GAME 2: Brooklyn Nets (0-2) vs. Dallas Mavericks (2-0) | 120-125 WIN!!!!!

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

It really appears we are missing one long wing.  OMAx would fill this need.  We may just need to wait on him.

Agree with this, I would just add "one long wing who is more capable than DJJ".  I get what Kidd is thinking with DJJ but it just shows that he's a coach that is not playing to it's talent and trying to play the way he wants with players who aren't capable of contributing and it slows us down.

I feel like the long wing conversation and some of the early Maxi concern conversations are going to converge here pretty soon because I think they're both ways of saying "it's time for a Maxi upgrade".  Right now we have Maxi who is a natural big (in my opinion) who can play a little bit of big wing and in reality we just need a long starting level wing who can masquerade as a big from time to time in case we want to play 5 out.  Someone who can keep Green in the bench role that Kidd wants him (or Williams, it will be interesting how that debate plays out over the season) but actually brings something to the floor.  I think that's why some of the smoke around PJ Washington this offseason got people excited because he's the exact person that everyone around here is talking about.  I would argue that Grant Williams fits this description a little more than other people on this board feel but I think it's important to get two wings like this (and so does Kidd based on his starting lineup).

One note that I do want to mention though, if Luka's crunch time defense is legit and scales out to 82 games (holding my breath there) then the entire conversation changes in my opinion and you're just looking for a straight talent upgrade from any sort of skill set standpoint because you can trust that Grant Williams and Luka can give you enough wing defense to get you some playoff wins.  Again, that's a long shot but some of the things he did late in the Spurs game caught my eye and this possession last night I watched about a million times because I've never seen Luka move his feet like this, it's normally just him finally paying attention and jumping passing lanes:

https://streamable.com/r9dly8

Also, shout out IGT who was raising concerns about Maxi's contract when it happened when everyone else seemed happy about it, myself included.  Really hope Maxi holds up enough to play an important role on this team because Lively/Powell center rotation is just going to get outmatched by certain frontcourts in the West and we'll need to play differently but if he can't get back to that level of play we saw during the conference finals run, those three years left may end up being something we need to navigate.