Olympics and FIBA summer

[dirkfansince1998]

I really truly believe Luka tuned out RC and hated his approach to playing the game. Carlisle kept wanting to gain more control and enforce rigid rules onto Luka and I think it really hampered his creativity. I mean look at last year Luka and some of his passes versus this year. I just think Luka is so damn good even his "meh" games are still all-timers.

According to the reports RC handed Luka the keys to the offense and let him do his thing. Even call some post ups (we all know what RC thinks about the post game). Would actually say that last years offense looked more like the RC offense of the last ten years. Had more flow elements and more screen action for guys like THJ or Curry. This year it was a lot of Harden/Rockets-ball. Mismatch hunting and iso ball. Obviously also roster related. KP and Powell not the same. JRich instead of Curry.
The myth of RC the rigid coach that likes to make all the decisions is not really matching his offensive philosophy. Flow with multiple ballhanders that can all create of the dribble. He rarely calls plays (usually only out of timeouts, sometimes the initial action...horns, spain pick and roll).
According to Cato the RC/Luka situation was mostly about off court stuff (treatment of teammates, RCs "anger issues") and the influence of Bob.

I think the Mavs put together a flawed roster. JRich/Melli/Burke all aren't good enough to be on a championship team and barely received run in the playoffs. Then you got one dimensional guys in Powell/Brunson/Boban who all can't defend but can score in a multitude of ways.

Already mentioned it in the roster thread. The usual Mavs move. Good offense. Add defensive specialists that cannot play offense. Realize that they are hurting the offense. Adjust against and trade them for another one-way player like Redick.
Disagree on the Powell part. Would argue that his defense was better than his offense. Powell is one dimensional on offense (pick and roll only, rim runner) but one of the better defenders.

THJ/Maxi/DFS are the only players on this team that can do more than 1 thing on the court. THJ can create his own shot (albeit in a less than ideal manner at times). Maxi and DFS are the only 2 that can defend and hit a 3 consistently.  You need more than 3 guys that can do that on an NBA team. And even still those guys aren't supremely special (save maybe DFS defense). 

This. The Mavs need Two-way players. Ideally versatile wings that can play multiple positions.

Then you have KP who is SUPPOSED to be a unicorn on defense and a varied offensive player. He didn't have it last year. Lots of reasons why. I think playing under RC certainly was a bigger factor in it than I originally thought. 

Disagree but hope that you are right. It is easy to blame the outgoing coach/GM. RC didn´t turn KP into oldman Dirk on defense. I guess we can argue about the way KP was used on offense. I think RC did what was best for the team. Reduced KPs inefficient iso/post touches. Turned him into a catch and shoot/finish only player. KP obviously thinks of himself as a "star" player but if he cannot back it up on the court there is no reason to give him the special treatment.

Thankfully though as long as we have Luka we can fix this EASY. Just sign better players. Donnie obviously couldn't get it done in a timely manner. Lets hope Nico Harrison can.

The Mavs gave up bball knowledge/ X´s and O´s and went all out on recruiting. If they cannot land one of the bigger fishes this season things could get really ugly.