MAVS NEWS:

[Smitty]

I know I’ve said it a lot the past 2-3 years, but Hardy is not an NBA-level player. The THJ-lite nickname I gave him his probably being generous. Nico missed on that one in the draft and doubled down with a bad contract.

I thought PJ was clearly one of the best 5 yesterday. Right now, today, he’s better than Flagg.

I also thought Max was and is better than Klay.

AD looked slower than I remember him being. Maybe he wasn’t giving 100% because it’s preseason, but he’ll need to show more if he’s going to play 95% of his minutes at the 4.

I think this board, Mavs X, and other outlets don’t appreciate and understand just how good DLO will be for this team. Especially with no Kyrie.

I will reiterate that the closing 5 couldn’t be more obvious without Kai… DLO-Max-Flagg-PJ-AD.

One week into the season and these opinions haven't changed. Hardy did provide a spark last night, but his game is still meh. The problem I have is trying to envision what this team will actually look like at full strength. We've talked all offseason about the double Big roster construction and still have yet to see it for more than 10 minutes in any game because Gafford is out. From what I've seen so far, it feels like AD getting most of his minutes at the 4 will be even worse.

However, they are getting killed on the boards and points in the paint, so in theory it might look uglier from a viewing perspective, but actually more effective when it comes to wins and losses. I think on paper we all expected them to control the inside game but haven't had their "Twin Towers" roster to see how it stacks up.

So far, they've been outrebounded 196-170 and losing the points in the paint battle 234-180. You'd think that means they've been more of an outside shooting team, but they had 34.2 3PT attempts per game last season (36.4%) compared to just 30.0 3PT attempts (34.2%) so far this year. I don't see the outside shooting improving when all 3 of AD, Lively, and Gafford are healthy. Maybe it can work when Kyrie is part of the puzzle, but it's difficult to see the vision right now.

Overall, I think the Mavs missed an opportunity to get a win against Wizards, so they should be 2-2 IMO. I think this season will be a grind, for the players and fans...