Trade & FA 2023-24: Stein-Ingram Trade Inevitable| LAL Want Lebron Back On Any Terms

[KillerLeft]

How though? Like what is Powell better at and what makes it obvious?

Screen-settiing (uber important). Knowing how/when to roll hard based on what's going on with said screen setting. Vertical spacing. Powell is literally elite in these areas. Theis is elite in no areas. 

The above is all pick-and-roll stuff. Theis is ok at that "Gortat screen" in the lane, but other than that he's not even a pick and roll big, meaning I highly doubt he has ever even been considered as a fit here. This is first and foremost a pick and roll team, after all. Honestly, I could quit writing the post at this point, because as long as Luka plays for the Mavs, 100% of their bigs will be pick and roll bigs.

Powell is obviously a great teammate and at least a decent leader, since the Mavs keep bringing him back and Udoka had him singled out to help him change the culture in Houston (at MLE money). Theis seems like kind of a journeyman, and while I don't know of anything negative about him in this department, I feel I can confidently say he doesn't match up to Powell here, either. Most players don't. 

I like that Theis shoots 3's, but I'm not a believer in him as a spacer, so it's a moot point. I'm sure he's better than Powell as a rebounder, because Powell might be the worst rebounder I've ever seen. But, I don't really feel Theis is a difference making rebounder, only slightly better, so moot point. 

I think Powell is a significantly more versatile defender (not sure he's fitting into this scheme well this year yet), and I personally believe he could be used to greater effect defensively than he has shown this year. The team has gone back to drop coverage, almost exclusively, as far as I can tell. If you want him to play center like Lively does, he can't. But neither can Theis. Like, at all. Even those who think he'd do better in drop than Powell (he might) would be complaining about him so hard after two weeks - because he can't do what Lively does. 

The only real thing Theis has on Powell is that Mavs fans aren't bored of him (yet).