07-01-2021, 03:05 PM
(07-01-2021, 01:45 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: Regarding Kleber:
He has been hurt pretty much all year, and several people have gone out of their way to point this out. Here's how I think that factors into the conversation:
His defense has NOT been great this season, and I'm not only talking about the Clippers series.
You can say "that's because he's been banged up" and that's valid.
Alternatively, you can say "I'm skeptical that he has what it takes to hold up at his top, useful level for an entire season" and that also has validity.
What we have to stop doing, imo, is saying "Kleber was a great defender this season" because he so, so, so was not. Regardless of what you, personally, might expect from Kleber in the future, based on projections of what a healthy Kleber might look like, the version the Mavs had this past season wasn't really the indispensable difference maker people claim.
I think there are similar distinctions to make with Porzingis, Richardson and Powell. All of them might be better next year, but I hope the Mavs are being as realistic as possible and at least considering the idea that they won't be.
The point has been made many times that Maxi was sick as a dog with Covid for a long time.
I think any defensive evaluation ought to be looking at prior seasons, not this one. That may be true even of JRich - Kamm himself made the point that JRich didn't look that bad at the start of the season. It was after being out with Covid that his play was bad.