What is going on with the Mavs?

[RDB]

They can all get to the basket. Even against Charlotte, they had 42 points in the paint, and most of those weren't from Luka. They scored on roughly half of their attempts there. Granted, the spacing is pretty terrible right now when the guys aren't making their threes, but that should get better, and paint scoring should get easier. Some of them aren't going to the bucket as much as we expected, but that doesn't mean they can't do it.

Like you, I am disappointed with the early performance, and I realize that grand expectations for the team need to be tempered for the sake of realism. But it's a leap to decide that, because they didn't play well in three early games, they will never play well again. What am I missing, RDB?

I completely disagree that they can all get to the basket.  One of you guys that can name the last 3 agents for the 3rd string PG on the Knicks tell me if there is a way to pull the shot charts for the Mavs and pull out shots in the paint for Luka and Brunson as well as fast break shots.  I would like to know the points in the paint (minus Luka and Brunson) during set plays.

Finney-Smith can’t dribble so I don’t know how he can get to the hole,  The same slow footedness that limits Hardaway on defense limits his escapability on offense.  We are still waiting for Kleber to take his first shot in the paint.  Dwight does take most of his shots in the paint but his effectiveness is marginal.  Richardson does get to the paint some but it is a huge stretch to say that is an effective element of his game.

I’m not arguing that we should take more mid range shots or go against analytics.  I used mid range shots as an indicator of shot creation.  What I am suggesting is that if our philosophy is to shoot from the extremes (3 point or rim), the rim part better come from Luka or Brunson and any marginal success that someone else has is likely a direct result of something that Luka did.  We need another athletic playmaker or we are going to run the wheels off of Luka.