AROUND the NBA: Pat Bev Suspended 4 Games Next Season| PHX Fires Vogel

[omahen]

So a lot of this depends on whether you are talking about regular season or playoffs.  I think the original premise was regarding regular season standing, but if you are looking at it from a playoff perspective then your points are stronger.

For example, Bullock was in peak form during the playoffs, but he really was not that great during the regular season.  He had long stretches where he couldn't hit a 3 and he provides nothing else on offense.  I also think his defense was a little overrated.  He was a little better than average which looked really good next to poor defenders like Luka, Brunson, Timmy and Dinwiddie.  Same goes for Maxi.  He peaked during the playoffs, but he had some really bad stretches during the regular season as well.

I also think we are going to get significantly more production out of the likes of Holmes/Lively/Omax/DJJ then we got out of the bottom of the WCF roster.  To be clear, I was not suggesting with that post that we are better, but I do think we are in the ballpark from a regular season standpoint.

As for who plays second unit point when one of Luka/Kyrie is out, I think the most likely candidate is Exum.

Regular season: I think what seems as better bottom part of rotation will help in some games where guys from upper part of rotation will not play. This will bring a bit more wins. I think the upper part of rotation is at best on par with what Mavs had in previous seasons. 

Playoffs: I think Mavs still severly lack two-way players next to their stars. They will have best player on the court in most series, so I could see them win a series or even two, if the opponent would be suitable, if supporting cast will be playing defense and hit their shots. But the tougher part will be to get there, imho.

One thing to consider - Kidd/Sweeney defensive scheme worked only in first season wherever they were and is still the same. How much of a problem for the defensive result that scheme was?