In reply to zgolfz85

zgolfz85 said:

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Still doesn't feel like this team is meshing close to where he could be. There's still an awkward dynamic in play and the roles aren't defined. We can't have Luka and Kyrie avoiding stepping on each other's toes and hope to succeed

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We are team that is weirdly reliant on THJ. If he has a good game then we likely win and if he has a bad game it's almost a guaranteed loss.

Grant (even though we just acquired him) and Josh Green were expected to take big steps forward this year and they have both been disappointing. Luckily Exum and Lively have been much better than we could have expected.

I think this team is not even playing its best basketball yet, and like I said before, we are the most injured team in the league so far, in terms of total games missed by injured players.

In reply to awinlonghorn

awinlonghorn said:

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Do we make the playoffs this year?


It's still mind boggling to me that with a talent like Luka, we are on the bubble.

With Dirk, we were spoiled with 50 wins seasons every year. Is our team building just terrible? Or is Luka's style hurting us?

My guess is our coach is one of the worst coaches in the league who should not be a HC.

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We don't have a SINGLE lineup that has logged 100 minutes played together (at least prior to the Lakers game). lol do you know how absurd that is? We've STARTED 24(?) different lineups this seasons. Injuries have plagued the Mavs all season. Just when we get 1 guy back, seemingly 2 more go down.

The teams at the top (Boston, OKC, Philly, Denver, etc) are all obviously REALLY good…but they've also had insane injury luck. OKC for instance has had like 9 total games with guys out for injury (not rest)? Or something absurd.

In seemingly perfect timing for our conversation about where the mavs stand, Bill Simmons released his mid-season power poll on his recent pod. He has the mavs at 10th, which is a little higher than I thought he would have us.

He has us at the top of the "one move away" tier. He was complimentary of Kyrie and even admitted it was a good move by the mavs to tank and then select Lively.

He mentioned Bruce Brown but dismissed that move pretty quickly. I don't think he threw out any other possible targets. What I thought was interesting is that he mentioned Grant Williams as someone he wondered if we would be willing to move on from. Usually he has heard stuff when he throws out names. Caught me off guard a little.

Grant looked so promising…for the first handful of games, and then trash ever since. Shockingly disappointing so far

Still can't get past the fact that Luka, Kyrie, & Lively have played only 17 out of 42 games together.

Dallas is 11-5 when they did. Lineups with those three are +7.6 per 100 possessions in 539 possessions.

A good foundation to build on in the second half of the season.

— Iztok Franko (@iztok_franko) January 19, 2024

A point to show how injured the Mavs have been.

In reply to shack009

shack009 said:

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In seemingly perfect timing for our conversation about where the mavs stand, Bill Simmons released his mid-season power poll on his recent pod. He has the mavs at 10th, which is a little higher than I thought he would have us.

He has us at the top of the "one move away" tier. He was complimentary of Kyrie and even admitted it was a good move by the mavs to tank and then select Lively.

He mentioned Bruce Brown but dismissed that move pretty quickly. I don't think he threw out any other possible targets. What I thought was interesting is that he mentioned Grant Williams as someone he wondered if we would be willing to move on from. Usually he has heard stuff when he throws out names. Caught me off guard a little.

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Simmons finally compliments the Mavs... after Cuban sells it. Bill Simmons hates Cubans.

In reply to M.C. Swag

M.C. Swag said:

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shack009 said:

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Would love to be able to get Bruce Brown. Another wing defender and he's a good rebounder, which we need. He can play small ball 4 and 5. But man the contract he signed this offseason was wild.

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I don't get the fit for Bruce Brown. He's another undersized, non shooter (we have a million of those). We need a true 4 and backup big. Bruce is a good player, but he doesn't address any of the Mavs deficiencies.

Plus the Mavs will either have to opt in to his last year and pay him $20m (he's nice, but not THAT nice) or decline it and essentially rent him for half a season. Neither is a really attractive option.

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I like Brown, because I see him as a good glue/cultural guy. He works his ass off, plays solid defense and can be slotted at multiple positions (despite being 6'4.) Brooklyn used to give him minutes at small ball PF, and he is a good enough playmaker to run some second team point, which Dallas doesn't need when healthy. But having an additional player that can create easy shots for other players is never a bad thing, especially with all the injuries this year.

I see Brown as kind of the same type of fit as Mario Elie was when he came into the Spurs in 1999. Tough, playoff experienced, great team guy, does all the little things, doesn't believe the earth is flat. I agree he is overpaid, but I think that a lot of teams need that type of guy.

Brown isn't the best shooter, but he is at like 38% on catch and shoot threes and 39% on corner threes. I think he would be great on the Mavs, but not sure I would pay what Toronto likely wants for him. Like you said, he is overpaid - he is nice, but not 16.5% of the cap nice.

In a vacuum, great fit. What Toronto wants and his salary makes it less so.

Is exum signed to 2 or 3 year deal?

In reply to Grapesoda2525

Grapesoda2525 said:

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Is exum signed to 2 or 3 year deal?

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I want to say it is a 2-year deal but the second year is a team option.

PSA: Today is the first day that Josh Green can officially be traded.

In reply to M.C. Swag

M.C. Swag said:

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PSA: Today is the first day that Josh Green can officially be traded.

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He had a good shooting night last night, but he's just such a chaotic player. I would probably rather have Peyton Pritchard than Josh.

Josh, THJ, and Maxi are guys I don't need to see any more of, and am fine with trading.

Dallas Mavericks x @wfaa 📺

See a lot more of y'all soon 🙌 #MFFL pic.twitter.com/GH5wOBXDBO

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) January 23, 2024

In reply to dave94

dave94 said:

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Dallas Mavericks x @wfaa 📺

See a lot more of y'all soon 🙌 #MFFL pic.twitter.com/GH5wOBXDBO

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) January 23, 2024

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Annnnnnnnnnnnnd I have cancelled my Bally's subscription.

In reply to shack009

shack009 said:

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M.C. Swag said:

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PSA: Today is the first day that Josh Green can officially be traded.

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He had a good shooting night last night, but he's just such a chaotic player. I would probably rather have Peyton Pritchard than Josh.

Josh, THJ, and Maxi are guys I don't need to see any more of, and am fine with trading.

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Ya I'm a big fan of Green but he hasn't shown any tangible improvement from a year ago. I agree with you that if we can get anything for THJ, it's probably best to move him now.

Bout to sit down with my suns fan wife and watch the game and just see that Kyrie is out. Going to be a tall task tonight.

lol this is a wildly entertaining game

Most of the team got cold and suns got going. THJ taking ridiculous shots. Got to stop with the dumb fouls putting them on the line.

Suns are so soft though. Going down and flailing at any sort of contact.

And this is about to get out of hand. We really have no offense outside of Luka when Kyrie doesn't play.

Refs having a rough one.

This is disgusting

In reply to zgolfz85

zgolfz85 said:

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This is disgusting

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That last offensive possession with no Luka was comical. Guys standing around for 15 seconds then a THJ 18 foot step back.

The way the Mavs collapsed is gonna haunt me. I don't think we're a top 10 seed in the West. We have the talent to be, but something with this team is so fundamentally broken that when the 3 point shot abandons them, they fold.

Too many one dimensional players that rely on the 3 ball. One of the reasons for our runs a few years ago was we couldnt miss some nights.

In reply to M.C. Swag

M.C. Swag said:

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The way the Mavs collapsed is gonna haunt me. I don't think we're a top 10 seed in the West. We have the talent to be, but something with this team is so fundamentally broken that when the 3 point shot abandons them, they fold.

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It's why I think getting rid of THJ can really change this team. His mentality is a big part of that and he provides absolutely nothing else. If he isn't on fire then we are playing 4v5 on both ends.

It's hard to see the big picture in the middle of this drubbing, but we shouldn't get too down considering Kyrie isnt playing and we have had so many guys miss games all year.

In reply to EastSideAg2002

EastSideAg2002 said:

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Too many one dimensional players that rely on the 3 ball. One of the reasons for our runs a few years ago was we couldnt miss some nights.

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But those teams also had DFS and Bullock who could defend. I'm not even sure DJJ is as good of a defender as them and he definitely isn't as good of a shooter. Maxi was a completely different player then too.

When Booker got really hot, I would have liked for Kidd to try something else. Maybe try a zone or put in Lawson or OMax to chase Booker. He kinda just allowed it to happen.

Ed MacMahon is such a no talent clown, i hate that he has been our only real NBA guy for Dallas for so long.

Need to make a trade. Stars do too.

Kidd has to go. But boy the Mavs constructed a roster of players who can't stay healthy and hardly play together. The Dirk prime years were never this hard.

We run a real risk of dropping out of the play in spots in this upcoming stretch. They better figure it the hell out real soon

The team requires Luka and Kyrie to be healthy and playing well. When Derrick Jones Jr. and Dante Exum are in your top 5 best player rotation it is a problem. Unfortunately I just don't think the Mavs are one move away here.

Time to fire Kidd and get Griffin.

He can't control the team or his mouth. Wife beater needs to go