MAVS NEWS: Grimes Trade Completed | Luka "Ecstatic" About Klay

[KillerLeft]

Thank you. Agree 100%.  We get wrapped up in lusting for players who can do everything, which takes them away from where they make the greatest impact. So many C's want to develop skills to play the perimeter, and they drift. And we ooh and aah at the skills. But do we want the world's tallest SG or the world's best interior dominance in a big man?

I like the Tyson Chandler example - he would hit his one to two shots a game from the elbow, which would allow him to impact how he was defended as he set screens. And then he would pound the rim. That's what they have been teaching Lively (and I suspect Gafford will end up in that school as well).

I didn't realize it at the time, but after rewatching a couple of games in the finals, the Mavericks already WERE trying to use Lively on the perimeter, doing the modern dribble-handoff stuff. They just weren't very good at it yet., probably because they hadn't done it much all season. 

Those sets are designed to end the same way the basic 1-5 screen/roll sets we see them spam end - with Lively rolling hard to the basket. It's just that they are designed for more people to be involved in the setup, which helps put the defense in a less than favorable position to defend it. 

That's what I mean when talking about this stuff, to be clear. I don't think the Mavs should put Lively in the corner, nor do I think they will, given what we've seen them implement already, and given Harrison's comments on draft night. I don't expect them to use him like Brooke Lopez, and I don't expect them to start having him pop, either, so I do think the 3-point part of his development, while potentially helpful, is being overblown somewhat. 

What I'm interested in is his decision making and passing. I think he has shown promise in both areas, and I'm hoping the Mavs are scheming up ways to leverage his development there to greater offensive effect. That's the 5-out offense that Timpf is talking about, not the spread iso style we're used to seeing when Carlisle had Porzingis and Kleber. 

This would be a good thing, if Kidd and Lively are both up to it.