ROSTER TALK: Mavs favs for Vogel if no HC job exists. Kyrie handshake deal?

[mvossman]

Hot take: After first sceptical enthusiasm after the Kyrie trade I am not so sure anymore that this type of player - as good as he might be - will be the Mavs' and Luka's route to a chip. Remember: The two offensive stars in the backcourt without good defense experiment never was successful in the near past. Best example: Dame Lillard and CJ
At the moment the Mavs are basically the Dame-CJ-Trailblazers tbh, which is not a good outlook. Most important: We need a reliable rim protector to clean up the Luka blow-bys. Maxi isn't the solution to the puzzle, he is just one smaller piece which will enhance the necessary bigger piece.

I don't think Dame/CJ is a good comparison.  For one, Luka is better than Dame, and Kyrie is better than CJ.  But to your specific point, its not near the issue defensively that Dame/CJ were.  That was an undersized and poor defensive backcourt.  Hard to survive that defensively.  From a defensive perspective Luka is not really part of the backcourt.  He is a forward, and a decent defensive one when focused.  Honestly, Kyrie is not that bad either (much better than Dinwiddie).  I don't think these two are nearly as difficult to build a defense around as the Portland duo was.

This team was a top 10 defense last year with Luka and Brunson (who is not any better than Kyrie) starting.  That was mostly driven by Dorian, Bullock and Maxi.  This season, Dorian has been hurt and now gone, Bullock has been a shell of his defensive self and Maxi has been hurt most of the season.  We have two undersized centers and no power forward and limited quality wing defense.  

I think you can build a contender and win with Luka/Kyrie (or Luka/Brunson for that matter).  You just need to surround them with plus defenders.  Unfortunately we are really limited in that department.  We desperately need a replacement for Dorian.  I don't know why this FO makes a win now move with the Kyrie trade and then does nothing to fill that hole.  Maybe they are planning on signing Kyrie long term and look at this as a transitional step like they did with the KP trade.  I don't know what they can do about this season.  Powell is brutally exposed without a power forward on the court and Wood has regressed defensively.  Defense has to be the focus in the coming offseason, but given the recent lack of success in filling roster needs, I'm not super confident.