Preseason Game 1: Dallas Mavericks (0-0) vs. OKC (1-0) | 7:30pm CST

[mvossman]

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.

Agree with a lot of this, but not ready to say Max is better than Klay.  Don't think he was last season, and its obviously too early to make that call for this season.

[DanSchwartzgan]

I also thought Max was and is better than Klay.


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

I thought Christie looked really dialed in Monday night.  I'm not ready to say "better than Klay" as I think Klay's shooting, leadership and championship pedigree are important.  But, Max was already closing games over Klay at times last year.  I see no reason for that to change.  I also think he's very much in a top 9 (over Naji) when Kyrie returns in games where the rotation starts to narrow.

[Smitty]

Agree with a lot of this, but not ready to say Max is better than Klay.  Don't think he was last season, and its obviously too early to make that call for this season.

I thought Christie looked really dialed in Monday night.  I'm not ready to say "better than Klay" as I think Klay's shooting, leadership and championship pedigree are important.  But, Max was already closing games over Klay at times last year.  I see no reason for that to change.  I also think he's very much in a top 9 (over Naji) when Kyrie returns in games where the rotation starts to narrow.

It was one of the more controversial statements I made there, but I'm ready to say it. It's no slight at Klay, as I think his role is important. The only thing he does better than Max at this stage of his career is shoot the three ball. With that comes gravity/spacing of course. I just think Max finishes better inside, slashes more, better passing, and of course better defensively on the perimeter. Klay is a perfect 6th man to me. When he's hot from 3, he plays more minutes. When he's not he plays less. The perfect guy for 16 points in 16 minutes type. Yes, his leadership and experience are invaluable, and that's earned him the starting spot for now. I just think Christie is the better overall player.

[michaeltex]

I thought Christie looked really dialed in Monday night.  I'm not ready to say "better than Klay" as I think Klay's shooting, leadership and championship pedigree are important.  But, Max was already closing games over Klay at times last year.  I see no reason for that to change.  I also think he's very much in a top 9 (over Naji) when Kyrie returns in games where the rotation starts to narrow.

My top 8, in no particular order if everyone is healthy...

Flagg
Irving
AD
Klay
PJW
DLive
Gaff
Russell

I would like to include Exum at #9, but I have zero confidence at this point that he will be a contributor.

Martin can't even get into a pre-season game and Hardy is a waste of a uniform.
 
So, yep, that leaves Max and Marshall as 9 & 10. Max is younger, runs the floor well and is an OK defender. Naji plays with more force, has acted as an enforcer and can have a great floater game. To me, it's kind of opponent dictated.

My druthers would be to have Max develop into a Klay replacement, since he's a little more on the timeline with Flagg/DLive. I'm hoping we can see more of whether Williams is a real contributor for the same reason.

[Winter]

I'm not seeing much similarity between Max and Klay. Max is very active on both offense and defense, but his perimeter shooting comes and goes. Klay likes to get position for a good jumper, and I suspect most defenses are super-aware of Klay's ability to hit a shot.

I think Max is a great substitution for Klay. He's quicker at this point and is a real change-of-pace for defenses. I like Max closing too, but I like that guard unit as it is.

[Smitty]

I'm not seeing much similarity between Max and Klay. Max is very active on both offense and defense, but his perimeter shooting comes and goes. Klay likes to get position for a good jumper, and I suspect most defenses are super-aware of Klay's ability to hit a shot.

I think Max is a great substitution for Klay. He's quicker at this point and is a real change-of-pace for defenses. I like Max closing too, but I like that guard unit as it is.

Yeah, I don't care who starts. I do care who closes though. I think Max gives you more versatility on offense and better defense overall. Of course, you have to take into account how each individual player is playing that night. Just for me, this season, I think Max fits that ideal role for the guard next to DLO in the closing group.

What will be interesting is if we see Kyrie+DLO closing a lot of games when Kai's back healthy. Maybe you can get away with their size limitations with having a massive frontcourt.

Kidd will use so many starting, closing, and just overall crazy rotations that it really doesn't matter what we think should happen. The good thing is, that this team is deep, so they should be able to survive some injuries and experimentation and still be a good regular season team.

[Jym]

I just hope Max is given a consistent role where he gets at least 25 mpg 
Kidd can be a little weird with minutes sometimes. In my head, developing Christie, Flagg, and Lively is the most important thing to accomplish this year

[meistermatze]

Only watched the first half where the starters played (I mean who give a sh*t about the rest, right?) and I saw an actual NBA team dominating a G-League-squad.

The offense looked weird, dribble hand-offs all the time but abpve average passing from some players made it work (Flagg and D-Lo). I also think we always have a couple of players on the court who can at least not turn the ball over and pass well (in relation to their actual position) - so that's good. Lively is great at that for a C, Davis is also fine, PJ, Klay, Christie and obviously Flagg and Kyrie are there as well. D-Lo is capable. I actually think, this is by design for this roster.

I think we all have to adjust to not seing real shot-creation in the classical sense anymore (aka Luka heliocentrism and Isos). Yes, Davis will demand some ISOS as will Kyrie when he's back and I am still not sure, if those two can deliver in the clutch the way Luka did (then again, who can?) but mostly, the will swing the ball, find the open man and just play ball.

I doubt our 3-point-shooting will be good enough to really play with the big boys but if we stay healthy in the postseason (big if), Kyrie gets back to 100% (also big if) until postseason and Flagg is a Top 20 player in this league right away (big if) we can do some real damage due to our (in most likelihoodl) amazing defense.