Tksymm7 said:

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I'm going to call BS on that to some extent. Not saying he hasn't grown, but he checked in at 6' 7.75" at the combine, and he's now being listed shoeless as 6'10"? That's 2.25" in a year lol.

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I was going to say the same thing. 6'10 in shoes maybe.

I could definitely believe he grew .75" or even a full inch to take him to 6' 8.75" but 6'10" is insane.

He's 19. It's not insane for guys to grow an inch or two or more from 18-20. Feel like I've heard it happening to some guys in college before. Agree it seems crazy but who knows.

David Robinson was 6'6" when he started at Annapolis

Guitarsoup said:

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Sources: Mavs C Dereck Lively II (foot) has not been cleared for camp as he continues to recover from his December surgery. His status for the start of the season has yet to be determined. He has not suffered any setback and is slowly ramping up to begin basketball activity.

— Tim MacMahon (@BannedMacMahon) September 24, 2026

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Sucks. He showed so much promise. Foot issues + big man = terrible recipe

I think his career is over.

How hard are we going to suck this season? Does anyone have a turnaround jumper that I need to go see.

South Platte said:

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How hard are we going to suck this season? Does anyone have a turnaround jumper that I need to go see.

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The team is going to be far superior to last season's team, assuming health obviously, but the quality of basketball throughout the league will probably be better. I'm thinking this team should have around 36 wins if nothing disastrous happens. There's also potential for a play in or better if Coop takes a bigger than expected leap and Lively plays 50ish games.

But you go to watch Kyrie and Coop play. Kyrie is obviously one of the smoothest players to ever play the game and Coop is already getting hype as possibly a top 25 player in the league at 19 years old. I think Dusty May wants the team to be fun to watch also, so it should be a pleasing style of basketball to watch.

Good answers guys, thank you. That's a 2-star Tsksymm and 3-star vessel coming in strong.

Did we figure out why Dusty May? I don't hate the hire, but I do wonder if he's still around after 1 season.

Vessel said:

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South Platte said:

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How hard are we going to suck this season? Does anyone have a turnaround jumper that I need to go see.

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The team is going to be far superior to last season's team, assuming health obviously, but the quality of basketball throughout the league will probably be better. I'm thinking this team should have around 36 wins if nothing disastrous happens. There's also potential for a play in or better if Coop takes a bigger than expected leap and Lively plays 50ish games.

But you go to watch Kyrie and Coop play. Kyrie is obviously one of the smoothest players to ever play the game and Coop is already getting hype as possibly a top 25 player in the league at 19 years old. I think Dusty May wants the team to be fun to watch also, so it should be a pleasing style of basketball to watch.

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Yeah, I think you nailed it. Mavs should be way better. Theoretically better coaching. Kyrie back. Risacher should be a solid backup D&3 wing.

The big question is that we arent going to see tanking teams this season like in the past. They flattened out the odds and the draft sucks, plus teams like Washington, Utah, Miami, etc made moves to compete and teams like Brooklyn and Milwaukee don't control their draft pick. Indiana got back Hali. Kings will still be dog****, but most of the league is going to be trying to win this year, unlike last year where there were just ~8-10 teams trying to lose.

South Platte said:

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Good answers guys, thank you. That's a 2-star Tsksymm and 3-star vessel coming in strong.

Did we figure out why Dusty May? I don't hate the hire, but I do wonder if he's still around after 1 season.

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My best answer is "why not Dusty May?" He showed how to win with 4 guard lineups at FAU and he won a national championship with a big lineup at Michigan.

I think he's a good coach who loves basketball and college ball became something he didn't like, so he moved to professional ball. He's a basketball nerd who is in to analytics and has also shown he can coach different styles. I think it's an awesome swing.

First sneak preview of the 26-27 Mavs this week on Friday morning.

Guitarsoup said:

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Vessel said:

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South Platte said:

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How hard are we going to suck this season? Does anyone have a turnaround jumper that I need to go see.

---

The team is going to be far superior to last season's team, assuming health obviously, but the quality of basketball throughout the league will probably be better. I'm thinking this team should have around 36 wins if nothing disastrous happens. There's also potential for a play in or better if Coop takes a bigger than expected leap and Lively plays 50ish games.

But you go to watch Kyrie and Coop play. Kyrie is obviously one of the smoothest players to ever play the game and Coop is already getting hype as possibly a top 25 player in the league at 19 years old. I think Dusty May wants the team to be fun to watch also, so it should be a pleasing style of basketball to watch.

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Yeah, I think you nailed it. Mavs should be way better. Theoretically better coaching. Kyrie back. Risacher should be a solid backup D&3 wing.

The big question is that we arent going to see tanking teams this season like in the past. They flattened out the odds and the draft sucks, plus teams like Washington, Utah, Miami, etc made moves to compete and teams like Brooklyn and Milwaukee don't control their draft pick. Indiana got back Hali. Kings will still be dog****, but most of the league is going to be trying to win this year, unlike last year where there were just ~8-10 teams trying to lose.

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Last year pissed me off. I mean I feel like the mavs had a reason to tank because kyrie was hurt, but the one year we suck and should be able to count on a good draft pick, just about 1/3 of the league was tanking. Pretty ridiculous.

Grapesoda2525 said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Vessel said:

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South Platte said:

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How hard are we going to suck this season? Does anyone have a turnaround jumper that I need to go see.

---

The team is going to be far superior to last season's team, assuming health obviously, but the quality of basketball throughout the league will probably be better. I'm thinking this team should have around 36 wins if nothing disastrous happens. There's also potential for a play in or better if Coop takes a bigger than expected leap and Lively plays 50ish games.

But you go to watch Kyrie and Coop play. Kyrie is obviously one of the smoothest players to ever play the game and Coop is already getting hype as possibly a top 25 player in the league at 19 years old. I think Dusty May wants the team to be fun to watch also, so it should be a pleasing style of basketball to watch.

---

Yeah, I think you nailed it. Mavs should be way better. Theoretically better coaching. Kyrie back. Risacher should be a solid backup D&3 wing.

The big question is that we arent going to see tanking teams this season like in the past. They flattened out the odds and the draft sucks, plus teams like Washington, Utah, Miami, etc made moves to compete and teams like Brooklyn and Milwaukee don't control their draft pick. Indiana got back Hali. Kings will still be dog****, but most of the league is going to be trying to win this year, unlike last year where there were just ~8-10 teams trying to lose.

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Last year pissed me off. I mean I feel like the mavs had a reason to tank because kyrie was hurt, but the one year we suck and should be able to count on a good draft pick, just about 1/3 of the league was tanking. Pretty ridiculous.

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No one to blame but ourselves. Why we refused to buyout or bench Middleton was insane and cost us at least 2 spots (arguably the Grizz jumping up to 4 should have been our lotto ball).

M.C. Swag said:

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Grapesoda2525 said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Vessel said:

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South Platte said:

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How hard are we going to suck this season? Does anyone have a turnaround jumper that I need to go see.

---

The team is going to be far superior to last season's team, assuming health obviously, but the quality of basketball throughout the league will probably be better. I'm thinking this team should have around 36 wins if nothing disastrous happens. There's also potential for a play in or better if Coop takes a bigger than expected leap and Lively plays 50ish games.

But you go to watch Kyrie and Coop play. Kyrie is obviously one of the smoothest players to ever play the game and Coop is already getting hype as possibly a top 25 player in the league at 19 years old. I think Dusty May wants the team to be fun to watch also, so it should be a pleasing style of basketball to watch.

---

Yeah, I think you nailed it. Mavs should be way better. Theoretically better coaching. Kyrie back. Risacher should be a solid backup D&3 wing.

The big question is that we arent going to see tanking teams this season like in the past. They flattened out the odds and the draft sucks, plus teams like Washington, Utah, Miami, etc made moves to compete and teams like Brooklyn and Milwaukee don't control their draft pick. Indiana got back Hali. Kings will still be dog****, but most of the league is going to be trying to win this year, unlike last year where there were just ~8-10 teams trying to lose.

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Last year pissed me off. I mean I feel like the mavs had a reason to tank because kyrie was hurt, but the one year we suck and should be able to count on a good draft pick, just about 1/3 of the league was tanking. Pretty ridiculous.

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No one to blame but ourselves. Why we refused to buyout or bench Middleton was insane and cost us at least 2 spots (arguably the Grizz jumping up to 4 should have been our lotto ball).

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I have mixed feelings about the Middleton thing because I thought maybe we could bring him back next year and you know how we always struggle with free agency.

I also didn't want San Antonio to get Middleton for free when they've already lucked into a super good young team with 2 generational players and several really good players behind them.

Middleton basically had two good games, both in games we were extremely unlikely to lose anyways. Middleton had the worst on/off on the team last season outside of Tyus Jones.

Memphis was running out lineups with OMax at center and he was their best and most experienced player. Mavs were never going to be able to compete against that because we were trying to get Cooper experience. Mavs had no chance of losing to that Chicago team on the last night of the season either.

It's funny people will direct their anger at Middleton but not at Coop for beating the Lakers with 45/8/9 in primetime. We also beat a .500 Portland team late in the year which Middleton didn't play in. Middleton was awful in the game we won at Cleveland. Middleton wasn't on the team when we beat the Knicks in the Garden in January which basically had the domino effect leading to the Knicks winning the title lol.

The point is just that the Mavs jumped up and got some good teams even later in the year and I think it's because the team is better than their record said because they actually did try to lose a lot of games. It's why I'm pretty optimistic we can exceed our betting win total and compete for the play in this season.

Vessel said:

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Middleton basically had two good games, both in games we were extremely unlikely to lose anyways. Middleton had the worst on/off on the team last season outside of Tyus Jones.

Memphis was running out lineups with OMax at center and he was their best and most experienced player. Mavs were never going to be able to compete against that because we were trying to get Cooper experience. Mavs had no chance of losing to that Chicago team on the last night of the season either.

It's funny people will direct their anger at Middleton but not at Coop for beating the Lakers with 45/8/9 in primetime. We also beat a .500 Portland team late in the year which Middleton didn't play in. Middleton was awful in the game we won at Cleveland. Middleton wasn't on the team when we beat the Knicks in the Garden in January which basically had the domino effect leading to the Knicks winning the title lol.

The point is just that the Mavs jumped up and got some good teams even later in the year and I think it's because the team is better than their record said because they actually did try to lose a lot of games. It's why I'm pretty optimistic we can exceed our betting win total and compete for the play in this season.

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I don't know how much of the context needs to be re litigated, but at the end of the day the Mavs dropped 2 spots in the draft because of 1 win and had the Mavs cut Middleton immediately after the trade, they would have AT WORST drafted 7th (at best, 4th). We were never going to re sign him and he shoulda been cut loose the second the trade was completed. No one is going to be mad at a rookie for playing and winning a game but this was the last year the Mavs controlled their own pick and the Front Office never committed to the tank like they should have.

Yep. Last season was super frustrating to watch. Nothing worse than being in no man's land with the only positive being a premium draft pick, only to watch your team piss it away frivolously

You're assuming we lose the Memphis game without him and also that we don't win any other games without him. Go look at that Memphis team out on the floor for that game. They had 8 guys available, 7 of which would never sniff the court on an average team. A guy named Tyler Burton played almost 30 minutes. Rayan Rupert played 38...

Like I said, Middleton's on/off was only better than Tyus Jones. There's just no way to know which games we win or lose with or without him.

We very likely win the GS OT game without Middleton and we likely win the LAC OT game without him.

Vessel said:

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You're assuming we lose the Memphis game without him and also that we don't win any other games without him. Go look at that Memphis team out on the floor for that game. They had 8 guys available, 7 of which would never sniff the court on an average team. A guy named Tyler Burton played almost 30 minutes. Rayan Rupert played 38...

Like I said, Middleton's on/off was only better than Tyus Jones. There's just no way to know which games we win or lose with or without him.

We very likely win the GS OT game without Middleton and we likely win the LAC OT game without him.

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Yes, I'm saying we would have lost a game if Middleton wasn't there to shoot 8/10 from 3pt range lol.

Idk why you're being so obtuse about this. If the Mavs had tried their best to tank, and wound up in the 9th spot. Fine, **** happens and I could live with that. But they didn't try their best, there were obvious moves they could have made to increase their odds but didn't and it LIKELY cost them a lottery player.

And #1 on that list would be sit Cooper Flagg, which was my original point. Nobody is mad we didn't do that, because we all understand there are reasonable limits. Memphis and several other teams did not adhere to those reasonable limits.

My other point is that Middleton was awful last year by every metric and him shooting 8/10 from 3 in a game is the definition of s- happening while tanking.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/DAL/2026.html

I encourage you to go to this page and go down to the "Advanced" section. By PER, WS/48, BPM, and VORP (and any other advanced metric you can find on Al Gore's internet), Middleton was by far the worst Maverick to receive any meaningful playing time. Having Khris Middleton on the floor was 100% a tanking operation.

Hindsight is 20/20. Not cutting Middleton was a mistake, but as Vessel noted there was some generational tanking last year by half a dozen teams. What the Grizz and Jazz were doing was genuinely appalling.

The Mavs, with Coop, were bound to win some unexpected games and wouldn't have been a top five worst team without major injuries. I also suspect the Mavs would have chosen Morez 7th, 8th or 9th.

Keeping Middleton only really made sense if the Mavs were going to keep him this year. Of course, hard to plan for the Wizards to give him 3y18M. WAY too much.

We just need this season to start so we can try to stop looking backwards.

Time to start feeling good about the future.

What did I just watch pic.twitter.com/oAIFaxsGFe

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) October 7, 2026

Lively gonna cause an international incident over a guy saying uhm in Chinese.

Bigger news is Lively is walking lol.

How confident are you guys in Morez " panning out" or turning into a good player?

Reasonably confident. I liked him in the draft, but thought it was more likely we take him after trading down a few spots. He has a good motor and a good mindset, which is the best starting point you can ask of a player.

The shot was solid at Michigan, but if he's going to play 4 in the NBA then it needs to improve. He jumped out of the gym at the combine, but I'm not sure he plays super bouncy in games. His strength, agility, and quickness definitely show up though. Showed plenty of offensive skill in the summer league game and finished with 27/8/3/3/2.

I just have no clue how we're going to use him. I think his best NBA position is the 5, but apparently we're using him at 4.

At minimum he's a really good defender who always plays hard, so I don't see a world where he busts out of the league. Isaiah Stewart is a reasonable low end comp, for me, with potential for a higher offensive ceiling. High end comp is something in the zip code of Bam.

I'm looking forward to seeing him play. He's been dealing with a calf issue, I think, but I'm pretty sure I heard that he's been doing 5v5 scrimmages recently. Really hope he plays in the Macao games.

The most interesting thing for Morez this year, in my opinion, is who he is going to play with. I, like Vessel, kinda view him as more of a 5 at this point in his career, and he could develop a good offensive game in say two years. So from that perspective I think playing him with Santi would probably look the best, and get the most out of him, but I truly do not know how they plan to utilize him.

Really like the idea of a Morez/Aldama frontcourt. Plenty of size and complimentary skill sets.

I can see that being our best frontcourt pairing until Lively is back.

I really hope we get to see Morez matchup against Sengun a ton in these next 2 games.

You want to talk about biggest things that could shift my expectations for the season... Morez reasonably sticking with Sengun and looking like he belongs against their double big lineup... Oh man lol