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

[KillerLeft]

As for offense, I am not so concerned. I recognize he is not a good shooter. But, Mavs offense with DJJ next to Luka, Kyrie, Exum and Lively is still great. 

This is because DJJ has been draining catch-and-shoot 3's at a rate even the most optimistic among us couldn't have expected. I mean, we're 30 games in and he has already made more of them than any other year of his career.

The question then becomes: how much of that is the Luka/Kyrie/Dallas system effect, which can be reasonably expected to transfer at least a little bit to anyone, including Siakim, and how much of it is just DJJ's long years of being told he'd have to become a shooter to carve out a sizable role and practicing paying off? Heck, is it even just a hot streak, and are there 30 straight misses coming in January? Because THAT would make the offense not look very good, as I'm sure you know. 

To your other point...it's a good one. I mean, for me to be excited, I'd have to know that the plan was NOT to give Siakim the ball at the elbow and let him iso, at least while Luka/Kyrie/Lively are on the floor (might be good with Kleber, actually) and I'd have to know he's ok with that. To your point, that same adjustment on his part probably needs to get made in Philly, too. Maybe he'll get it. Porzingis never did, but maybe I need to let go of the PTSD from that era.

---

Someday, Lively is going to become proficient at that corner 3, and then the Mavs will be able to play a variety of ways WITH THE SAME PERSONNEL, which is the whole thing in the NBA. At that point, this team is really going to have something.