2019-20 Mavs News

[dirkfansince1998]

The Mavs #3-10 players are in the bottom 1/3 of the league as far as talent and the absolute worst of the playoff teams.

Disagree. It´s really about the 3 remaining starters. We basically took 2-3 former bench players and inserted them in the starting five. Obviously they are outmatched against better players. But even worse they are missing in the bench unit.
JJB/Harris/DFS/Kleber/Powell was a top 3 bench last year. Harris retired. JJB looks like he needs to retire as well. Before his injury Powell was the starting center. DFS is the starting SF/PF. Kleber comes of the bench but nearly plays starter minutes. The Mavs are also missing Brunson who was growing into JJBs bench leader role. Curry is needed in the starting five. Wright never lived up to the expectations.

Would be huge if the Mavs could rebuild the 2018/19 bench next year. But that would require them to find at least two quality starters.

Brunson/Curry/x/Kleber/Powell is a really good bench. Would be a dream to move DFS back to the bench as well but that´s probably a pipe dream. If Powell isn´t the same player after the injury the Mavs still have Boban.

Please list the teams in the playoffs who the Mav's #3-10 are better than.  I can't think of one. 

As much as DFS is loved around here bc he is the only perimeter defender on the Mavs, he's slightly above average in that role.  And like you said should optimally be coming off the bench.

The Mavs finished 7th in the western conference so it is pretty obvious that the overall talent isn´t as good compared to most playoff teams. That said. I think the Mavs #3-10 are better than Orlandos or Brooklyns. Healthy on par with the Blazers and Pacers. Maybe even the Jazz (better starters, terrible depth) and Rockets (even more top heavy, basically a 7-8 man rotation since the Capela trade) . Obviously better than some non playoff teams as well.

Orlando's best players are Vuc and Issac after that Fournier is better than THJ. Gordon is better than of the Mavs players #3-10  then they also have T.Ross, Mo Bamba, Fultz and Augustin on the Bench (which is substantially better than the Mavs #3-10.  I don't see how the Mavs #3-10 is better than there's.

Brooklyn best players as of now not counting Durrant and Irving are Levert and then Dinwiddie (both substantially better than THJ).  But if we aren't including either one of those DAJ, Allen, Claxton, Krucus, Musa (those Bigs are better than the Mavs), T.Prince (argument could made he is better than THJ), J. Harris (better than Curry),, TL-Cabborot (watching him in the bubble, he would start on the Mavs ie better than DFS), and others.  Brooklyn's #3-10 is much better than the Mavs.

The Blazers and Pacers I won't go through the roster but check them out.

Lets keep it real its amazing Luka, KP and Rick have carried this team to the playoffs.  No one was expecting this at the beginning of season bc we knew that the rest of the roster was terrible to average at best.

The thoughts about the season and the other players on the roster only changed after winning some games during the season no one expected.  But this roster has never been talented and needs a massive overhaul. Its like when LeBron carried that first Cleveland team to the finals.  Looking back on it it was the hell did he do that.  It will be similar for the Mavs when we look back at this season.

Wow...And I thought I am one of the more pessimistic posters on this board but you are taking it to another level.

Fournier is a slightly better version of THJ. Bad defense. Good shooting. Slightly better iso scorer. Gordon continues to be the among the most overrated players on this board. Not a good shooter. not a good inside scorer. Average defender (go ahead and look up the numbers). I will give you that both are probably slightly better than the Mavs #3 and #4.
The rest of Orlandos roster is way worse. Fultz vs Curry? No brainer. Maxi vs Bamba? Right now. Big gap. Augustin and Carter-Williams are barely NBA players. Fultz improved but can barely make his FTs and is useless without the ball.

Same for the Nets even if you include Irving and Durant. Dinwindie and Levert are nice players if you like volume scoring on low efficiency. Not so much if you want to win games. DAJ was horrible in Dallas and hasn´t improved this year. Same as usual. He chases rebounds and does not play any defense. Allen is probably slightly better than the Mavs bigs. Musa (37% FG) and Kurucs are scoring 5pts per game. Claxton has played in 12 NBA games so far. How in the world are they better than Maxi, Boban or a healthy Powell?
THJ has been really bad in the bubble and I have been on of his biggest critics but can we at least acknowledge that he had the best season of his career. Prince is a slightly better defender. Not a good one either. But way worse on offense. THJ 16pts/58% TS vs Prince 12 pts/50%TS.
TL-Cabborot played the best basketball of his career in the bubble and had some incredible shooting nights. His numbers are still not close to Currys or even Brunsons.

Is your entire opinion based on the Mavs mediocre performance in the bubble? Looking at the way you evaluate the players it looks like it. If that´s the case it might be a good idea to remind you of the early season.
Mavs had a starting five with a negative net rating. Doncic and KP struggled to find on court chemistry. The bench was winning games for the Mavs. Things obviously changed over the season and Brunsons and Powells injury hurt the bench unit. The starting five could compensate the loss of Powell because of KPs improvement. The bench lost Powell and also had to replace Curry or Kleber because one of them moved to the starting five.

In the other thread you can see a win projection from earlier in the season. Seems like a majority of posters predicted a playoff spot and a +0.500 record.
My thoughts about the season did not change at all. I expected 42-44 wins (Mavs were even better). Well...KPs improvement suprised me. I thought he would need at least a complete season but he is way ahead of schedule.
The Mavs have a lot of 6th-8th best player candidates that deserve minutes but lack real starters. Was the same all season long. Sometimes they overperformed. Sometimes (for example in the bubble) they struggled. Curry for example nearly averaged 20pts on 50/50/80 shooting splits in february and march and carried the scoring load for an injury-prone Doncic. THJ had hot stretches as well. Even a low minutes player like Boban contributed. He secured a win vs the Nuggets. Scoring a career high 31pts.

Acting like the entire supporting cast was terrible all season long is a joke. Overall they probably exceeded expectations.