AROUND the NBA:

[michaeltex]

"I would add that playing Coop at the point provided him a unique perspective on the game, increasing his understanding and effectiveness with more exposure."

Thanks for all the feedback. FWIW I wasn't trying to get a precise definition of what a creator is, but rather an assessment of who we think CF is being molded to become.

It's easy to see yr 1 as them playing him out of position (intentionally) in relation to what they want him to become, so that he will add some skills. That certainly happened.

Now they move him back to his natural role, and he takes those skills with him and is a better F because of it. Right?

Or do they? Personally, I think the Mavs might be aiming for him to be quite a bit more PG-ish than the off-ball sometimes creators we see around the league. Maybe even more than Giannis, Kawhi, Lebron sorts. His handle would have to get way better, and he needs work on his shooting efficiency. But how valuable is a Luka-like player who also is a superior defender?

Is that a step too far? Just a wild fantasy?

I don't think that's a fantasy, but how achievable is that goal over an 82+ game season at 36+ minutes a night? My uncalibrated observation is that there is a finite amount of energy each player has to expend, that may vary night to night, so where do you spend it? If Coop is going to be a defensive stopper, then is it too much to ask that he initiate offense at the other end? I think we all agree that a stronger backcourt (Kyrie + FRP?) will help share the offensive burden, so maybe Coop's effectiveness can be maximized on both ends.

IMO, the team has to get better in half court offense to make any real impact. They seem to be able to run with most teams, but the better teams stop penetration and force the ball to stay on the perimeter, where DAL seems to stagnate a lot. Coop improving his outside shooting will help that, as will the addition of other shooters like Kyrie. I have a hope that DLive's return will help as well, since Gaff didn't seem as effective last season. I'm kind of wanting to see MB3 play with a healthy team, but we'll see what happens this summer.