(04-30-2021, 06:24 AM)ItsGoTime Wrote: Because they have no reason to be jealous or negative about him at all...


He might be cooking, but he is not done at all.

---

Yes, a knee INJURY is cause for concern. This has not been deemed a knee injury though.

(04-30-2021, 06:52 AM)Mavs2021 Wrote: Jealous

(04-30-2021, 10:13 AM)StrandedOnBeauboisHill Wrote: I think KP needs to be moved but I always think the "soft" label is kind of strange.  Outside of scheduled rest he hasn't really missed that many games.  No one is calling Luka soft for resting yesterday but people jump at the chance with KP.  No one is calling:

Anthony Davis,
Jaren Jackson Jr,
Jusuf Nurkic,
Christian Wood,
James Wiseman,
Mitchell Robinson 

Soft despite them all missing more games.  That doesn't include Embiid or KAT who have also missed around 20 games.

I understand the dude has a history of being in street clothes but this isn't really the year to go after his health, he missed a few games with the back and has missed a few now because of the ankle/knee but in a regular schedule he wouldn't have missed games due to the meniscus and came back way quicker than people expected.  Most of the missed games are precautionary.

Also, no one was calling him soft when he dropped 30/15 on that same torn meniscus in the playoffs.

The dude has his flaws but I always hate when injury prone bigs (which is like all of them other than Shaq) get called soft.  By all accounts he wants to be out there, can't imagine being attacked over something you can't control.

(04-30-2021, 10:33 AM)Mapka Wrote: Yes, this soft thing always seems sooo strange to me. Not only did he take a tech to protect Luka in the playoffs (we should have someone else for this), he also get literally in a barfight with some russian thugs protecting someone else. This is like badass in a movie tough (hope this will never happen again). 

He also has this "I´ll eat your children alive, if you mess with me" - stare, sometimes.

(04-30-2021, 10:44 AM)BasketballJones41 Wrote: I agree with this for sure. KP isn’t soft. Injury prone is probably accurate but that doesn’t equal soft. KP making Morris look like a bitch he is was one of my favorite moments of the series last year. Euros for whatever reason get unfairly hit with the soft label. It was bullshit when they said it about Dirk and it’s bullshit when anybody says it about Luka or KP. That being said I’m genuinely torn on trading him or not. I’d say I’m right at 50/50. We’ll see what happens in the playoffs.

(04-30-2021, 10:55 AM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: Soft is probably the wrong word but compared to Dirk he clearly lacks some strength. Dirk obviously wasn´t a shot blocker but he had the lower body strength to hold his position in the post and boxout legit 7ft 260+ guys. On offense he could create a lot of space with his bumps. KP is getting bullied in the paint and cannot backdown guards. Best example. First quarter yesterday.  6´8 I.Stewart was pushing him around in the paint and he couldn´t do anything about it.

(04-30-2021, 10:55 AM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: Soft is probably the wrong word but compared to Dirk he clearly lacks some strength. Dirk obviously wasn´t a shot blocker but he had the lower body strength to hold his position in the post and boxout legit 7ft 260+ guys. On offense he could create a lot of space with his bumps. KP is getting bullied in the paint and cannot backdown guards. Best example. First quarter yesterday.  6´8 I.Stewart was pushing him around in the paint and he couldn´t do anything about it.

• When Luka and KP have played together this year the Mavs have been a fringe playoff team or lottery team.
  
• When Luka has played without KP this year the Mavs have been an elite contender.
  

(04-30-2021, 01:47 PM)Kammrath Wrote: The bottom line on KP

Throw all speculation of any kind aside. This is the ONLY thing that matters when assessing the question of whether to keep KP or trade him: his fit with Luka on the court.



The Luka+KP net rating ranks the Mavs as 14th in the NBA. 

The Luka rating without KP (+6.1) ranks the Mavs 3rd in the NBA.



So the bottom line is this:

• When Luka and KP have played together this year the Mavs have been a fringe playoff team or lottery team.
  
• When Luka has played without KP this year the Mavs have been an elite contender.
  

(04-30-2021, 01:47 PM)Kammrath Wrote: The bottom line on KP

Throw all speculation of any kind aside. This is the ONLY thing that matters when assessing the question of whether to keep KP or trade him: his fit with Luka on the court.



The Luka+KP net rating ranks the Mavs as 14th in the NBA. 

The Luka rating without KP (+6.1) ranks the Mavs 3rd in the NBA.



So the bottom line is this:

• When Luka and KP have played together this year the Mavs have been a fringe playoff team or lottery team.
  
• When Luka has played without KP this year the Mavs have been an elite contender.
  

(04-30-2021, 01:47 PM)Kammrath Wrote: So the bottom line is this:

• When Luka and KP have played together this year the Mavs have been a fringe playoff team or lottery team.
  
  
• When Luka has played without KP this year the Mavs have been an elite contender.
  

(04-30-2021, 02:11 PM)omahen Wrote: First of all, the emphasis is on this year. Even not whole year, just this year so far. A very strange and special year, one might add. Is it really that difficult to at least wait till the end of the season? Can't we perhaps also have a look at last season? Why is the conclusion that it can only get worse. Why is there no possibility for a conclusion, it may get better? There are multiple signs that it can be better.

Second - there is a huge amount of noise in those net ratings, it is far from bottomline. We can add a bit more context. When Luka played and KP didn't, Mavs were 11-8, 57 % win share. When both played Mavs were 22-15, 59 % win share. When Luka-JRich-DFS-Kleber-KP started, Mavs were 16-6, good for 73 % win share. Needless to say no other combination came close to this success. When Powell went in for Kleber, Mavs are 2-0. It clearly shows there was a large amount of games where Luka and KP played, but the supporting crew was weak. This also gives hope that Mavs are actually good when everybody is available. It just wasn't very often that everybody was available.

(04-30-2021, 01:47 PM)Kammrath Wrote: The bottom line on KP

Throw all speculation of any kind aside. This is the ONLY thing that matters when assessing the question of whether to keep KP or trade him: his fit with Luka on the court.



The Luka+KP net rating ranks the Mavs as 14th in the NBA. 

The Luka rating without KP (+6.1) ranks the Mavs 3rd in the NBA.



So the bottom line is this:

• When Luka and KP have played together this year the Mavs have been a fringe playoff team or lottery team.
  
• When Luka has played without KP this year the Mavs have been an elite contender.
  

(04-30-2021, 01:57 PM)Mavs2021 Wrote: Well there is one other option: try to find a new coach that makes it work on the court. *meltdowns incoming*

(04-30-2021, 02:36 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: Where are you getting those stats? I've scoured BBref, ESPN, NBA that uses ORTG/DRTG/Net rating along with lineup data. 

Are you using 5 man combinations? If so you don't think there could be noise in that data? Namely 3 other players on the court that could be affecting that overall net rating? 

KP is apart of our 4 best 5-man lineups in terms of 100 possessions.
Brunson/DFS/JRich/Kleber/KP- +19.8, 31 minutes
Brunson/Jrich/Luka/DFS/KP- +17.7 30 minutes
Brunson/Jrich/THJ/DFS/KP- +17.5 113 minutes
Luka/JRich/DFS/Kleber/KP- +12.4 282 minutes

The last one being our most played 5 man lineup. 

In fact this trend holds true with almost every lineup combination data. KP is apart of almost every positive lineup. 

(04-30-2021, 02:36 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: Where are you getting those stats? I've scoured BBref, ESPN, NBA that uses ORTG/DRTG/Net rating along with lineup data. 

Are you using 5 man combinations? If so you don't think there could be noise in that data? Namely 3 other players on the court that could be affecting that overall net rating? 

KP is apart of our 4 best 5-man lineups in terms of 100 possessions.
Brunson/DFS/JRich/Kleber/KP- +19.8, 31 minutes
Brunson/Jrich/Luka/DFS/KP- +17.7 30 minutes
Brunson/Jrich/THJ/DFS/KP- +17.5 113 minutes
Luka/JRich/DFS/Kleber/KP- +12.4 282 minutes

The last one being our most played 5 man lineup. 

In fact this trend holds true with almost every lineup combination data. KP is apart of almost every positive lineup. 

(04-30-2021, 02:59 PM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: KP is a part of almost every positive lineup if we are simply ignoring all the other positive lineups and ignore all the negative lineups that feature him. I think I am taking a break for the rest of the day. This is going nowhere.