MAVS NEWS:

[KillerLeft]

Better to discuss Russians with humans than discuss humans with Russian bots.

So true!

[Winter]

Is that what I am?  I know that when I disagree with someone’s point I give reasons instead of calling it ridiculous.

You absolutely do. I totally agree with that.

I'm not calling "you" ridiculous just to be clear. I just find that particular argument too silly to spend time on. That's all.

[DallasMaverick]

Let's face it, my guy. It's 2026 and we're on a message board still. 

We're ALL "the board contrarian." Every last one of us.

No, I’m not!!

[KillerLeft]

No, I’m not!!

One of your better offerings, recently. Kudos.

[Smitty]

I don’t have an obsession with position labels. They are simply an easier way of describing a role.

That’s my bad. I shouldn’t have said obsession. I was trying to respond to your specific point that you were trying to find a small forward on the roster that fit best and you ended on Klay because of shooting. Then you said Aldama is a 5. 

That’s where I was going with my response, but worded it poorly. 

I agree that spacing is important. Klay provides the most gravity, no doubt. He can play in the back court in that hypothetical just fine. In fact, he’d be at the top of the list, depending on the matchup.

Anyway, I really like the idea of Flagg and Aldama sharing the floor. Call them whatever you want, it doesn’t matter to me. It will be different than anything we had last year. Provide a new dynamic. 

Actually there are plenty of intriguing 5-man lineups I think will look good. Different. I trust May will figure out a rotation that works best.

The X factor will be what they get from the guards this season. If Sasser is Payton Pritchard lite and Sergio is Luka lite, then a lot of my concerns get erased pretty quickly.

As always, I appreciate your contributions and respect your opinion. Apologies if I was a little over the top!

[KillerLeft]

Anyway, I really like the idea of Flagg and Aldama sharing the floor. Call them whatever you want, it doesn’t matter to me. It will be different than anything we had last year. Provide a new dynamic. 

So true! I'm excited about this, too. I think it will work with a center next to them, or a wing...or even three guards next to them. "New dynamic," indeed.

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

Sooooo is it too early to declare Ischenko to be the best "Vsevolod" in Mavs' history? Or is Vsevolod Jenkins from the early 80s still got him beat?

[mvossman]

That’s my bad. I shouldn’t have said obsession. I was trying to respond to your specific point that you were trying to find a small forward on the roster that fit best and you ended on Klay because of shooting. Then you said Aldama is a 5. 

That’s where I was going with my response, but worded it poorly. 

I agree that spacing is important. Klay provides the most gravity, no doubt. He can play in the back court in that hypothetical just fine. In fact, he’d be at the top of the list, depending on the matchup.

Anyway, I really like the idea of Flagg and Aldama sharing the floor. Call them whatever you want, it doesn’t matter to me. It will be different than anything we had last year. Provide a new dynamic. 

Actually there are plenty of intriguing 5-man lineups I think will look good. Different. I trust May will figure out a rotation that works best.

The X factor will be what they get from the guards this season. If Sasser is Payton Pritchard lite and Sergio is Luka lite, then a lot of my concerns get erased pretty quickly.

As always, I appreciate your contributions and respect your opinion. Apologies if I was a little over the top!

No worries. I was on a road trip and bored. 

My favorite Aldama/Flagg lineup would be one without a center. I would love to see Flagg operate in a 5 out offense and I think Aldama would play that role better than PJ.

[Smitty]

No worries. I was on a road trip and bored. 

My favorite Aldama/Flagg lineup would be one without a center. I would love to see Flagg operate in a 5 out offense and I think Aldama would play that role better than PJ.

I like that probably as much as you do as well. That’s actually why I’m really high on the frontcourt. So many different combinations make sense to me. It’s not their fault that the guard play might be subpar.

[Smitty]

One thing I’ll be interested to see is how much May plays the starting group together. I made post after post trying to point out how the starting lineup doesn’t matter as much as we think it does because under Kidd the starting group only played ~10 minutes together, out of a possible 48. Maybe in the dead time of summer I’ll look into how May has handled it in his time at Michigan and FAU.

[windjc]

One thing I’ll be interested to see is how much May plays the starting group together. I made post after post trying to point out how the starting lineup doesn’t matter as much as we think it does because under Kidd the starting group only played ~10 minutes together, out of a possible 48. Maybe in the dead time of summer I’ll look into how May has handled it in his time at Michigan and FAU.

I'm willing to bet we can't learn too much about May looking at his college career when it comes to things like this. I think we need to focus on his player development and team development philosophies and what he prioritizes in his coaching. I think his strategies will remain similar and his tactics will be whatever they need to be to succeed. I think there will be trial and error and patience required. I expect him to figure the tactics out by 25 games in.

[Smitty]

I'm willing to bet we can't learn too much about May looking at his college career when it comes to things like this. I think we need to focus on his player development and team development philosophies and what he prioritizes in his coaching. I think his strategies will remain similar and his tactics will be whatever they need to be to succeed. I think there will be trial and error and patience required. I expect him to figure the tactics out by 25 games in.

I don’t disagree. I just know it was one of the more frustrating things with Kidd and the regular season. One, not starting your best 5-man lineup and even if he did, he was lowest in the league in having them play together. It was only ever the first ~5 minutes in the first and 3rd quarter. Never went back to it. Where the good teams were all near the ~20 minutes mark. It makes a difference in the W/L column…

[windjc]

I don’t disagree. I just know it was one of the more frustrating things with Kidd and the regular season. One, not starting your best 5-man lineup and even if he did, he was lowest in the league in having them play together. It was only ever the first ~5 minutes in the first and 3rd quarter. Never went back to it. Where the good teams were all near the ~20 minutes mark. It makes a difference in the W/L column…

No reason to assume May will do anything Kidd did.

[david75090]

Sooooo is it too early to declare Ischenko to be the best "Vsevolod" in Mavs' history? Or is Vsevolod Jenkins from the early 80s still got him beat?

Too early to make that determination.

[Scott41theMavs]

Too early to make that determination.

Wow, Mr. Jenkins must have been a HOF’er. Before my time.

[JamesConway816]

I mentioned this yesterday, but the guys at DLLS were just salivating over the frontcourt lineup possibility of Morez, Adama, and Flagg (which I had never considered).

Skill wise that is probably the SF / PF / C trio that makes the most sense.

Point forward / stretch big / rim runner on offense and Morez is a defensive nightmare at PF. He is huge for a PF AND extremely quick. That allows Aldama to play more under the rim where he is not a great shotblocker but better off than guarding in space. 

Or you plug in PJ for some more defense & athleticism instead of Aldama but that might get difficult on offense at times.

[JamesConway816]

A Rez, Flagg, and Klay is probably never going to happen. It wouldn't make much sense. If Klay wasn't hitting his 3's he would be a total detriment.

Klay had a hugely positive impact during those 20 or so
games we got of him starting next to Luka, Kyrie and Lively before you know what happened. So I would not rule it out. He can still be a weapon in the right matchups.

Kyrie
Klay
Coop instead of Luka
PJ
Morez instead of DLive

There are actually a lot of similarities. I would at least be interested in seeing that group.

That Kyrie Luka Klay Lively group had absurdly good +/- numbers. And it looked like it was not an accident or fluke but sustainable.

[JamesConway816]

I don’t disagree. I just know it was one of the more frustrating things with Kidd and the regular season. One, not starting your best 5-man lineup and even if he did, he was lowest in the league in having them play together. It was only ever the first ~5 minutes in the first and 3rd quarter. Never went back to it. Where the good teams were all near the ~20 minutes mark. It makes a difference in the W/L column…

In the Luka trade season Kidd started 

Kyrie
Klay
Luka
PJ
Gafford

for a dozen games or so. The +/- numbers were horrendous. The second Lively was subbed in they were suddenly an elite 5 man lineup. That happened literally every single game.

I will die on this hill: had Kidd not started Gafford for so fricking long the whole Luka trade might never actually happen bc the record would have been MUCH better early on & therefore also the vibes around the organization.

[Smitty]

In the Luka trade season Kidd started 

Kyrie
Klay
Luka
PJ
Gafford

for a dozen games or so. The +/- numbers were horrendous. The second Lively was subbed in they were suddenly an elite 5 man lineup. That happened literally every single game.

I will die on this hill: had Kidd not started Gafford for so fricking long the whole Luka trade might never actually happen bc the record would have been MUCH better early on & therefore also the vibes around the organization.

Yep. It will be one of the big things I’m tracking early on. I always do, but I’ll be posting much more about it this season. Prepare yourselves.

[david75090]

Wow, Mr. Jenkins must have been a HOF’er. Before my time.

His brother Ichabod was even better, but he didn't play for the Mavs.