We need a bruiser!

[Dahlsim]

Don’t need one on most nights but I won’t disagree. They should’ve signed someone that can actually get on the floor most nights instead of Boban. Richaun Holmes is a name I had some interest in this offseason.

The problem is Boban should have been on the floor in the Knicks game just as he was on the floor in the Grizzlies game the next night.   He's not a bruiser, unfortunately for basketball (but good for him as a person) Boban is basically a gentle giant.  He could and should lay some body wood on someone every now and them in the paint. The limit on his minutes means foul trouble would rarely be an issue for him personally and Mavs are deep at 5. 

Just his big body on the paint has some of the effect that you want from a bruiser.  Even though his stat line against Memphis wasn't the huge kind he sometimes gets per minute, it was solid but his impact was HUGE. 

Jonas who often kills Dallas had to constantly work and fight to keep him under control offensively and on the boards. Luka took full advantage getting easy baskets because they had pick their poison as Luka penetrated.  
I've like Holmes for a long time, he has warts too but he's a nice young energy 5. 

The Knicks game was completely winnable.  Not using Bobi was simply Coaches decision.

Agree we lost the game by not using Boban. Too soft with Powell. There are other ways to cover the perimeter than employing Powell. Let them get inside on design, and meet Boban and KP and Kleber. I guarantee its not nice to penetrate and meet two biggest giants of the NBA waiting to block you (the third one also a great rim protector). 


I think we dont play to our strengths defensively. We have chance to employ these 3 guys and design the defense in a way that on design allows the opponents to get into penetration where they meet KP and Boban. Allow them in the paint, chances are high they get blocked.

The good news is Rick Carlisle really seems to be wrestling with this idea of how and when to use Boban in his own strategies.  I've seen other centers over the years get planted on the bench and never get to see real time even when they had played well. 

Remember Samuel Dalembert?  
Chris Kaman? 
JaVale McGee? 
Salah Mejri ? who according to Rick Carlise famously said "the only person who can stop Salah Mejri is Rick Carlisle!" 


I was somewhat surprised when Dallas signed Boban at all, although I was happy to see it. 
Given Carlisle's tendency toward how he uses the the 5 position, and the way he favored small ball for years I thought Marjanovic might get completely buried on the bench the way JaVale McGee and to an extent Mejri did, no matter how he played.  

Carlisle seems to be really thinking over and experimenting with how to use the BIG Mavs roster now in the small ball Golden State era, which might now be kinda phased out since a lot of teams have went back to using Bigs more prominently again.