07-02-2021, 09:28 AM
(07-01-2021, 02:03 PM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: I am in the pro Kleber camp. He ranked among the top three in on court and on/off rating for most of the season. Tanked his +/- numbers in the last 20 games. Was in and out of the rotation. Missed games and looked really bad when he played. Despite the steady decline at the end of the season the Mavs defense was 3.1pts better with him on the floor. Overall he was one of the better defenders on a bad defensive team.
The Mavs asked him to do the impossible. Cover a lot of ground and compensate for KPs lack of mobility. Guard the best opposing big...sometimes even wing. That shouldn´t be his role. Maybe one of those tasks but not all of them. Kleber was the only big that worked next to KP and him not being able to play his usual role was one of the reasons for some of the crazy lineups in the Clippers series.
It is a complement to Kleber that he ends up in a lot of trade proposals. It happens because people perceive he has value and is an easy fit on a lot of teams. I like Powell, but no one puts him in realistic deals that have any kind of return. How Maxi gets used going forward is probably a product of whether KP stays or not. Outside of max superstars, it is hard to find a PF or C that makes the version of KP we saw last season work. Maxi made it work...even last years version of Maxi.
I like to look at last season as starting 2/1/21. It isn't perfect, but the month or so prior to that was just a mess. In that time frame Maxi is by far the best two man pairing with KP at a net rating of 8.1 (and this is bad Maxi and nothing special KP). DFS is the next closet at 4.7. If we move to three man pairings with KP and Luka, once again Maxi is far and away the best Mav to add to the mix at a net rating of 11.7. In four man lineups, the best fits with Luka and KP are those two with Maxi and DFS at 12.8 followed by those two with Maxi and JRich at 12.1. BTW, Maxi is the second best two man fit with Luka at 6.1. DFS is close behind in third at 5.2 and Brunson is actually the best at 9.0
We all said it time and again. Our starting unit was quite productive...obviously flawed but one of the best in the league. The KP, Luka, Maxi, DFS and JRich lineup was a plus 12.6 after 2/1/21. We only saw THJ with Luka, KP, Maxi and DFS for 22 regular season minutes (+10). But in 77 playoff minutes those five were also +10. One of our issues is that our bench is so shallow that we don't get to play our starters (whether that includes THJ or JRich) together very much. Once we had to go to KP w/o Luka lineups and Luka w/o KP lineups, things didn't work as well. The THJ/KP lineups were especially bad.
We have the beginnings of a good bench, but KP and THJ can't create their own shot. Replacing THJ/JRich in the starting lineup with a shot creator like Conley (my favorite), DeRozan or Lowry would make KP, Maxi, DFS and Luka crazy good. But, it would also go a long way evening out the discrepancies in the performance of various bench lineups AND allow the starters to play together more. Additionally, on a team with Willie Cauley-Powell playing backup C, we have to have another option at PF that looks and smells a lot like Maxi. It would be nice if that guy could also be a small ball center or better yet, good enough to move Maxi to the bench. Thus, we get the pursuit of a player like Collins. If you find a way to get Conley (or Ball, Lowry, DeRozan), then you are looking a less expensive options at PF. If you can somehow land Collins, then you probably aren't going to find a starting level shot creator (again, this is all predicated on the idea that KP is staying). My favorite version of that is Conley as the THJ/JRich replacement and then finding the money for someone in the Batum, T Young, Gay OPJ or Theis range. If I'm forced to drop down to Lowry/DeRozan because Conley won't come here...Fine. Just don't overpay the Schroder's and Reggie Jackson's of the world.