10-28-2025, 08:54 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-28-2025, 08:58 AM by meistermatze.)
Alright, some things a clear to me now:
- Christie just makes most lineups work because he’s a good, versatile defender and hits his threes. Who would have thought, in the modern NBA? (I’m joking, obviously, because he’s basically the modern prototype of a useful 3&D guard.) Which brings me, unfortunately, to
- Klay. Giving him 20 minutes a night with 9.5 shots is not possible anymore. I wish he would succeed and write his own comeback story, but the dude is done. If his three isn’t falling, you can’t play him 20 minutes. He should also be smarter than trying to playmake and dribble all the time. Stick to shooting like the old Ray Allen, that’s it. I have huge respect for Klay, all his rings, all his comebacks, top-3 shooter of all time and once a menace on both sides of the floor. But right now, the only thing I’m okay with is giving him the starting spot out of respect – and unless he has a hot night, sit his ass.
- DLo HAS to play big minutes until Ky returns. We can see what this team can be if we play AD (or Lively) with PJ, Flagg and Christie (or Marshall) alongside a competent guard. Imagine pairing them not with DLo but with a healthy Kyrie – that’s a good team, period. Let DLo then be the first guard off the bench, which would suit him perfectly. But right now, he is the solution at guard – any idiot can see that. We had like 40 turnovers the first two games, then we give a real PG serious minutes the next two games and it improves massively… it’s not rocket science, y’all.
- DLo himself is not a special player – he sucks at finishing, his shot is streaky as hell, but if he’s on, he looks like a star because he’s super smooth. I like that he can competently run some plays and not turn the ball over all the time. So as a part-time starter, he should be a steal.
- Trade Lively or Gafford, whichever gives you more in return. Lively is by far the better player, but his injuries concern me – and maybe some front offices as well. With PJ, Flagg, Naji and Christie we have solid size on the wings; AD with one of the two and Powell can man the 5. Not every team in the league has a Wemby you need to throw 15 fouls at (and still get cooked). I’m not even sure who I’d like to get, but we have too many bigs. Playing Lively 16 minutes a game is a crime.
- On the other hand, we need to find a way to reduce AD’s minutes. Does that conflict with my last paragraph? Maybe – but two things can be true at the same time. Playing AD 36+ minutes from day one is a disaster waiting to happen. If the Mavs’ thought process is to keep all the bigs in order to reduce Davis’ minutes, I’m all for it – but I don’t see them trying. So if that’s not the case, trade one of the bigs and upgrade the roster balance.
- AD himself is (when healthy) the best two-way big not named Wemby or Giannis. Even if he doesn’t look 100%. I like the prototype and will root for him as long as he wears our jersey. But I don’t like his game, because he shoots way too many long twos and threes. Go inside, dominate. Stop dribbling the ball and trying fancy passes. Also, get in shape so you can try harder on defense. You can totally tell when AD WANTS to shut somebody down, grab the rebound, go up and throw down a huge dunk. If he wants to, he will – because outside of Wemby and Giannis, he’s the most dominant physical force in the league. But sometimes, he just doesn’t. I suspect it’s a mixture of being out of shape and trying not to get hurt.
- Flagg will be fine. He’s a rookie and sometimes looks like one. On the other hand, he looks like a star in other situations. He’s very, very good for his age, and a couple of weeks will do wonders for his development, especially if he doesn’t have to play point anymore. He has superstar potential on both ends of the floor, and I love his demeanor, his work ethic, and so on. Big fan of that kid.
- Naji is a very nice piece, and we need his playmaking, but if we can upgrade to a solid playmaking combo guard or something (imagine a better version of DLo), maybe package him and Lively for someone like that. It should give you a nice return right now, because Naji’s value is at an all-time high.
- This team can be good if utilized correctly. I also understand that they’re going through more growing pains than others. But the roster construction has a lot of issues, so – health being the biggest factor, of course – playmaking, turnovers, and poor three-point shooting will be recurring themes unless players step up big time (Flagg’s development can be a key, using DLo can be a key, playing Christie instead of Klay can be a key...).
- Almost forgot: I understand Hardy is just playing because all the guards are down. But I hate his game, I hate his defense. I know he played well last night, but every time he does something, I expect the worst. I just can’t take him any longer.
EDIT: I ACTUALLY forgot: PJ, because he has just been awesome. Motor of this team, brings the energy, the aggressiveness. Even his 3-point-shot is falling. If that's the case, he's a top 5 SF/PF-combo wing in this league.
- Christie just makes most lineups work because he’s a good, versatile defender and hits his threes. Who would have thought, in the modern NBA? (I’m joking, obviously, because he’s basically the modern prototype of a useful 3&D guard.) Which brings me, unfortunately, to
- Klay. Giving him 20 minutes a night with 9.5 shots is not possible anymore. I wish he would succeed and write his own comeback story, but the dude is done. If his three isn’t falling, you can’t play him 20 minutes. He should also be smarter than trying to playmake and dribble all the time. Stick to shooting like the old Ray Allen, that’s it. I have huge respect for Klay, all his rings, all his comebacks, top-3 shooter of all time and once a menace on both sides of the floor. But right now, the only thing I’m okay with is giving him the starting spot out of respect – and unless he has a hot night, sit his ass.
- DLo HAS to play big minutes until Ky returns. We can see what this team can be if we play AD (or Lively) with PJ, Flagg and Christie (or Marshall) alongside a competent guard. Imagine pairing them not with DLo but with a healthy Kyrie – that’s a good team, period. Let DLo then be the first guard off the bench, which would suit him perfectly. But right now, he is the solution at guard – any idiot can see that. We had like 40 turnovers the first two games, then we give a real PG serious minutes the next two games and it improves massively… it’s not rocket science, y’all.
- DLo himself is not a special player – he sucks at finishing, his shot is streaky as hell, but if he’s on, he looks like a star because he’s super smooth. I like that he can competently run some plays and not turn the ball over all the time. So as a part-time starter, he should be a steal.
- Trade Lively or Gafford, whichever gives you more in return. Lively is by far the better player, but his injuries concern me – and maybe some front offices as well. With PJ, Flagg, Naji and Christie we have solid size on the wings; AD with one of the two and Powell can man the 5. Not every team in the league has a Wemby you need to throw 15 fouls at (and still get cooked). I’m not even sure who I’d like to get, but we have too many bigs. Playing Lively 16 minutes a game is a crime.
- On the other hand, we need to find a way to reduce AD’s minutes. Does that conflict with my last paragraph? Maybe – but two things can be true at the same time. Playing AD 36+ minutes from day one is a disaster waiting to happen. If the Mavs’ thought process is to keep all the bigs in order to reduce Davis’ minutes, I’m all for it – but I don’t see them trying. So if that’s not the case, trade one of the bigs and upgrade the roster balance.
- AD himself is (when healthy) the best two-way big not named Wemby or Giannis. Even if he doesn’t look 100%. I like the prototype and will root for him as long as he wears our jersey. But I don’t like his game, because he shoots way too many long twos and threes. Go inside, dominate. Stop dribbling the ball and trying fancy passes. Also, get in shape so you can try harder on defense. You can totally tell when AD WANTS to shut somebody down, grab the rebound, go up and throw down a huge dunk. If he wants to, he will – because outside of Wemby and Giannis, he’s the most dominant physical force in the league. But sometimes, he just doesn’t. I suspect it’s a mixture of being out of shape and trying not to get hurt.
- Flagg will be fine. He’s a rookie and sometimes looks like one. On the other hand, he looks like a star in other situations. He’s very, very good for his age, and a couple of weeks will do wonders for his development, especially if he doesn’t have to play point anymore. He has superstar potential on both ends of the floor, and I love his demeanor, his work ethic, and so on. Big fan of that kid.
- Naji is a very nice piece, and we need his playmaking, but if we can upgrade to a solid playmaking combo guard or something (imagine a better version of DLo), maybe package him and Lively for someone like that. It should give you a nice return right now, because Naji’s value is at an all-time high.
- This team can be good if utilized correctly. I also understand that they’re going through more growing pains than others. But the roster construction has a lot of issues, so – health being the biggest factor, of course – playmaking, turnovers, and poor three-point shooting will be recurring themes unless players step up big time (Flagg’s development can be a key, using DLo can be a key, playing Christie instead of Klay can be a key...).
- Almost forgot: I understand Hardy is just playing because all the guards are down. But I hate his game, I hate his defense. I know he played well last night, but every time he does something, I expect the worst. I just can’t take him any longer.
EDIT: I ACTUALLY forgot: PJ, because he has just been awesome. Motor of this team, brings the energy, the aggressiveness. Even his 3-point-shot is falling. If that's the case, he's a top 5 SF/PF-combo wing in this league.
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