Realistically, Dallas got a bad run of schedule to open a very odd season. Very little training camp, no fans, etc. They are working on Defense first right now. That's all about communication. They just aren't communicating out there yet. They don't seem to have a D leader on the floor. That working on D first is wearing them out. No stamina. That will correct itself. You can tell by guys taking easy quick jumpers on offense trying to catch their breath.
Luka is a little out of shape likely due to the lack of a real camp. He'll get into shape pretty quick. I'm not worried about that at all. Normally they would have had him in the weight room for the offseason. There really wasn't much of an offseason nor much of a camp. You can tell this even by the way that LeBron totally air balled a free throw.
Vets will fair much better because they know what to expect an offseason to look like and what to work on. Luka is still only 21. Even though he's been pro a long time it's different with the NBA offseason. They focus more on athletics than on skill in the offseason. Euro focuses more on skill and less on athletics.
The Lakers are ridiculously loaded while the Mavs are a building young team. The Mavs are currently missing KP which is huge. It throws off everything they do. Powell is 100% but you can tell he doesn't fully trust it yet. That's to be expected. Then add on them trying to add a new starter into the rotation. It's a lot of adjustment. Just give them 10-15 games.
Rick will get them worked out. I really like seeing Luka better at the line and much better on shot selection. He's missing a lot at the moment but it's conditioning. Once he is in ball shape he'll look fabulous. Give him another couple of weeks there and he'll be back to himself. Another kink right now is that the Suns and Lakers both threw constant new defenders rotating at him all game. They also were quick to double and triple even. Once his conditioning catches up he'll make them pay for doing that.
No need to worry after just the 2nd game. Clippers will likely be a loss as well. Then, they should start getting on track.
All in all, I see Richardson, Johnson, and the draft picks this year all being very good pickups. J Rich will be a perfect fit. I like his offense so far. I wasn't expecting that. I was mainly expecting the man defense. These guys are building something great.
Luka is a little out of shape likely due to the lack of a real camp. He'll get into shape pretty quick. I'm not worried about that at all. Normally they would have had him in the weight room for the offseason. There really wasn't much of an offseason nor much of a camp. You can tell this even by the way that LeBron totally air balled a free throw.
Vets will fair much better because they know what to expect an offseason to look like and what to work on. Luka is still only 21. Even though he's been pro a long time it's different with the NBA offseason. They focus more on athletics than on skill in the offseason. Euro focuses more on skill and less on athletics.
The Lakers are ridiculously loaded while the Mavs are a building young team. The Mavs are currently missing KP which is huge. It throws off everything they do. Powell is 100% but you can tell he doesn't fully trust it yet. That's to be expected. Then add on them trying to add a new starter into the rotation. It's a lot of adjustment. Just give them 10-15 games.
Rick will get them worked out. I really like seeing Luka better at the line and much better on shot selection. He's missing a lot at the moment but it's conditioning. Once he is in ball shape he'll look fabulous. Give him another couple of weeks there and he'll be back to himself. Another kink right now is that the Suns and Lakers both threw constant new defenders rotating at him all game. They also were quick to double and triple even. Once his conditioning catches up he'll make them pay for doing that.
No need to worry after just the 2nd game. Clippers will likely be a loss as well. Then, they should start getting on track.
All in all, I see Richardson, Johnson, and the draft picks this year all being very good pickups. J Rich will be a perfect fit. I like his offense so far. I wasn't expecting that. I was mainly expecting the man defense. These guys are building something great.