AROUND the NBA:

[DallasMaverick]

LeBron took a deal at $4m per year.

Money wasn’t an issue.

In Philly, he’ll be the third or 4th option on offense.

Primary role wasn’t an issue.

Why didn’t he stay in LA?

He’s got two of the greatest offensive players in the NBA (or at least one) in Luka and AReaves.

Maybe he’s saying that Jaylen Brown and Tyrese Maxey and an occasional appearance by Embiid give him a better shot at winning.

Or maybe he got tired of watching Luka iso’s.

[Tyler]

Easy. The Lakers didn't want him back.

[DallasMaverick]

Easy. The Lakers didn't want him back.

Not even at $4m?

[Smitty]

I suspect you’ll be disappointed with the PT that gets doled out to the development projects.

They will be trying to win.

Top 10/11 regular rotation:

Kyrie - Sergio/Sasser
Max - Klay/ZR
Flagg - Naji
PJW - Aldama/Morez
Gafford - Lively

Martin - Tarik - Cisse

Will be tough to get playing time for the “young guys” when everyone is healthy. The 25 and under crowd will need to earn playing time.

[F Gump]

The W/L question will be determined by how competitive their starters are, imo. Are they good enough to outdo opponents?

Kyrie
Max
Flagg
PJW
Gafford

3 of those are "solid starter" at best, but certainly not dominant. But how good will Flagg and Kyrie be? Good enough to make a difference? Perhaps.

We tend to forget, but when he was hurt, Kyrie was playing great (while Luka was injured for a long time) so that Mavs were winning about half the time, and the starting lineup was basically the same Kyrie, PJW, Gafford, with the other 2 being Klay and Dinwiddie.

Would replacing Klay and Dinwiddie with Max and Flagg make them worse than that .500-or-so lineup from before, or better?

Max (and Klay) should definitely be good enough to match Klay's contribution that year.

That leaves Flagg (and whether he can be as good as Dinwiddie).

My point is that the Mavs relative success is likely to be driven by how improved and good Flagg will be. I see him as the hinge point. His career track record has been that he is a super-fast learner when he plays at a higher level, and it doesnt take him long to level up to being one of the best. If that continues, there will be another jump this season, in which case I think the rest of the crew are good enough to result in a lot of winning, and be a big surprise.

[windjc]

The W/L question will be determined by how competitive their starters are, imo. Are they good enough to outdo opponents?

Kyrie
Max
Flagg
PJW
Gafford

3 of those are "solid starter" at best, but certainly not dominant. But how good will Flagg and Kyrie be? Good enough to make a difference? Perhaps.

We tend to forget, but when he was hurt, Kyrie was playing great (while Luka was injured for a long time) so that Mavs were winning about half the time, and the starting lineup was basically the same Kyrie, PJW, Gafford, with the other 2 being  Klay and Dinwiddie.

Would replacing Klay and Dinwiddie with Max and Flagg make them worse than that .500-or-so lineup from before, or better?

Max (and Klay) should definitely be good enough to match Klay's contribution that year.

That leaves Flagg (and whether he can be as good as Dinwiddie).

My point is that the Mavs relative success is likely to be driven by how improved and good Flagg will be. I see him as the hinge point. His career track record has been that he is a super-fast learner when he plays at a higher level, and it doesnt take him long to level up to being one of the best. If that continues, there will be another jump this season, in which case I think the rest of the crew are good enough to result in a lot of winning, and be a big surprise.

Are we seriously being asked to compare Flagg to Dinwiddie???

Anyway, everything else you broke down is exactly why I think this team can surpass everyone’s recency bias.

[windjc]

General board says:

Look at all this young talent!!!

Overall the team kinda sucks though. Definitely take the under on 37 wins.

Oh and by the way, the young talent won’t play because the starters are too good.


))))))

[F Gump]

Top 10/11 regular rotation:

Kyrie - Sergio/Sasser
Max - Klay/ZR
Flagg - Naji
PJW - Aldama/Morez
Gafford - Lively

Martin - Tarik - Cisse

Will be tough to get playing time for the “young guys” when everyone is healthy. The 25 and under crowd will need to earn playing time.

I think that's a reasonable look at where the Mavs begin the season. 

In that mix, at the outset, I think all of DeLarrea, ZR, Tarik, and perhaps Morez will get fewer minutes than fans are hoping for (at the moment), like you allude to. 

But I also think their path to more minutes will prove to be slower and the hill steeper than we would like it to be. We assume these guys are ready to roll and merely a few games away from being solid NBA pros, because M/M are magic, forgetting what happened with OMax, Hardy, Anderson, and on and on. These raw guys are going to need to be a LOT better, which will take time.

One exception. With Lively not expected to be ready on day 1, and his ongoing health a question mark, I think Cisse will be getting minutes on a semi-regular basis. 

But I think we will see a LOT of last year's regulars. Where might we get team improvements? Return of Kyrie (HUGE addition), addition of Aldama (stretch big) and Sasser (legit backup PG), and (hopefully) internal improvement by Flagg and Max.