results.   Last year was such a bore watching the Mavs play.  It was a literal chore to watch a team with one of the best players in the league on it.  That should not happen.   So, much more than results I want two things:

1) setting the stage for Kyrie and Luka playing fluidly off each other.   This is going to take time and we should all expect bumps in the road.   But I want to get the bumps out the way now.  In a year we look back and see not just two elite offensive players but two guys who can blend their game together to make them almost impossible to guard as a duo who can also make the rest of the players better.

2) enjoy a younger team with an exciting future.  This will also include a lot of bumps in the road, but I want to see the young guys.  I want them to earn minutes. I am sure the Mavs want to win now, but I want the future to be considered in all moves.  I am not saying play Lively 30 minutes a game (unless he earns it), but I want to put him in situations where he can play well and give him consistent minutes.   There will be rough times and you may need to ease minutes at times, but I want to see them grow on the court.

Next year, I want to head into the season and see a team most are seeing as a top 3-4 team in the west.  Will that happen?  don’t know.  Is it a lot to ask? You bet.  I think the only way it happens is for both 1 and 2 above to happen….plus that final trade piece.   

The Mavs are clearly behind my personal Luka timeline of building a team.  They turned out a little ahead two years ago, but that could have been a mirage.   They are clearly behind now.   But it is what it is.    

I just want to watch fun basketball again.   Winning is what matters at the end but I would take a fun team with an exciting future this season.

[KillerLeft]

Good stuff. Fun basketball is absolutely my hope, and I believe an increased sense of connection and chemistry on the court (might take a while, with so much turnover) should lead to better competitive results.

That's my HOPE. While I'm trying to go into this with an open mind about Kidd, I can't say I trust him enough to make that a PREDICTION.

[omahen]

I don't think you will get what you want without winning. If Mavs season will be closer to last one regarding the result, all the negativity will be out again. Green will be scared offensive player, Lively and Omax not ready or not good enough, many of the same old faces (Maxi, Powell, THJ,...) will still have all their warts. I am affraid result will be similar to last season.

[KillerLeft]

I don't think you will get what you want without winning. If Mavs season will be closer to last one regarding the result, all the negativity will be out again. Green will be scared offensive player, Lively and Omax not ready or not good enough, many of the same old faces (Maxi, Powell, THJ,...) will still have all their warts. I am affraid result will be similar to last season.

You might be right, in terms of how the locker room responds to a slow start and tough going, competitively. And, it's a decent point you're hinting at - that their negativity will prevent any positives from taking center stage. That's a real possibility. 

But just speaking for myself, not even for all fans, all I hope for is a team to follow that's overtly improving. It wasn't the results that ruined last season for me, it was the feeling that the team was doing stupid things, backing themselves into a corner and had doors closing all around them. In short, it seemed like hope was dying. This off-season has done much to restore some of my optimism.

[mvossman]

I don't think you will get what you want without winning. If Mavs season will be closer to last one regarding the result, all the negativity will be out again. Green will be scared offensive player, Lively and Omax not ready or not good enough, many of the same old faces (Maxi, Powell, THJ,...) will still have all their warts. I am affraid result will be similar to last season.

I think a lot of things will have to go wrong for it to play out like you are saying.  Its hard to imagine a team with a healthy Luka and Kyrie and a lot of depth behind them will not perform significantly better than last season.  There are so many things that can go right:

Luka and Kyrie playing off each other
Williams taking the next step as a starter
Green having another year of improvement to where he is clearly high level rotational player
Hardy taking another step to where he is clearly 6th man material
Exum showing to be a legit 3rd PG 
Lively showing he already has NBA defensive game and watching his offense slowly develop
Omax hitting just enough 3s to be a useful rotational piece in his first year
Curry rebounding from a bad season to return to one of the best mid volume shooters in the league
Holmes with a change of scenery and his troubles behind him provides quality center minutes
Maxi stays relatively healthy and rebounds from a bad season with less demand put on him
DJJ plays in some fun small ball lineups and becomes a useful rotational piece.  

Not all of these things are going to happen, but odds are a lot of them will.  Even if this team struggles, unless there is no hope in the young guys there will still be stuff to watch from a future perspective.

[omahen]

You might be right, in terms of how the locker room responds to a slow start and tough going, competitively. And, it's a decent point you're hinting at - that their negativity will prevent any positives from taking center stage. That's a real possibility. 

But just speaking for myself, not even for all fans, all I hope for is a team to follow that's overtly improving. It wasn't the results that ruined last season for me, it was the feeling that the team was doing stupid things, backing themselves into a corner and had doors closing all around them. In short, it seemed like hope was dying. This off-season has done much to restore some of my optimism.

The negativity I had in mind was negativity from fanbase. Speaking on your specific example, I think you will have very similar feelings, if team will be losing more than winning. Luka will be a whining brat and similar for every player.

[KillerLeft]

The negativity I had in mind was negativity from fanbase. Speaking on your specific example, I think you will have very similar feelings, if team will be losing more than winning. Luka will be a whining brat and similar for every player.

I’m not sure I completely follow your point, sorry. However, if you are attempting to paint me with a “Luka hater” brush, I think that’s ridiculous. I hope I’m misinterpreting that.

All that’s required for me to enjoy the season is a group of players who seem like they are trying to learn how to coexist within the confines of team basketball, and who we can plausibly hope will improve from experience together, not constant roster turnover.

[omahen]

I’m not sure I completely follow your point, sorry. However, if you are attempting to paint me with a “Luka hater” brush, I think that’s ridiculous. I hope I’m misinterpreting that.

All that’s required for me to enjoy the season is a group of players who seem like they are trying to learn how to coexist within the confines of team basketball, and who we can plausibly hope will improve from experience together, not constant roster turnover.

You are misinterpreting that. What I am trying to say is that results have a lot of impact on our perception of the team and individual players. If team will be losing more than winning, I think there will not be many people here who will point out positive things. I think the full focus will be on negative ones and overall feeling about the team and its potential will be negative.

[omahen]

I think a lot of things will have to go wrong for it to play out like you are saying.  Its hard to imagine a team with a healthy Luka and Kyrie and a lot of depth behind them will not perform significantly better than last season.  There are so many things that can go right:

Luka and Kyrie playing off each other
Williams taking the next step as a starter
Green having another year of improvement to where he is clearly high level rotational player
Hardy taking another step to where he is clearly 6th man material
Exum showing to be a legit 3rd PG 
Lively showing he already has NBA defensive game and watching his offense slowly develop
Omax hitting just enough 3s to be a useful rotational piece in his first year
Curry rebounding from a bad season to return to one of the best mid volume shooters in the league
Holmes with a change of scenery and his troubles behind him provides quality center minutes
Maxi stays relatively healthy and rebounds from a bad season with less demand put on him
DJJ plays in some fun small ball lineups and becomes a useful rotational piece.  

Not all of these things are going to happen, but odds are a lot of them will.  Even if this team struggles, unless there is no hope in the young guys there will still be stuff to watch from a future perspective.

Odds are also a lot of them will not happen  Mavs biggest problems last season were defense, rebounding and lack of two-way players. I don't think Mavs fundamentally addressed those issues. Not unless (until) guys with potential develop. A bit more details:
- one of Mavs biggest problems last season was rebounding. Mavs are still positionally small, especially at PF and C, and rebounding will remain a problem imho. These are average starter heights in the league: PG 6-3 (Irving 6-2), SG 6-5 (Green and THJ 6-5), SF 6-7 (Luka 6-7), PF 6-8 (GW 6-6), C 6-11 (Powell, Maxi and Holmes 6-10). 
- second problem was Mavs defense. Mavs made very few changes in the top ten of rotation. GW replaced Bullock in the starting line-up and Exum/Holmes replaced Wood and whoever was back-up guard last season in the second unit. The changes were mostly in the deep bench, which basically plays only when injuries happen. Sure, what looks like a deeper team will come handy when injuries happen. But none of the new guys can be considered as all-nba defense guy. That is why I don't think Mavs did enough to hope the defense would be drastically better. Not to mention very questionable coaching schemes with plenty of data from different environments that they don't really work.
- I see Curry fit on this team only without Luka and Irving as you can't play him next to any of them and hope for any kind of defense. So, a very limited role
- injuries happen. You can't hope there will be nothing. Especially since Mavs have several players with long history of unavailability. So, even if Maxi stays healthy, there is great possibility that one or more of the other guys will be out at different times of season
- I don't think Mavs really solved the 3rd PG situation, especially from the point of offense creation. Despite encouraging Exum World cup, I didn't see much of creation in his play. Unfortunately this is a very important role, since Luka and Irving both do miss several games each season. Green World cup and Hardy summer league were not encouraging. The only player with theoretic two-way potential (meaning he can play defense and create to an extent on offense) is Green. I see GW more or less as a spot-up shooter.

Based on this my expecations for this season are low (play-in at best) and I will be glad if I will be proven wrong. But, I will not be holding the players accountable if results are not there. No matter how they look on the court.

Also to note: Luka-Irving team last season was bad, one of worse in the league. They were far from a play-in level team. I think team will be better, but the starting position is really low and where they need to improve to is much higher. A lot of things will need to go right for a substantial improvement. What I do hope for is a decent start and some positive vibes around the team. I hated the negativity in the community last season.

[surfpuckmd]

I think a lot of things will have to go wrong for it to play out like you are saying.  Its hard to imagine a team with a healthy Luka and Kyrie and a lot of depth behind them will not perform significantly better than last season.  There are so many things that can go right:

Luka and Kyrie playing off each other
Williams taking the next step as a starter
Green having another year of improvement to where he is clearly high level rotational player
Hardy taking another step to where he is clearly 6th man material
Exum showing to be a legit 3rd PG 
Lively showing he already has NBA defensive game and watching his offense slowly develop
Omax hitting just enough 3s to be a useful rotational piece in his first year
Curry rebounding from a bad season to return to one of the best mid volume shooters in the league
Holmes with a change of scenery and his troubles behind him provides quality center minutes
Maxi stays relatively healthy and rebounds from a bad season with less demand put on him
DJJ plays in some fun small ball lineups and becomes a useful rotational piece.  

Not all of these things are going to happen, but odds are a lot of them will.  Even if this team struggles, unless there is no hope in the young guys there will still be stuff to watch from a future perspective.

This is great.  I would add one additional hope I have for this team.  I hope Jason Kidd improves as a coach.  I think lineups with both Kyrie and Luka will naturally be very successful.  I hope he can find some lineups with just one of them that still win some minutes.

My greatest concern (apart from injuries) is rebounding.  We were a terrible rebounding team last season and dramatically ejected two of our best rebounders off the roster.  I hope Kidd can coach up our current players to rebound better.  If not, then we'll be historically bad in rebounding differential.

I do expect this team will be more fun to watch than last season.  Kyrie is one of the most entertaining players in modern NBA history.  I think the Luka and Kyrie show will be amazing to watch.  It's also a lot of fun to watch young players improve and we finally have a lot of those.  

I think we should win 45 to 50 games this season unless there is a major injury to Kyrie or Luka.  We may not be contenders but significant improvement will make for a fun season. 

If we have a disappointing season, then we should at least get a new coach next off-season.

[surfpuckmd]

Odds are also a lot of them will not happen  Mavs biggest problems last season were defense, rebounding and lack of two-way players. I don't think Mavs fundamentally addressed those issues. Not unless (until) guys with potential develop. A bit more details:
- one of Mavs biggest problems last season was rebounding. Mavs are still positionally small, especially at PF and C, and rebounding will remain a problem imho. These are average starter heights in the league: PG 6-3 (Irving 6-2), SG 6-5 (Green and THJ 6-5), SF 6-7 (Luka 6-7), PF 6-8 (GW 6-6), C 6-11 (Powell, Maxi and Holmes 6-10). 
- second problem was Mavs defense. Mavs made very few changes in the top ten of rotation. GW replaced Bullock in the starting line-up and Exum/Holmes replaced Wood and whoever was back-up guard last season in the second unit. The changes were mostly in the deep bench, which basically plays only when injuries happen. Sure, what looks like a deeper team will come handy when injuries happen. But none of the new guys can be considered as all-nba defense guy. That is why I don't think Mavs did enough to hope the defense would be drastically better. Not to mention very questionable coaching schemes with plenty of data from different environments that they don't really work.
- I see Curry fit on this team only without Luka and Irving as you can't play him next to any of them and hope for any kind of defense. So, a very limited role
- injuries happen. You can't hope there will be nothing. Especially since Mavs have several players with long history of unavailability. So, even if Maxi stays healthy, there is great possibility that one or more of the other guys will be out at different times of season
- I don't think Mavs really solved the 3rd PG situation, especially from the point of offense creation. Despite encouraging Exum World cup, I didn't see much of creation in his play. Unfortunately this is a very important role, since Luka and Irving both do miss several games each season. Green World cup and Hardy summer league were not encouraging. The only player with theoretic two-way potential (meaning he can play defense and create to an extent on offense) is Green. I see GW more or less as a spot-up shooter.

Based on this my expecations for this season are low (play-in at best) and I will be glad if I will be proven wrong. But, I will not be holding the players accountable if results are not there. No matter how they look on the court.

Also to note: Luka-Irving team last season was bad, one of worse in the league. They were far from a play-in level team. I think team will be better, but the starting position is really low and where they need to improve to is much higher. A lot of things will need to go right for a substantial improvement. What I do hope for is a decent start and some positive vibes around the team. I hated the negativity in the community last season.

This is another good post although slightly depressing.  

Kyrie and Luka were excellent when they played together last season.  The team struggled when only one of the was on the court.  

The defense should be somewhat better overall as long as either Maxi or Richaun Holmes make a comeback.  Maxi was pretty terrible last season when he returned from injury.  Maybe he just returned too early last season after a major injury.  Grant Williams is a much better defensive player than Reggie Bullock.  So is Derrick Jones Jr.  Josh Green and Jaden Hardy should improve defensively just based on experience.  I think Exum can provide decent defense as well.  I think we improved significantly on defense. 

I agree that Seth Curry was a questionable addition to this roster.  I don't see his fit and I hope he is the 13th man.  I would rather see Jaden Hardy and Dante Exum get backup guard minutes.  

I also think rebounding could be our fatal flaw.  I think the Andre Drummond acquisition would have made a lot of sense for this roster.  I also think Javale McGee made much more sense than Markieff Morris.  I continue to think that was an Ambien move by Mark Cuban.  We will likely give up a lot of offensive rebounds and it could be a source of frustration to Luka who may be our only above-average rebounder.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

I want to see if Luka is willing to play off the ball more. That's a big ask as he has never done it. I think he has to for them to be more successful. But the biggest question mark is Kidd. He's going to have to do a much better job than last year. They have improved the roster from last year, but I still don't think they have enough to go deep in the playoffs.

[mvossman]

Odds are also a lot of them will not happen  Mavs biggest problems last season were defense, rebounding and lack of two-way players. I don't think Mavs fundamentally addressed those issues. Not unless (until) guys with potential develop. A bit more details:
- one of Mavs biggest problems last season was rebounding. Mavs are still positionally small, especially at PF and C, and rebounding will remain a problem imho. These are average starter heights in the league: PG 6-3 (Irving 6-2), SG 6-5 (Green and THJ 6-5), SF 6-7 (Luka 6-7), PF 6-8 (GW 6-6), C 6-11 (Powell, Maxi and Holmes 6-10). 
- second problem was Mavs defense. Mavs made very few changes in the top ten of rotation. GW replaced Bullock in the starting line-up and Exum/Holmes replaced Wood and whoever was back-up guard last season in the second unit. The changes were mostly in the deep bench, which basically plays only when injuries happen. Sure, what looks like a deeper team will come handy when injuries happen. But none of the new guys can be considered as all-nba defense guy. That is why I don't think Mavs did enough to hope the defense would be drastically better. Not to mention very questionable coaching schemes with plenty of data from different environments that they don't really work.
- I see Curry fit on this team only without Luka and Irving as you can't play him next to any of them and hope for any kind of defense. So, a very limited role
- injuries happen. You can't hope there will be nothing. Especially since Mavs have several players with long history of unavailability. So, even if Maxi stays healthy, there is great possibility that one or more of the other guys will be out at different times of season
- I don't think Mavs really solved the 3rd PG situation, especially from the point of offense creation. Despite encouraging Exum World cup, I didn't see much of creation in his play. Unfortunately this is a very important role, since Luka and Irving both do miss several games each season. Green World cup and Hardy summer league were not encouraging. The only player with theoretic two-way potential (meaning he can play defense and create to an extent on offense) is Green. I see GW more or less as a spot-up shooter.

Based on this my expecations for this season are low (play-in at best) and I will be glad if I will be proven wrong. But, I will not be holding the players accountable if results are not there. No matter how they look on the court.

Also to note: Luka-Irving team last season was bad, one of worse in the league. They were far from a play-in level team. I think team will be better, but the starting position is really low and where they need to improve to is much higher. A lot of things will need to go right for a substantial improvement. What I do hope for is a decent start and some positive vibes around the team. I hated the negativity in the community last season.

You don't need all of those things to happen to be significantly better, just some of them.

The defense on this team improved a ton.  Williams is not replacing Bullock, he is replacing Dorian, who was either hurt, played poorly or traded during the season.  We finished the season without a legit power forward.  He will be a huge impact to defense, and the guys behind him (Omax and DJJ) bring defensive depth that we have sorely missed.  Also, any minute we are replacing Wood and McGee is a huge boost to the defense.  This was one of the worst defenses in the league last year.  They look more like an average defense to me right now.

As for 3rd point guard, Exum looks like a much better option than anything we had last year.  As to lack of creation, we can pair him with Hardy.  Exum runs the point and Hardy plays 6th man offensive creator role.  That tandom migh work well enough that we don't have to stagger Luka/Kyrie but we shall see.

Curry has played next to Luka and Kyrie without catastrophic results in the past.  You can make an argument that you don't want all three on the court together, but against second units we can get away with Curry playing with either one of them.

Injuries do happen, which is why I'm glad this is the deepest team I can ever remember them having.

[ballsrchr]

I think a lot of things will have to go wrong for it to play out like you are saying.  Its hard to imagine a team with a healthy Luka and Kyrie and a lot of depth behind them will not perform significantly better than last season.  There are so many things that can go right:

Luka and Kyrie playing off each other
Williams taking the next step as a starter
Green having another year of improvement to where he is clearly high level rotational player
Hardy taking another step to where he is clearly 6th man material
Exum showing to be a legit 3rd PG 
Lively showing he already has NBA defensive game and watching his offense slowly develop
Omax hitting just enough 3s to be a useful rotational piece in his first year
Curry rebounding from a bad season to return to one of the best mid volume shooters in the league
Holmes with a change of scenery and his troubles behind him provides quality center minutes
Maxi stays relatively healthy and rebounds from a bad season with less demand put on him
DJJ plays in some fun small ball lineups and becomes a useful rotational piece.  

Not all of these things are going to happen, but odds are a lot of them will.  Even if this team struggles, unless there is no hope in the young guys there will still be stuff to watch from a future perspective.

THIS!  I don't usually quote long passages, but this is what I think will happen.  The biggest fly in the ointment for me is coach Jason Kidd.  I was a little (ok...make that a lot) trepidatious  when he was hired as the coach.  But I figured, Ok...maybe he has matured and learned something over the years.  No.  I don't see it yet.  Still a wife beating drunk who toys with his players and always looks for shady shortcuts...

Ok. Maybe THIS is what should happen. Despite Jason Kidd--I have high hopes.

[KillerLeft]

I agree with those who are skeptical that Kidd is up to this job, but I've stopped saying so in every post. I'm happy others have turned that faucet again, because you could honestly make an argument that he's a bottom-5 head coach in the league.

Even if that's wrong, or if it's correct but he starts to improve, I think hiring a guy like that when you have a top 5-10 guy in the league who's under 25 is WILD. I'm starting to like a lot of what the front office is doing, so whether it's Harrison making these calls or not, it seems to me like he's empowering some smart people, at least. But, I STILL feel Cuban was thinking way too small when he made these GM/coaching hires. I'm with Omahen - I think it would've been a perfect time to go get the BEST OF THE BEST at both positions. For example, Masai's contract was up at the time, and Nick Nurse has since moved on to a new team. Not saying that combo was a possibility, necessarily, just that I believe SOMEONE real would've wanted to come here and build a team around Luka.

Trying to have an open mind about Kidd this year, but it's tough. To me, this feels similar to (maybe a bit worse than) the Avery Johnson period of the Dirk era. I think Kidd is just a cool guy that Harison and Cuban like having around. I hope he proves me wrong, or at least that they don't hold onto to him one second after he proves that he's not up to it.

[Jym]

I agree with those who are skeptical that Kidd is up to this job, but I've stopped saying so in every post. I'm happy others have turned that faucet again, because you could honestly make an argument that he's a bottom-5 head coach in the league.

Even if that's wrong, or if it's correct but he starts to improve, I think hiring a guy like that when you have a top 5-10 guy in the league who's under 25 is WILD. I'm starting to like a lot of what the front office is doing, so whether it's Harrison making these calls or not, it seems to me like he's empowering some smart people, at least. But, I STILL feel Cuban was thinking way too small when he made these GM/coaching hires. I'm with Omahen - I think it would've been a perfect time to go get the BEST OF THE BEST at both positions. For example, Masai's contract was up at the time, and Nick Nurse has since moved on to a new team. Not saying that combo was a possibility, necessarily, just that I believe SOMEONE real would've wanted to come here and build a team around Luka.

Trying to have an open mind about Kidd this year, but it's tough. To me, this feels similar to (maybe a bit worse than) the Avery Johnson period of the Dirk era. I think Kidd is just a cool guy that Harison and Cuban like having around. I hope he proves me wrong, or at least that they don't hold onto to him one second after he proves that he's not up to it.

I'm most curious to see what mindbogglingly dumb rotation decisions he'll make to start the season
Feels like everyone is on-board that Luka/Kyrie/Green/Grant should for sure be starting with only center up for grabs. But if the past 2 seasons teach us anything, he'll inexplicably have one or both of Green/Grant on the bench 
It would be hard for me to find 4 guys currently coaching that are for sure worse than Kidd. He has a solid case for worst

[ThisIStheYear]

Best team of Luka era. That’s my expectation.

[KillerLeft]

Best team of Luka era.  That’s my expectation.

Is that your honest prediction, or are you just intending to convey that your expectations are high, regardless of any excuses? 

I honestly think it might be that good by the end, but Jason Kidd's hands being in the pie cause me to stop short of actually expecting/predicting it.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Kidd is a major question mark for me. He wasn't a good coach last season. Hopefully, he shows improvement.

[Reunion Mav]

Let me say with some passion, good things could happen. Thanks Mvossman.
We are still in a negative expectations mindset for a long list of very good reasons. We should consider washing our hands of last year and let it go. Let all of our favorite negative themes go. Join Killer and say nothing about Kidd for say 30 games. Say nothing about our recurring dead horses for a period of just watching and observing whatever progress we can find.
I suggest we could call it a fresh start. It is a good thing to start a new season. Go ahead. Have hope. There is no need to be right about predicting what will go wrong. Have hope for signs of progress. Root like crazy for our guys.

We have certainly seen many hopeful things since the draft. We have 2 great players. We have better depth. We have more quality youth. Don’t worry so much. Spread a positive vibe beginning no later than training camp. That is what the start of the season is for. Fans dive off the deep end with hope and a renewed sense of fun. Go ahead. Get back to our Mav Fan roots.
Signed a 44 year Maverick fan with tickets to see the Mavs beat Pop and Wemby in December.