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Game 2: Mavs (1-0) at Suns (1-1) 9:00 pm
#61
(10-27-2024, 12:05 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: Well, seeing as they have him playing backup PG and he's on a new team coming off of a good season, trying to play next to two of the most 1-on-1 oriented players in the sport, I'd say we should give it at least 20 games before drawing any conclusions. 

The most concerning thing for me is that he hasn't looked great on defense yet. Grimes' lack of impact on that end can be rationalized somewhat by the fact that neither the Spurs nor the Beal-less Suns really have a matchup that begs for his contribution. Maybe Booker, but the Mavs actually did a decent job on him last night, save for a few instances of getting confused in transition or navigating screens, which is par for the course during early-season play. Durrant, however, is EXACTLY the type of guy I'd hope Marshall can help with, and he was barely given a chance to guard him last night. Not sure why. 

That's why I expect him to fill in for Kleber some, moving forward. I know all anyone here cares about is size, but Marshall looks a bit slow to me as a defensive 3 (against most matchups, anyway) and I believe he's big enough to guard the type of player who ACTUALLY plays the 4 these days. And, at that position, his speed/agility should be just fine.

Thank goodness the season is back because I get to read more of your rational well thought out takes.


I actually don’t disagree with anything you said. I do think Naji will eventually fill in for Maxi playing some small ball 4. And my original post was intended to be an overreaction.

But I will say I thought Marshall wasn’t that bad defensively last night. He had some solid moments on Booker where he hounded him into passing out of an iso. He matched up with Durant one or two possessions and got burned but who doesn’t get burned by KD when he’s in rhythm? 

Like Grimes though, the impact defensively hasn’t really been felt overall in the scheme. I’m leaning more towards early season rust and role learning to explain it. Minutes wise it feels like both of them haven’t really been on the court.

A week ago I didn’t think this team would make any in-season trades. Right now i think Marshall could be used as trade bait eventually (as my initial gut reaction was in the summer).
14x All-Star, 12x all-NBA, 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP, 1 NBA Championship: Dirk Nowitzki, the man, the myth, the legend.
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#62
If the Mavs want to experiment with Naji, have him audition for an atypical role (for him), now is the time to do it.

I like that Killer referenced 20 games.

Seems like, over the past few decades of doing this, that we've learned that the record is best judged in 10 game stretches and that team quality and potential is difficult to assess before the 20-game mark (unless they just suck).
Not very astute ^^^^
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#63
HOWEVER...

It is probably more entertaining, and more interesting conversation emerges, if not everyone takes the "be patient, be reasonable" approach.

So, by all means, freak out!!! :-)
Not very astute ^^^^
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#64
Mavs need a backup PG. Neither Marshall or Grimes (or Hardy) should have any PG duties. Also tough to judge their play if they’re not out there with someone else that can run the offense.
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#65
Is it too early for a "Fire Kidd" thread?

Any contributions to the "Most Unplayable Maverick" thread?

How about a "Sky is Falling thread", too? Especially with an election coming up.
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#66
(10-27-2024, 05:47 PM)DallasMaverick Wrote: Is it too early for a "Fire Kidd" thread?

Any contributions to the "Most Unplayable Maverick" thread?

How about a "Sky is Falling thread", too?  Especially with an election coming up.

I think you should start all of those threads.

As far as entertainment goes, I wonder if I could get someone to do a presidential race debate down in the ROTW. Is there any chance that we have a MAGA proponent who would be the Trump surrogate, you think?
Not very astute ^^^^
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#67
(10-27-2024, 05:38 PM)RoyTarpleysGhost Wrote: Mavs need a backup PG. Neither Marshall or Grimes (or Hardy) should have any PG duties. Also tough to judge their play if they’re not out there with someone else that can run the offense.

The only time the Mavs legit need a backup PG is when Doncic or Kyrie is hurt. One of them should be on the court at any point other than garbage time. They're each other's backup PG, and on those terms, the best PG rotation in the league, bar none. Exum when healthy, is fine, and a committee of Hardy, Spence, Marshall, and Grimes is fine until then. Nico's a smart guy. If he saw this as a major need, he would have addressed it.

I do find it telling that, with the Mavs in need of game-depends-upon-it offense from the bench, Spence got no minutes. I wonder at what point they cut him. But I think backup PF is an even greater need than backup PG at this point.
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#68
Kidd has a difficult job fitting everything together and getting the team pulling in one direction. Kidd has always been a coach who tries different things at the beginning of the season. I expect that continues this year.

I want to see the new guys 30 games or so. In some ways it is really easy playing with Luka. In other ways it is really different. DJJ didn't start the year in the role he finished in. Right now, Marshall isn't really getting the minutes to be the DJJ replacement. Minutes are tight though.

I thought Hardy was great in game one, not so much in game 2 (not just because he didn't hit his shots either). Same with Maxi. looked great in game 1, not much in game two (He had a hard time stopping Nurkic in the third). Grimes hasn't shown anything yet, but I think he has the skillset to fit in nicely, but again minutes are tight. It just feels like they have a really deep team, but a difficult puzzle pieces trying to find minutes and the right roles when everyone is healthy.
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#69
Weird game, felt like one of those nights you just can’t quite get into matchup. Everytime we made a run to get it close either Nurkic/Kd answered or they got some ticky tacky foul calls. The bad performance from the bench certainly didn’t help either.

Really didn’t expect Nurkic to outplay our Centers. Not sure what happened there. 

Kleber missing time this early is a new low durability-wise. I agree that they should expend Marshall‘s role to bring him along but I also really hope we’ll see some more of Omax.

Overall I’m pretty excited about Klay’s performances but it certainly looks like we have lost some important athleticism on the wing. DJJ‘s cuts & dunks as well as Green‘s speed was essentially replaced by Klay and Marshall for now. I hope we’ll see more of Grimes & Omax in the rotation to help out in that regard. Especially as long as PJ is still working to get back into rhythm.

Also: as impressive as Hardy was in a good way in game 1 he couldn’t get into the game at all against PHX. Would be nice to not see such a huge variance with him. Everyone of his threes was off badly. Wouldn’t surprise me to see more of Grimes and even Dinwiddie against Utah.
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#70
(10-28-2024, 06:53 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: I want to see the new guys 30 games or so.  In some ways it is really easy playing with Luka.  In other ways it is really different.  DJJ didn't start the year in the role he finished in.  Right now, Marshall isn't really getting the minutes to be the DJJ replacement.    Minutes are tight though.

It just feels like they have a really deep team, but a difficult puzzle pieces trying to find minutes and the right roles when everyone is healthy.

I agree with all of this, especially the emboldened, and I'll go a step further: having a deep team presents unique challenges that other teams won't necessarily have to overcome. 

Whomever said the other day (I forget) that there wasn't going to be much lineup experimentation this year...I understand what they meant and why they said that, but in reality, having 10 players who feel they deserve to play (11, if we assume Dinwiddie wants to get on the court) makes everyone a little on edge and might make it even more difficult for the coaches/rotation players to settle into a rhythm together. Don't get me wrong - it's one of those "good problems," but particularly with the new guys, Marshall and Grimes, I think it might be tough to figure things out here for a few weeks. It's clear the team is featuring Thompson, so his acclimation will be easy enough, and he's also an experienced hall of famer, so basically just in a different tax bracket than those guys when it comes to how a team works. But, for those two guys I think we need to be patient, because I agree with the above - playing with Luka and Kyrie comes with it's own challenges, and it's not like Hardy/Dinwiddie are likely to be pass-first guys anytime soon. 

This is probably a large part of the thinking behind letting Marshall play PG, and it's probably a GOOD idea. I just think he needs to get over the nerves and do his thing when he has those chances.
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#71
I'll add one thing about the experimentation and acclamation that will take place for some period of time at the beginning of the season. I don't think JKidd throws out the need to win completely. This next statement is something that I "feel like" is true but can't say I've documented through Kidd's tenure. I think he will manage the need to experiment with the need to keep the win/loss record reasonable. If he thinks the team needs to win instead of experiment, either based on the record or the vibe with the team, then he'll dumb down the game plan to the stuff he knows they do well. That's my guess.
Not very astute ^^^^
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#72
Well that sucks. I saw Nurkic's stat line before and after the Dallas game. 18 pts 14 boards against Dallas. Really surprised he was the best big in that game. May be why Dallas could never get going.

*****************
The Suns have a +41.9 advanced net rating when Jusuf Nurkic isn’t on the court:

On (86 minutes) = 96.3 OffRtg, 114.9 DefRtg, -18.6 NetRtg

Off (111 minutes) = 121.1 OffRtg, 97.8 DefRtg, +23.3 NetRtg

Phoenix will very likely explore a big man upgrade on the trade market.
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