07-09-2022, 03:59 PM
(07-09-2022, 03:42 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: I agree with the “turns” point. @"ItsGoTime" and I have had that conversation a lot recently. We all agree that it needs to change, but I don’t see how DECREASING the number of competent ball-handlers helps with that. I think that issue was caused by Luka and Brunson both being ball-stoppers by CHOICE, probably through inexperience.
Donnie said it before his last year, and Kidd has said it about 10 times since: Luka needs to get out of “me against the world” mentality and start moving the ball earlier in most possessions. I see this as part of the journey for pretty much any young phenom, not the result of bad offensive design.
I DO agree that adding the Luka/Wood element will help a ton, if their chemistry is natural and they work at it.
Again, I just lived for two weeks in a world where (I thought) both Wood and Brunson were going to be Mavericks. Rational or not, I’m going to be in mourning until they give me something that helps me let go of that. I’m sure the line for that is different from person to person. If this is the roster, I’m not there yet.
I just imagine what Steve Kerr could do with a gifted and willing passer like Luka. Granted a lot of that is due to personnel but a lot of times the Mavs were painful to watch, even if effective, and gave me Harden in Houston vibes. I did expect a lot more from Kidd in this regard and was pretty disappointed in the outcome. The perfect example I've mentioned a lot is being forced to have Bertans in the rotation and then not making the most out of his only elite skill.
Besides his size, my biggest knock on Jalen was his horse blinders. Maybe that's a product of the offense we ran and he did have a career year as for as assists were concerned. I'd put him in the "good" category in that regard. I'd rank Dinwiddie as worst of the three ball handlers. We really need another creator and will probably need to pick someone off the scrap heap to do so.