MAVS NEWS:

[Chicagojk]

tough place to be rooting for losses for the rest of the year.    I think this team has too many NBA players to lose all or the majority of the games left.    They have a tough schedule so wins will be tough to come across.    Also when they hit their threes at a good rate, things look much better.

Something to monitor, the last two games has had almost 48 minutes with either Nembhard or Williams in the game.  (Note, I did not watch yesterdays game and only some of the game on Saturday).   Man, Kidd's rotations are just weird.    I would say for a normal coach that they are doing this because they are not interested in winning games. With Kidd, I have no idea.   He is just weird sometimes.

[mvossman]

Jon Bernthal plays the same character in every movie.

He was different in Ford vs Ferrari.  I didn't even realize it was him until second time I watched it.

[vfromlmf]

I'm pretty concerned about the W-L record if PJW is our new starting center. I've always thought he could be an effective smallball five and sure enough, he had one of his best games of the year yesterday.

This thing looks completely different with a big who can play on the perimeter....which is why I'm very high on Boozer. You'd still want a traditional rim-running center on the floor for 22-24 mpg but a front court of Flagg - PJW - Boozer could be a problem.

[mvossman]

I know we are not supposed to read anything from this (tanking) season, but is anyone else not surprised that Flagg had his best game in a long while and the team had its best offensive game in a long while when we started a PG and played PJ at the 5? The more space we give Flagg to operate in the better he is going to be. If Mavs end up drafting Boozer or Wilson I think they need to seriously consider playing those guys significant minutes at the 5 like they did with PJ last night.

[Scott41theMavs]

I'm pretty concerned about the W-L record if PJW is our new starting center. I've always thought he could be an effective smallball five and sure enough, he had one of his best games of the year yesterday.

This thing looks completely different with a big who can play on the perimeter....which is why I'm very high on Boozer. You'd still want a traditional rim-running center on the floor for 22-24 mpg but a front court of Flagg - PJW - Boozer could be a problem.

Re: this year: hopefully Kidd says, "Okay, we know that's something to try next year! Let's never use it again the rest of this year..." I fully believe this team has the talent (even without Kyrie and our lottery pick) to win a lot of the rest of their games, but I'm going to hope that they have the fundamental prudence to win zero of them. 

Re: Boozer: I thought one of the knocks on him was that he couldn't guard on the perimeter, which would be a problem, but not at all in the way that you're saying.

[Scott41theMavs]

tough place to be rooting for losses for the rest of the year.    I think this team has too many NBA players to lose all or the majority of the games left.    They have a tough schedule so wins will be tough to come across.    Also when they hit their threes at a good rate, things look much better.

Something to monitor, the last two games has had almost 48 minutes with either Nembhard or Williams in the game.  (Note, I did not watch yesterdays game and only some of the game on Saturday).   Man, Kidd's rotations are just weird.    I would say for a normal coach that they are doing this because they are not interested in winning games. With Kidd, I have no idea.   He is just weird sometimes.

As I said to V, I believe that this team could play .500 ball at least the rest of the way if they wanted or needed to, but I trust them to be wise enough not to mortgage the future by doing anything of the sort. No excuse whatsoever for them to finish with a better record than the Pels, and hopefully not the Grizz either, although I'm more trepidatious about that.

[mvossman]

I'm pretty concerned about the W-L record if PJW is our new starting center. I've always thought he could be an effective smallball five and sure enough, he had one of his best games of the year yesterday.

This thing looks completely different with a big who can play on the perimeter....which is why I'm very high on Boozer. You'd still want a traditional rim-running center on the floor for 22-24 mpg but a front court of Flagg - PJW - Boozer could be a problem.

Lol.  I literally posted this same point one minute after you did.  I'm not sure if PJ makes sense on this roster if they draft Boozer, but a big rotation that includes any 2 of Flagg/Boozer/Lively would be awesome.

[KillerLeft]

I know we are not supposed to read anything from this (tanking) season, but is anyone else not surprised that Flagg had his best game in a long while and the team had its best offensive game in a long while when we started a PG and played PJ at the 5?  The more space we give Flagg to operate in the better he is going to be.  If Mavs end up drafting Boozer or Wilson I think they need to seriously consider playing those guys significant minutes at the 5 like they did with PJ last night.

It's the most predictable thing in the world, I think. 

I'll go a step further: the Mavs shouldn't draft a player like those mentioned unless they want to play them at the 5. 

Flagg is a versatile player, it's true, and that's great! But, the best (and default) approach should be to have him out there with only one "bigger" player, for super obvious reasons. You want his speed/quickness matched up with the opposing team's lack of it, creating both space and an advantage when exploiting that space. He can guard them (and be at least 40-50% of an effective plan to guard the rim, incidentally) while that type of player has no chance to guard him. It's such a no-brainer I'm surprised there's any resistance to this line of thinking whatsoever. The absolute dream is to force matchups between Flagg and the opposing 4's - hopefully even 5's in cross matches, when possible.

[Smitty]

@NationMffl
Cooper Flagg said Kyrie Irving texted and called him earlier this season to support him and help him navigate the tough stretch of losses Dallas has faced:

“He stepped in as like a great vet for me and was there giving me guidance because there were definitely times where I was shaken up. I'd never lost that much in my life. But just to hear him say that and tell me that I'm doing everything I need to be doing and just to stay with it and stay positive, it definitely helped me out a lot.”

(via @ESPNNBA, h/t @RonKnowsSports)

[HoosierDaddyKid]

I'm pretty concerned about the W-L record if PJW is our new starting center. I've always thought he could be an effective smallball five and sure enough, he had one of his best games of the year yesterday.

This thing looks completely different with a big who can play on the perimeter....which is why I'm very high on Boozer. You'd still want a traditional rim-running center on the floor for 22-24 mpg but a front court of Flagg - PJW - Boozer could be a problem.

I wouldn't take too much out of one decent game. For the most part, PJ hasn't been good this year.

[Scott41theMavs]

I wouldn't take too much out of one decent game. For the most part, PJ hasn't been good this year.

Saying that, to me, is ignoring the "why."

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

BIG Night tonight. I think tonight will lay the groundwork for the Draft order:

Mavs @ Pels
Grizz @ Bulls

The Mavs could, at best, be tied for 6th and 2 games up on 8th, OR...
2 GB for 6 and tied for 8.

So STRAP IN!!!
HELMETS ON!!!
Lets TANK!!!!!!!!!

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Saying that, to me, is ignoring the "why."

What is the why then?

[mvossman]

What is the why then?

Several reasons:

He has history of playing poorly on bad/tanking teams.
He does not have an elite playmaker setting him up.
He has been playing out of position a lot with Flagg at the 4
On this roster he is probably best as small ball 5

[Scott41theMavs]

Several reasons:

He has history of playing poorly on bad/tanking teams.
He does not have an elite playmaker setting him up.
He has been playing out of position a lot with Flagg at the 4
On this roster he is probably best as small ball 5

Thank you.

[Scott41theMavs]

What is the why then?

Everything stated in the post you were responding to.

[Scott41theMavs]

BIG Night tonight. I think tonight will lay the groundwork for the Draft order:

Mavs @ Pels
Grizz @ Bulls

The Mavs could, at best, be tied for 6th and 2 games up on 8th, OR...
2 GB for 6 and tied for 8.

So STRAP IN!!!
HELMETS ON!!!
Lets TANK!!!!!!!!!

Looks like the Pels and Mavs are doing their part, but the Grizz don't understand that they're supposed to win for us.

[SwisherPrice]

This game is hilarious...Mavs are scoring with ease every time. Getting buckets left and right with their eyes closed and the announcers are going crazy. But then you look at the score and they're still down 15+ for the entire 2nd half