09-01-2022, 09:40 AM
Tim Cato had a Q&A this morning on the Athletic. Here is a portion of his answer on what is needed most: A guard or a 3 and D wing.
He gets into a discussion with Hardaway and it is where I keep landing. I expect Hardaway to be a Mavs this year (at least) and get a lot of playing time. But what I think this roster really needs is to replace his minutes with a really good wing who can handle and create. Fill that spot....maybe putting Bullock to the bench and I think this team is really close. Those players are tough to find though.
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Basically, I’m arguing that the path to long-term championship improvement involves replacing someone like Hardaway — a difficult shot taker and maker — with a creative wing who takes Hardaway’s volume and creates better looks from it. An offense that relies on Hardaway’s contested jumpers, even if he makes them at an impressive volume given the difficulty, won’t be as good as an offense that relies on a player who creates better looks for himself and his teammates. Finney-Smith and Bullock won’t magically turn into secondary or tertiary playmakers any more than they have, and their on-court impact makes up for that. Hardaway’s role, however, could be replaced with someone who amplifies his teammates more than him, even if he returns to the same efficiency levels he had in the seasons prior to the last one.
This isn’t really an argument against Hardaway as a player, but one about how championship ceilings are created through role definition and roster construction. Hardaway, in the role he’s projected to have next year, adds to the reason the Mavericks won’t have one that reaches real levels of contention. Even him executing his role to the extent of his abilities next season might not justify that role existing on a team striving for the upper echelon of winning.
He gets into a discussion with Hardaway and it is where I keep landing. I expect Hardaway to be a Mavs this year (at least) and get a lot of playing time. But what I think this roster really needs is to replace his minutes with a really good wing who can handle and create. Fill that spot....maybe putting Bullock to the bench and I think this team is really close. Those players are tough to find though.
***********************
Basically, I’m arguing that the path to long-term championship improvement involves replacing someone like Hardaway — a difficult shot taker and maker — with a creative wing who takes Hardaway’s volume and creates better looks from it. An offense that relies on Hardaway’s contested jumpers, even if he makes them at an impressive volume given the difficulty, won’t be as good as an offense that relies on a player who creates better looks for himself and his teammates. Finney-Smith and Bullock won’t magically turn into secondary or tertiary playmakers any more than they have, and their on-court impact makes up for that. Hardaway’s role, however, could be replaced with someone who amplifies his teammates more than him, even if he returns to the same efficiency levels he had in the seasons prior to the last one.
This isn’t really an argument against Hardaway as a player, but one about how championship ceilings are created through role definition and roster construction. Hardaway, in the role he’s projected to have next year, adds to the reason the Mavericks won’t have one that reaches real levels of contention. Even him executing his role to the extent of his abilities next season might not justify that role existing on a team striving for the upper echelon of winning.
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