MAVS NEWS: Luka Is Hurt, But is Trudging On | DLive's Mom Passes Away| Maxi OUT

[Nowitzki Way]

Okay, time for some preseason overreaction takes:

Dereck Lively: WAY more polished than I ever expected. He looks good. The talent is there. Despite that he is not a starting center ready to go....yet. Is this another case of SleepingHero missing on a draft pick, except this time its a positive result? (Yes I did think Justin Anderson and Ricky Ledo had a shot).

Dante Exum: He is going to be the most impactful role player off the bench this season by a long shot. I hope the Mavs put him in a hyperbaric chamber before and after every game to ensure he can last an entire season. 

Maxi Kleber: Looks like he lost more than a step. I always assumed he'd continue to be that versatile switch big who can hit a 3, but it looks like he can barely shuffle his feet. Mavs should sell as high as possible before other teams get wind.
 
Jaden Hardy: His prolific scoring cannot be questioned. He's got it. Yet there isn't a shot on the court that will make him think "nah better not". It works sometimes, most of the time he looks like a foolish chucker. It's obvious he's worked on his playmaking skills and he's looking for the lob more. I like to see that. Still, can be please not become Melo 2.0 with even worse efficiency? 

Diamond Powell: He is still Diamond Dwight. The oft infuriating, consistent, head bashing Dwight. He needs to play less than 10mpg. Will he this season? Spoiler: He's going to start 41 games @20mpg.

Richaun Holmes: The fact I'm sitting here questioning whether or not Bertans is actually more playable than him should tell you all you need to know. He's cooked. I can see the odd game where he catches fire in the PnR but the defense alone should make him glued to the bench for the entirety of his stay here. 

Grant Williams: He's a lot smaller on the court than I expected, despite knowing he was 6'6 on a good day. But he does definitely play bigger than his size suggests. He gives Luka a run for his money for the slowest mfer out there, but I can see the potential of having him be our mini Draymond. Several times against Madrid I saw Grant push the pace, and more often than not, make a great pass for an easy shot. More of that please. Solid pickup. But I don't know if he's going to be this massive game changer. If we can get 2-3 more quality guys like him then we're cooking with something!

DJJ: Had inconsistent spurts, but he can defend. He can jump. He is 1 dimensional.

Green: Okay you've gotten better. Please continue little Greenie and take us home.

Luka: There is a disturbing trend dating back to the playoffs of 2021 where the Mavs look more engaged/better when Luka is on the bench. I know for a fact Luka can and could play well in a ball movement type of system. So that leads me to...

Kidd: He might be undoubtedly the worst coach in the NBA and I don't say this lightly. After Silas got the boot, I'm struggling to see who might be worse. Okay maybe Billups. I think he is the major cog holding this team back. The sets the Mavs run makes my blood boil at times.

Overall any confidence I had going into this season has been shattered. I do not think this is a very good team, or at least a team that can hold up against the giants in the West/East. I fear another .500 filled with some of the most frustrating basketball to ever grace Mavs history. And when you have a guy like Luka Doncic on your team feeling like this should be incomprehensible. But I don't really see anything new. It feels like teams have scouted the Mavs and the game plan rarely changes. They play uninspired. The mistakes they make remind me of when the Mavs were intentionally trying to lose way back when from 2016-2018. It hurts to see this. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm seeing this the same way:

This is not a good team.  We've all questioned their roster building around Luka, but i think last off season (Brunson out / McGee in) was the worst. 

The draft gave us all hope because we maneuvered around and dropped salary while picking up an extra 1st rounder. When was the last time the Mavs did this? We were all excited.  We figured we had a huge plan for free agency. In Nico we trust right?

Well, not really. We added a 19 year old center who may or may not be ready to gives us 15 minutes a game. We added a raw but athletic wing who looks completely lost out there. Get familiar with Frisco OMax.  

Then in free agency we start out by adding Seth Curry? An undersized shooting guard off the bench. Wait, dont we already have two of those in THJ and Hardy?

We follow that up with bringing back the softest "big man" in the league in Powell. To pair him with Maxi Kleber again. Kleber is done folks. The injuries have completely nuked his athleticism. 

Grant Williams. Ok, so there maybe we have something.  But wasnt this a guy who couldnt even get on the court for the Celtics come play off time. He's an undersized 4, on a team that is already criminally undersized. 

We signed Kyrie. I was rooting for this, no doubt. But. But. We are are all still questioning his fit with Luka and this team. Can they co-exist? When will Kyrie start to pull Kyrie things? All stuff that keeps Mavs fans up at night.

At this point in the pre season, Dante Exum looks like the best pick up.  

Guys, we are doomed. This season is over before it even started. We will struggle to win 40 games. And that may not be a bad thing. Team Tank here we come!!!!