***Official 2021-2022 Dallas Mavericks Season Thread***

175,327 Views | 2235 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by M.C. Swag
Ol Jock 99
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It's because the season is barely here and he's already out. Again. Dallas can't really make a move for a top player because of his contract. Other than the playoffs 2 years ago, he's been a huge, and expensive, disappointment.
Saint Pablo
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Soldier. Having a full camp really was a difference maker for KP! Dude only took what 2 games to get hurt this year?
awrollins
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Frank Ntilikina has been playing some great minutes for the Mavs recently! Looking to have been a steal in the off-season….
awrollins
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The Mark Cuban $50 deal just came out for anybody interested. After having to deal with glitchy streams the past couple of games, I'm hoping this is a good answer...
Saint Pablo
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Is this streaming BS Cuban's fault? The Mavs? The NBA? It pisses me off so much and I see no incentive to throw money in anyone's direction to perpetuate this nonsense.
awrollins
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Saint Pablo said:

Is this streaming BS Cuban's fault? The Mavs? The NBA? It pisses me off so much and I see no incentive to throw money in anyone's direction to perpetuate this nonsense.
It's the idiots at FSSW who decided to piss everyone off and get into contract disputes. I'm pretty sure DirectTV is the only provider carrying FSSW right now.
hph6203
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On the hierarchy it probably goes:

Cable Providers
BallySports
NBA
Dallas Mavericks/Mark Cuban

Heavily weighted to the first two rather than the individual teams.
awrollins
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Is it just me or is Luka actually a good defender?
MW03
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AG
His lateral quickness and movement was clearly an off-season focus
awrollins
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Is it a good thing or bad thing that Luka is our best Bam defender? Probably a bad lol. Powell still sucks
Saint Pablo
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Definitely bad. Powell is so fooking bad.
mavsfan4ever
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We need KP back soon. But regardless of when he comes back I'm getting concerned. I didn't want to freak out over 1-2 games, but it's now been 7 games, and the offense is not very good (24th in offensive rating). I'm not sure if it's Kidd or Luka, but our offense bogs down and doesn't have much ball movement bc it's just Luka going 1 on 1 or pick and roll over and over again. There are times the defense is on their heels and then the ball gets to luka and he holds it and waits for a pick and roll which kills the advantage. And the pick and roll isn't as lethal as it has been in the past.

I haven't checked all the numbers yet but the offense seems to roll better with Luka on the bench. We get way more open 3s. Better ball movement, more flow, etc. And the few advanced numbers I've checked back that up. But it's only 7 games so maybe that will correct itself.

Luka has turned into a harden/Westbrook type of player. He's better than those guys in my opinion but he is the sole focus of the offense, and the other guys just kinda defer to him all the time even when they could have a fast break or have the advantage on the offensive end. That's part of the reason why our pace is so slow (26th in the league). We get no easy buckets and have to work for everything in half court sets.

And I'm not really blaming Luka. Other than Brunson, we have no other play makers so i don't know what the other option is. But I hope we can start having better ball movement and not have to re-set with Luka late in the shot clock over and over again. Brunson's offensive rating is better than Luka's so far, and I think a big reason for that is the ball movement of the second unit and the fact that the ball doesn't bog down with one guy.
M.C. Swag
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Great post. Can't say I disagree with any of that. The 1 thing I think can/will be fixed is the pace. Kidd's teams have generally been towards the top of the league in both pace and transition buckets so I expect the Mavs to have an uptick in that area.

But yea, it's hard to really picture how this team is going to make the playoffs with this offense. Everything looks so forced it's hard to watch. I can't find the stat, but last year the Mavs were like 3rd or 4th in the league in terms of generating quality shot attempts and now they're bottom 5. The offense is just completely broken right now.
Ol Jock 99
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5th game in a row without KP.
Saint Pablo
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We don't deserve Luka. This team fooking sucks.
awrollins
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We have to have the softest big men in the league. Holy cow they are horrific.

Edit: other than Boban of course!
MW03
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JB turned changed the game to easy and turned off the shot stick. Damn.
awrollins
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Can we put JB on the leadership council instead of Zinger?
MW03
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AG
Dude is making 2nd Lambo money tonight
fightinags2013
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AG
At least we are beating bad teams
COAg15
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Saint Pablo said:

We don't deserve Luka. This team fooking sucks.
I don't think he's been playing at his usual level either so far this season.

Whole team is out of wack. KP being back would at least let us adequately assess the strength of our team.
mavsfan4ever
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Yea, Hard to blame it on all the other guys when Luka has by far the worst plus/minus on the team this year. I'm sure he will pick it up but it's been a very slow start for him.
MW03
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Is it possible to call it an olympics hangover?
COAg15
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I'm thinking it's a new system issue. JKidd has yet to thrill me with his coaching abilities so far. Telling JB to miss that 2nd free throw at the end of the game last night was tough to watch...

Hope I'm not being too pessimistic though. Really want Luka to get back in rhythm.
Saint Pablo
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COAg15 said:

Saint Pablo said:

We don't deserve Luka. This team fooking sucks.
I don't think he's been playing at his usual level either so far this season.

Whole team is out of wack. KP being back would at least let us adequately assess the strength of our team.
I think Kidd has ruined our offense.

It seems like our front office really bought into the "Luka needs to make his teammates better" nonsense when all of his teammates are just complete ass outside of a couple guys who's roles are 10x what they should be on a team that is worth a damn. It makes me sick to see the solid team the Hawks have built around Trae and then thinking about the fact Luka has been basically surrounded by the same bums his whole career.
jeffdjohnson
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COAg15 said:

Saint Pablo said:

We don't deserve Luka. This team fooking sucks.
I don't think he's been playing at his usual level either so far this season.

Whole team is out of wack. KP being back would at least let us adequately assess the strength of our team.


KP being out is actually the best way to assess the team. KP is an injured, role player who thinks (and is paid like) he is an all-star. KP doesn't flip any of the massive blowouts the Mavs have suffered to good teams this year. KPs best role is to be a floor-spacing center who blocks some shots on defense and never dribbles on offense. If healthy that is a valuable role worth maybe 15M-20M per year. However, he is never healthy, gets paid 30M and when he plays he just wants to miss mid-range post-ups and embarrass himself by dribbling the ball.

It is really frustrating to watch this team right now. At one point they were running the same starting lineup from 2 seasons ago (Luka/KP/Powell/DFS/Hardaway), except this time with a worse coach and system. It is hard to get excited following this team right now, we've seen this same squad before. There are also no obvious ways to improve other than internally. They have no cap space moving forward to bring in free agents. They are unlikely to have a top 10 pick in any season in which Luka plays, so even if the Mavs miss the playoffs you are looking at the ~15th pick. Plus they would probably just draft another bum like Josh Green when better talent is available.

Trades are their only real way out. Even though they own most of their picks there is still one protected 1st rounder owed to NYK in 2023, so they can't trade any 1st round picks until 2025 due to the Stepien Rule. I'm not really sure what their trade ammo even is at this point since no one (sane) should want KP. Value contract players like DFS and Kleber don't really move the needle. Josh Green stinks so the Mavs have no young prospects to return. It's just a tough spot right now. I think this team is likely to stay intact this season. Just have to hope for internal improvement from Brunson and Luka regaining his form.
Ol Jock 99
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hph6203
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Drained it!
awrollins
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LUKA MAGIC!!!
dave94
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What a shot
True Anomaly
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HOLY MOTHER ****ING **** THAT WAS SO ****ING UNBELIEVABLE.

That arena was ****ing LIT tonight.

Safe to say this year's city editions are a hit
COAg15
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Wow. We play SAS again this week. That's 3/4 times in the first 12 games of the season...
M.C. Swag
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COAg15 said:

Wow. We play SAS again this week. That's 3/4 times in the first 12 games of the season...
Yea it's part of the NBAs Covid scheduling. They're trying to limit travel and interaction amongst different teams to prevent outbreaks. (Easier to quarantine 2-3 teams if Mavs have a team outbreak than 5-6)
PatAg
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Just another thing we will have to account for when we try to think about how the season is going, and how it might go.

YOu could get matched up against teams while they are on a hot streak, or while they are slumping and instead of just playing one game, you catch them 3 times.
ramblin_ag02
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It's sort of jarring to watch the team play and then go look at the standings. We are not playing like a good team now, but we're somehow 3rd in the West. Hopefully it's just the transition to a new system making us look bad. At least we're not falling behind in the standings while we try to figure it out
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