07-11-2022, 07:28 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-11-2022, 07:51 AM by DanSchwartzgan.)
82Games is starting to put out some new stuff. One such page is a Sortable 'Team Won-Lost Page'. So, while all the Negative Nancy's continue to Nancy, let me pump a little sunshine:
As we may remember, Dallas finished with the 5th best record in the league (one win behind GSW and one ahead of Boston). This wasn't since January 1st or anything like that. If was the entire season including KP and Luka missing games, Bullock's shot missing the first half of the season and Maxi's going MIA the second half of the season. It was with the team tinkering with lineups for two plus months before starting to figure things out in January. People forget that Brunson didn't start next to Luka until January and the winning that ensued came with Powell and Maxi starting next to Luka, DFS and Brunson. KP started with the Luka/Brunson combo for only 8 games before being traded and the DP/DFS/RB/Brunson/Luka lineup did start together until 2/4 (and proceeded to win 8 of 9).
In other words, we were a hot mess until calendar 2022 and still had the 5th best record in the league and the following:
We were 2nd in percentage of wins in games we had a 10 point lead at 85% (basically, get up by 10 and it is over). AND 10 point leads happened 48 times or almost 60% of our games (remember, we were a hot mess until the beginning of 2022). Only two teams, Phoenix and Memphis, won games with 10 point leads more times. So percentage of wins 2nd and the number of times it happened third.
We were also 2nd in the winning percentage where we trailed by 10 or more at some point in the game. We won 17 of those games, tied for best in the league, again while tying on arm behind our back for the first half of the season. So percentage of wins 2nd and the number of times it happened tied for first.
We were 7th in winning percentage in close games. Seemingly, we won them all in the second half of the season and none in the first half, but 82 games doesn't break it down like that. The good news is we didn't have to play that many close games as we were 20th in frequency of close games.
The question is are we still as good as that team?
I think we've improved our front court dramatically. Wood was a Top 40 player in the league by EPM in the 20 and 21 seasons before the Houston tank last season. McGee replaces the Powell role with dramatically better rebounding and defensive numbers while not giving up the good PnR numbers. Yeah, we lost Brunson, the league's 75th best player by EPM last season and replaced him with SD, the 135th. But, peak Dinwiddie in 2020 was the 58th best player in the league by EPM and the upcoming season is the point you'd expect to see him fully recover from his injury. We will miss JB's self created offense, but between Wood and the return of THJ, we'll generate plenty of O. Dinwiddie is actually an improvement over JB in the distribution area (48th in the league in Asst% versus 81st for JB)
We also got longer across the board and kept our top defenders while adding the McGee upgrade over Powell. Wood shows well as a defender at the four which is where he will start games (assuming he starts games). I still see a top 4 team in the West and that is before we fill the hole at backup PG.
As we may remember, Dallas finished with the 5th best record in the league (one win behind GSW and one ahead of Boston). This wasn't since January 1st or anything like that. If was the entire season including KP and Luka missing games, Bullock's shot missing the first half of the season and Maxi's going MIA the second half of the season. It was with the team tinkering with lineups for two plus months before starting to figure things out in January. People forget that Brunson didn't start next to Luka until January and the winning that ensued came with Powell and Maxi starting next to Luka, DFS and Brunson. KP started with the Luka/Brunson combo for only 8 games before being traded and the DP/DFS/RB/Brunson/Luka lineup did start together until 2/4 (and proceeded to win 8 of 9).
In other words, we were a hot mess until calendar 2022 and still had the 5th best record in the league and the following:
We were 2nd in percentage of wins in games we had a 10 point lead at 85% (basically, get up by 10 and it is over). AND 10 point leads happened 48 times or almost 60% of our games (remember, we were a hot mess until the beginning of 2022). Only two teams, Phoenix and Memphis, won games with 10 point leads more times. So percentage of wins 2nd and the number of times it happened third.
We were also 2nd in the winning percentage where we trailed by 10 or more at some point in the game. We won 17 of those games, tied for best in the league, again while tying on arm behind our back for the first half of the season. So percentage of wins 2nd and the number of times it happened tied for first.
We were 7th in winning percentage in close games. Seemingly, we won them all in the second half of the season and none in the first half, but 82 games doesn't break it down like that. The good news is we didn't have to play that many close games as we were 20th in frequency of close games.
The question is are we still as good as that team?
I think we've improved our front court dramatically. Wood was a Top 40 player in the league by EPM in the 20 and 21 seasons before the Houston tank last season. McGee replaces the Powell role with dramatically better rebounding and defensive numbers while not giving up the good PnR numbers. Yeah, we lost Brunson, the league's 75th best player by EPM last season and replaced him with SD, the 135th. But, peak Dinwiddie in 2020 was the 58th best player in the league by EPM and the upcoming season is the point you'd expect to see him fully recover from his injury. We will miss JB's self created offense, but between Wood and the return of THJ, we'll generate plenty of O. Dinwiddie is actually an improvement over JB in the distribution area (48th in the league in Asst% versus 81st for JB)
We also got longer across the board and kept our top defenders while adding the McGee upgrade over Powell. Wood shows well as a defender at the four which is where he will start games (assuming he starts games). I still see a top 4 team in the West and that is before we fill the hole at backup PG.
![[-]](https://www.mavsboard.com/images/collapse.png)