AROUND the NBA:

[mvossman]

I watched the game. I didn't see it at all like you did. And the Mavs won big. Isn't winning going to be the point, rather than style points? Or are we going to keep saying they can't win, while they keep winning ugly?

Yes they played poorly for a half -- and then dominated for a half -- and won by almost 30. The starters played in both halves. Some things worked (or they had a good run) and some didn't, and to me that's the nature of the NBA these days (where big swings are possible) especially in preseason where all sorts of experimentation is happening. 

And I was not impressed by DAR in the preseason. If you liked what you saw, I'll have to agree to disagree on how he looked. I saw a player who takes bad shots rather than work within the flow setup, and whose D was worse than abysmal. (I do think he had his head so far up his azz when he played that Kidd cut his minutes, and yanked him from being a starter, and I believe Kidd doesn't trust him with the job. At all. That was my observation BEFORE Kidd basically said the starting PG job is CF's to start the season.) But I'll wait to see how he plays when it counts and hope for MUCH better before drawing big conclusions.

The starters played starter minutes but had an overall net negative on/off against Lakers bench.  The big run in the fourth quarter came with guys like Hardy, Powell, Kelly and some guy named Jeremiah Robinson-Earl on the floor.  I had honestly stopped watching by then because it didn't matter.  

Its not that I have been super impressed with Dlo in the preseason, its that I was even more underwhelmed by the alternatives.  I think he gives this team the best chance to tread water until Kyrie gets back.  But if he continues to shoot like he did last season (and in preseason) then its going to be a really rough ride.