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

[KillerLeft]

Or we could get 2-3 wins and show some good progress. We are 3-3 this 10 game set. Win 2 of the next 4 or 5 and we will still be within a 7-3 set of back to a 60% pace after 60 games. That would be a 49 win pace. Right now we are about 47 win pace. We really could use at least 2 wins in the next 5.

It's possible, but I don't think it's likely. 

And to be clear, I don't think even losing the next 5 straight necessarily means the sky is falling. The Mavs are a 2nd tier team in the West, even when healthy, and they have been far from healthy for a long time. 

I loathe Jason Kidd's coaching more each week, but I do agree with what he said the other day. Either they'll get healthy soon enough to represent themselves accurately down the stretch, or they won't. If they do, we'll still be disappointed, very likely in the first round of the playoffs - hopefully in the second round. If they don't, they might miss the playoffs again. It's just how things are. 

No matter what, I'm convinced that this team is an improvement over last season's and that some good progress has been made to make the roster better and, more importantly, younger, so that INTERNAL improvement continues to be an element we can expect. 

In my humble opinion, getting younger, slightly better and beginning to develop some roster continuity and chemistry is about the maximum that can be expected as long as Kidd remains at the wheel. He's just not good enough. SO, I think I've set my expectations at a reasonable level. I'm able not to get too up or too down. 

Having said all that, the team IS better than they've shown, recently. Nobody wants to hear it, but after a considerable amount of roster turnover, their injury situation has prevented any sort of gelling/chemistry in the rotation. That's just a fact, and no amount of effort can overcome it.