[b]QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MAVERICKS[/b]
[b]“Derrick Jones Jr or Jae crowder ….Who is a better free agent for the Mavs?” –@TronccosoRamon[/b]
Jae Crowder is the perfect veteran for this team, a free agent and a former Maverick. That said, I’m not sure why he would leave a team that just went to the Finals. (I don’t think the question was implying that; I just wanted to state that.) I remember much of the Mavericks fanbase was upset that Rick Carlisle played Crowder so frequently in his first couple years here because it often didn’t seem like he was making any tangible impact. But in the years since, I’ve come around on the concept of “winning” players who are always in the right place, doing the small things and making your team better — the Crowders and Marcus Smarts and Danny Greens of the world. It’s an old coaching cliche that can be borne out in stats. Is a player consistently at the top of your plus-minus statistics? Does he have the best net rating out of anyone in a rotation? Maybe that means something. Maybe these stats are measuring something that the traditional ones don’t necessarily reflect.
Think about the Mavericks with just one more such player added to the roster. Just one more player who’s defensively sound, who can prevent four points per game that the team would’ve given up last year, who earns you an extra possession in a loose-ball scenario. Those things don’t sound like much until you think about what that would actually mean for an 82-game season. Dallas had the best offense of all time. It has Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis. The team could sign Giannis Antetokounmpo and become a juggernaut, and maybe they will. But it’s the small things being provided from a rotation player, a fifth starter, that could vault Dallas into a dominant position overnight.
[b]“i would love to know your thoughts on who you think the mavericks should make a run for in free agency/trade market. a lot of ppl say mavs are once piece away, but who would that one piece be?” –@notimabill01[/b]
Andre Roberson is my latest interest.
[b]“What would you trade to get Oladipo on the Mavs, if you would want to at all?” –@mfflhunter[/b]
I mentioned Oladipo in a column months ago and have thought about him plenty since. I think, after all this thought, I’m out on the idea. It hinges on the idea that the Mavericks need a proper third star, one with star power, a concept I’ve increasingly divorced. It’s not star power. Doncic and Porzingis at the top of the team is perfectly viable. It’s specific issues, like another ball-handler and the aforementioned wing defense, that will elevate this team to the next level. Oladipo doesn’t shoot well enough – he had one good season beyond the arc that I don’t believe he will replicate again – and isn’t a good enough ball-handler for that to matter.
[b]“Out of Maxey, Terry, Hampton, Bey and Pokusevski who should Dallas take at 18 and would you use 31 on Maledon is hes is there?” –@Tobiyashi067[/b]
Bey, and yes. But at this rate, I would be surprised if they actually drafted a player with the 18th pick.
https://theathletic.com/2115117/2020/10/...o-wouldnt/
[b]“Derrick Jones Jr or Jae crowder ….Who is a better free agent for the Mavs?” –@TronccosoRamon[/b]
Jae Crowder is the perfect veteran for this team, a free agent and a former Maverick. That said, I’m not sure why he would leave a team that just went to the Finals. (I don’t think the question was implying that; I just wanted to state that.) I remember much of the Mavericks fanbase was upset that Rick Carlisle played Crowder so frequently in his first couple years here because it often didn’t seem like he was making any tangible impact. But in the years since, I’ve come around on the concept of “winning” players who are always in the right place, doing the small things and making your team better — the Crowders and Marcus Smarts and Danny Greens of the world. It’s an old coaching cliche that can be borne out in stats. Is a player consistently at the top of your plus-minus statistics? Does he have the best net rating out of anyone in a rotation? Maybe that means something. Maybe these stats are measuring something that the traditional ones don’t necessarily reflect.
Think about the Mavericks with just one more such player added to the roster. Just one more player who’s defensively sound, who can prevent four points per game that the team would’ve given up last year, who earns you an extra possession in a loose-ball scenario. Those things don’t sound like much until you think about what that would actually mean for an 82-game season. Dallas had the best offense of all time. It has Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis. The team could sign Giannis Antetokounmpo and become a juggernaut, and maybe they will. But it’s the small things being provided from a rotation player, a fifth starter, that could vault Dallas into a dominant position overnight.
[b]“i would love to know your thoughts on who you think the mavericks should make a run for in free agency/trade market. a lot of ppl say mavs are once piece away, but who would that one piece be?” –@notimabill01[/b]
Andre Roberson is my latest interest.
[b]“What would you trade to get Oladipo on the Mavs, if you would want to at all?” –@mfflhunter[/b]
I mentioned Oladipo in a column months ago and have thought about him plenty since. I think, after all this thought, I’m out on the idea. It hinges on the idea that the Mavericks need a proper third star, one with star power, a concept I’ve increasingly divorced. It’s not star power. Doncic and Porzingis at the top of the team is perfectly viable. It’s specific issues, like another ball-handler and the aforementioned wing defense, that will elevate this team to the next level. Oladipo doesn’t shoot well enough – he had one good season beyond the arc that I don’t believe he will replicate again – and isn’t a good enough ball-handler for that to matter.
[b]“Out of Maxey, Terry, Hampton, Bey and Pokusevski who should Dallas take at 18 and would you use 31 on Maledon is hes is there?” –@Tobiyashi067[/b]
Bey, and yes. But at this rate, I would be surprised if they actually drafted a player with the 18th pick.
https://theathletic.com/2115117/2020/10/...o-wouldnt/