08-30-2021, 05:42 PM
Mavs were predicted to be 6th at exact same point last season by same source. The difference is not that Mavs improved but that Clippers and Denver have their key men injured for most of the season. So yes, I agree Mavs are placed reasonably correctly in the rankings. I guess same as last season, the fight will be very tight with little things moving teams considerably in the rankings. Kawhi less Clippers are slotted as 5th in those rankings. I guess Luka less Mavs would be far lower...
In my opinion: Assuming this is a team Mavs will have, I am sure they will be fun to watch during regular season. They will live and die with Luka and we saw last season there are games Luka is not 100 % locked in (fatigue, minor injury, illness, hangover, underestimation, bad day, whatever) and Mavs mostly lost those games. It will be the same this season as Mavs have no one else to turn to. Of course Luka will be great most of the time and offense will be awesome in those games with all that shooting around him. Unless KP makes a major progress, defense will be likely similar as it was. There are just too many holes with Luka and THJ on the perimeter playing heavy minutes. Once things will get serious the overreliance on Luka and not good enough defense will be exposed. Same as last season. There is little reason it would be different.
Key thing to watch for me: are Mavs able to hold Luka accountable? Bitching against the refs went too far even for my taste at the Olympics and there was no one on the team (coaching stuff included) who would dare to tell Luka to shut up. Mavs desperately need a respected vet imho, so I really hope they manage to get at least Dragic. And soon.
In my opinion: Assuming this is a team Mavs will have, I am sure they will be fun to watch during regular season. They will live and die with Luka and we saw last season there are games Luka is not 100 % locked in (fatigue, minor injury, illness, hangover, underestimation, bad day, whatever) and Mavs mostly lost those games. It will be the same this season as Mavs have no one else to turn to. Of course Luka will be great most of the time and offense will be awesome in those games with all that shooting around him. Unless KP makes a major progress, defense will be likely similar as it was. There are just too many holes with Luka and THJ on the perimeter playing heavy minutes. Once things will get serious the overreliance on Luka and not good enough defense will be exposed. Same as last season. There is little reason it would be different.
Key thing to watch for me: are Mavs able to hold Luka accountable? Bitching against the refs went too far even for my taste at the Olympics and there was no one on the team (coaching stuff included) who would dare to tell Luka to shut up. Mavs desperately need a respected vet imho, so I really hope they manage to get at least Dragic. And soon.
![[-]](https://www.mavsboard.com/images/collapse.png)