ROUND 1, GAME 7: DAL (3-4) @ LAC (4-3) | 111-126 loss

[jesusshuttlesworth82]

Gonna be a long time before the Mavs get out of the first round. Kawhi and LeBron are still going to be dominant players for at least the next 2 years. The Suns are also young and will continue to get better. Jokic is about to enter his prime years. If Klay ends up still being somewhat of a decent player after his injury, the Warriors with Steph won't be easy either. 

This isn't the early 2000s where the Mavs knew they could beat most of the West aside from 2-3 teams.

I'm most worried about the Nuggets and Grizzlies long term.  I think they both have better front offices and already amassing a lot of young impact players.

---

Well, in defense of the MBT: We are talking about two offseasons. What should they have accomplished during that time? There were no star free agents to get. Jae Crowder would have been a nice fit and they were interested but well, he decided to go to the Suns.
We could have overpaid some good role players in FA but who says we wouldn't have lost against the Clippers with those other role players?

There were a lot of good players available two summers ago.  The Mavs either didn't realize the rest of the league was tampering or if you are to believe them, their first call was to Delon Wright.

[Time Machine Dirk]

All players besides Luka, maybe even with KP included, are backups on all other contending teams. There is no way you make it out of first round against a great team.

Luka DFS is what you build with. 

Im shocked how many levels the Clippers bench was better in every single minute of 7 games. 

Its a miracle by Luka this reached game 7.

In most of the other 6 games the Clippers bench was weak. THJ did have some nice games too, not only DFS. Don't forget that. It is probable that Kleber played with a sore Achilles the whole series. Reddick couldn't play all series. Curry was traded for Richardson. (Big mistake.) Both of those 3-point-specialists would have helped a lot in this series!

[dirkfansince1998]

Well, in defense of the MBT: We are talking about two offseasons. What should they have accomplished during that time? There were no star free agents to get. Jae Crowder would have been a nice fit and they were interested but well, he decided to go to the Suns.
We could have overpaid some good role players in FA but who says we wouldn't have lost against the Clippers with those other role players?

There are more options than just signing good players. For example: Use capspace to eat bad contracts and add assets.

[Time Machine Dirk]

I'm most worried about the Nuggets and Grizzlies long term.  I think they both have better front offices and already amassing a lot of young impact players.

---

There were a lot of good players available two summers ago.  The Mavs either didn't realize the rest of the league was tampering or if you are to believe them, their first call was to Delon Wright.

Which players? Can you name 5 realistic options?

[audiosway]

It's just going to take a little time to build a contender. They aren't built overnight. No matter how good the star is. Great season this year. They just took the NBA's most talented roster to 7 games.

The Richardson trade didn't work out. However, they were just trying to add more defense. If they hadn't done that people would be complaining that they didn't make any moves to upgrade the defense.

KP has been inconsistent at best. THJ is the same way. Great shooter when he's hot. But, when he's not it's pretty bad. He is really a 6th man. The biggest needs are a big man rim protector and a 2 guard. This reminds me a whole lot of watching the early years with MJ. They just need to get better fitting pieces in there. And doing that is always an experiment. If it was as easy as it looks there would be a whole lot more successful teams out there. You can do all the planning in the world and you never 100% truly know how it will turn out.

[jesusshuttlesworth82]

Which players? Can you name 5 realistic options?

40% of the league was a free agent that summer

we spent thousands of posts about it on the old forum.  not going over the list again

[Time Machine Dirk]

There are more options than just signing good players. For example: Use capspace to eat bad contracts and add assets.

Add assets because the Mavs coaching staff is so good at developing mid to late first round picks? (Brunson excluded.)
Or for trading those assets later? Then we would have a worse team now but assets in the bank.

[ThisIStheYear]

Even the decent moves the Mavs managed to make over the past 2.5 years have turned into dog crap.  The Mavs retooled this off-season with the specific purpose of competing against the Clippers and other wing centric teams.  They gave up pretty good players to do so.  None of the guys they acquired were really even part of the season.

[Hypermav]

For those still watching till the bitter end: Did PG just want to exchange jerseys with Luka and Luka denied?

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/statu...94272?s=20

[dirkfansince1998]

Add assets because the Mavs coaching staff is so good at developing mid to late first round picks? (Brunson excluded.)
Or for trading those assets later? Then we would have a worse team now but assets in the bank.

Well...if the Mavs cannot sign top talent. Don´t want to sign mid tier talent. Cannot develop young guys. They should move the franchise to Mexico.

[Tunesquad23]

Even the decent moves the Mavs managed to make over the past 2.5 years have turned into dog crap.  The Mavs retooled this off-season with the specific purpose of competing against the Clippers and other wing centric teams.  They gave up pretty good players to do so.  None of the guys they acquired were really even part of the season.

Yep. It was head scratching to me they traded James Johnson, Wes Iwundu. I know they didn’t do much on offense, but Melli & Reddick didn’t play that much either. Mavs could’ve used that defense, toughness with James Johnson.

[jesusshuttlesworth82]

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/statu...94272?s=20

PG was showing a lot of love to Luka after their last regular season game also.  The players around the league love Luka.  I just dont know if our front office is plugged in enough to the "American" player to get the right ones here.  We need to hire someone like Worldwide Wes.

[FunkBoreland]

And doing that is always an experiment. If it was as easy as it looks there would be a whole lot more successful teams out there. You can do all the planning in the world and you never 100% truly know how it will turn out.

2011 Mavs team was a hell of an experiment that no one thought it turned out that well. Thats why I'm somewhat hoping for the offseason to be dramatic change.

[hakeemfaan]

It's just going to take a little time to build a contender. They aren't built overnight. No matter how good the star is. Great season this year. They just took the NBA's most talented roster to 7 games.

The Richardson trade didn't work out. However, they were just trying to add more defense. If they hadn't done that people would be complaining that they didn't make any moves to upgrade the defense.

KP has been inconsistent at best. THJ is the same way. Great shooter when he's hot. But, when he's not it's pretty bad. He is really a 6th man. The biggest needs are a big man rim protector and a 2 guard. This reminds me a whole lot of watching the early years with MJ. They just need to get better fitting pieces in there. And doing that is always an experiment. If it was as easy as it looks there would be a whole lot more successful teams out there. You can do all the planning in the world and you never 100% truly know how it will turn out.

The reason this feels like a wasted year is that the team took no step forward.  Last season at least we could speculate that a healthy KP might have made a difference against the Clippers.  If we had won the first round we could at least hang out hat on that. Instead we lose after taking a 2-0 lead and we are not sure anymore if KP is a legit 2nd star. We have Luka just like we did last year but this year feels like a huge step backwards due to the KP questions 


if I were Cuban I would ask some serious questions about RC and about this front office. Or he can wait till Luka gets tired and asks out. Then it would be too late to ask any serious questions.

[KillerLeft]

if I were Cuban I would ask some serious questions about RC and about this front office. Or he can wait till Luka gets tired and asks out. Then it would be too late to ask any serious questions.

He IS the front office. 

The national media doesn't even know Donnie Nelson's name, which is just how Cuban likes it. 

If YOU were Cuban, things would run well, I'm sure. Sadly, you are not, so you might feel less frustrated if you stop expecting him to do what you would do.

[hakeemfaan]

He IS the front office. 

The national media doesn't even know Donnie Nelson's name, which is just how Cuban likes it. 

If YOU were Cuban, things would run well, I'm sure. Sadly, you are not, so you might feel less frustrated if you stop expecting him to do what you would do.

I will give Cuban more credit than that because the alternative is that you might well be correct, and that is too depressing. That is Jerry Jones all over again the last 25 years or so.

[Mavs2021]

He IS the front office. 

The national media doesn't even know Donnie Nelson's name, which is just how Cuban likes it. 

If YOU were Cuban, things would run well, I'm sure. Sadly, you are not, so you might feel less frustrated if you stop expecting him to do what you would do.

As I have been saying for years: bottom five front office, but they escaped all (national and local) criticism so far. That is already changing, cause we have Luka now. The attention is on and questions are already asked. Unfortunately I don´t think it matters. Cuban is so dense, I think he´d just trade Luka as long as he can play buddy buddy with Carlisle and Donnie.

[KillerLeft]

That is already changing, cause we have Luka now. The attention is on and questions are already asked. Unfortunately I don´t think it matters. Cuban is so dense, I think he´d just trade Luka as long as he can play buddy buddy with Carlisle and Donnie.

You know, you might be onto something here. Luka being so clearly a transcendent player at so young of an age might very well put more pressure on Cuban to get this right. 

The national narrative before was always that Dirk wasn't good enough. I think it will be tougher to pin this on Luka.

[audiosway]

He IS the front office. 

The national media doesn't even know Donnie Nelson's name, which is just how Cuban likes it. 

If YOU were Cuban, things would run well, I'm sure. Sadly, you are not, so you might feel less frustrated if you stop expecting him to do what you would do.

Nailed it. That's the reason that the end of Dirk's career didn't see much done. Cuban was all fired up going after superstars to sign every year. Donnie did try to make some upgrades in the offseason. They tried to get more defense. The moves just haven't worked out. I was never high on KP to begin with due to the injury issues. He's definitely not a max guy at the moment. But, he's unlikely to be going anywhere either due to that contract. I think he can be salvaged as a good starter if he has someone to take some defensive load off of him. 

Honestly, Donnie has seemed to be more in control the past 3-4 years along with Rick. They just didn't have many assets leftover from the Cuban as GM era. They have come up with a top 5 generational HOF level talent in Luka and KP and THJ for scraps. Guys like Maxi have been good additions outside of the draft. DFS is another good undrafted and developed player. Brunson was a great pick. 

The problem has really just been that Cuban blew assets for so long they didn't have much to work with. Most teams in the league have had way more assets and done less with them. I know everyone wanted to see them take a step forward as did I this season. The moves that didn't work out are really what hampered things. I'm curious to see how the current rookies grow.

You also have to ask yourself though, how many 22 year old players have EVER been a 2 time all star and considered to be a top 5 (arguably best) player in the NBA already? That rush to build a contender so soon is also difficult to do. It's a good problem to have. But, it's a problem nonetheless. I'll probably be called a homer for saying this but Luka is on a path to be a top 3 player of all time. Will he get there? Who knows. But, he's definitely on that path.

Donnie needs to make some good moves this offseason. And I think after seeing 3 years of Luka playing like this and getting exponentially better each year, his job is about to be a lot easier.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

The reason this feels like a wasted year is that the team took no step forward.  Last season at least we could speculate that a healthy KP might have made a difference against the Clippers.  If we had won the first round we could at least hang out hat on that. Instead we lose after taking a 2-0 lead and we are not sure anymore if KP is a legit 2nd star. We have Luka just like we did last year but this year feels like a huge step backwards due to the KP questions 


if I were Cuban I would ask some serious questions about RC and about this front office. Or he can wait till Luka gets tired and asks out. Then it would be too late to ask any serious questions.

This shouldn't be about RC at all. You play the hand you're dealt. Personally, I don't think KP is a fit. He's just not aggressive enough as a player, to add to his injury history. Maybe that's why he isn't aggressive because he's scared of getting hurt. Dallas lost because of a lack of playoff experience as well as a unbalanced roster. Dallas has they're work cut out, trying to put a roster together to compete. Teams like Memphis, Phoenix, and  Atlanta were bad to middling teams just a few years ago, so it can be done.