Judgement-Free (Over)Reaction Thread

[BasketballJones41]

With DSJ back in the news it reminds me how well the Mavs kept his issues under wraps. Could there be similar issues with this team, boiling just below the surface? The falloff is very strange but a few recent comments suggest there may be something there— a potential blockbuster for an enterprising reporter to suss out. 

1. Doncic’s comments about needing to get back to enjoying the game to get back to his prior level. This may be nothing more than frustration with losing. Or 3’s not falling. But I’m a little concerned. He came in out of shape and although his stats look good his game just seems to be missing something. No joy. 

2. JRich’s comments about the team lacking toughness, aggression and togetherness, then doing better with communication after the GSW win “listening to listen rather than listening to respond.” ie handling criticism. 

3. KP going to the media about his minutes distribution; and his general attitude about the team’s struggles seems to lack some competitive fire. Lots of excuses coming from KP. 

4. I don’t remember which game it was but I saw some really bad body language and verbal barking out of James Johnson about defensive mistakes. Carlisle called timeout and pulled him immediately. He’s seen limited minutes since ... and was DNP-injury last game.

I’ve had a suspicion that something has been going on behind the scenes for a while now. It’s probably nothing but I just noticed that Luka and KP don’t follow Hardaway on Twitter. And he doesn’t follow either one of them. Like I said probably nothing but given everything that you listed above it makes me wonder.