07-01-2021, 02:03 PM
(07-01-2021, 01:45 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: Regarding Kleber:
He has been hurt pretty much all year, and several people have gone out of their way to point this out. Here's how I think that factors into the conversation:
His defense has NOT been great this season, and I'm not only talking about the Clippers series.
You can say "that's because he's been banged up" and that's valid.
Alternatively, you can say "I'm skeptical that he has what it takes to hold up at his top, useful level for an entire season" and that also has validity.
What we have to stop doing, imo, is saying "Kleber was a great defender this season" because he so, so, so was not. Regardless of what you, personally, might expect from Kleber in the future, based on projections of what a healthy Kleber might look like, the version the Mavs had this past season wasn't really the indispensable difference maker people claim.
I think there are similar distinctions to make with Porzingis, Richardson and Powell. All of them might be better next year, but I hope the Mavs are being as realistic as possible and at least considering the idea that they won't be.
I am in the pro Kleber camp. He ranked among the top three in on court and on/off rating for most of the season. Tanked his +/- numbers in the last 20 games. Was in and out of the rotation. Missed games and looked really bad when he played. Despite the steady decline at the end of the season the Mavs defense was 3.1pts better with him on the floor. Overall he was one of the better defenders on a bad defensive team.
The Mavs asked him to do the impossible. Cover a lot of ground and compensate for KPs lack of mobility. Guard the best opposing big...sometimes even wing. That shouldn´t be his role. Maybe one of those tasks but not all of them. Kleber was the only big that worked next to KP and him not being able to play his usual role was one of the reasons for some of the crazy lineups in the Clippers series.