PRESEASON GAME 2: ORL @ DAL | 105-110 loss

[cow]

Dorsey with a really short rest.  I wonder if the coaching staff gave him a pep talk.

Hall is not shy.

[MrGoat]

I like Wood as the big man version of JET so far. Strong candidate for 6MOY. Not going to overreact to preseason games though

[cow]

Hardy pressing.  Really rough game but he never gets down on himself.

---

Nice fight at the end.  Dorsey with a sweet sidestep three.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Seems like he is living the dream. Main ballhandler and free to chuck away on a mediocre Knicks team. Wouldn´t be suprised if he averages 22-25pts this season.

They may surprise people. Strange things happen sometimes.

[Razzmatazz_Hopskidillydoo]

If Green couldn't get to handle the ball in preseason, he won't do it in the regular season. The hot potato comment of his still sticks. Kidd should have put JG with the ending unit just to see if he still gets to pass it to "better team mates" or take over the responsibility of making plays and scoring.

Hardy is the opposite of Green, he finds his way to get the ball, and then loses it a turnover if he doesn't shoot it. Good or bad, this kid is visible as opposed to Green who is invisible. I like Hardy's aggression still.

Dorsey is in rough streak, but sooner or later the shots will fall. But I see him as a specialist and nothing else. I was hoping for someone like Seth, but that's not looking like it.

Wood has the swagger.  Confident dude who knows what he can do on his own, and knows how to position himself when he is with Luka. If he keeps his head straight, he will have a monster season.

Spencer is just content on distributing. But he can and will step up when needed.

THJ's tenure in Dallas depends on the status of Green, Hardy and Dorsey. If the play of these three guys remains more or less the same come November, THJ stays.

Wright is a pest, but the Mavs would need someone like Devonte Graham. Someone a bit more established.

[Chicagojk]

I hope Suggs is ok.

Mavs got off to a hot start but seemed out of rhythm for the rest of the game.  

Green just needs to be a factor on offense.  He wasn't last night.   I was hoping we would see more growth from the start of the year.   If he gets 15 minutes a game, he will need to make them count.   I would love to see a game where he gets like 12 shots and maybe 6 threes.   

I just don't see Frank as a guy who gets regular minutes as a third ball handler.   

Hardy was better in the first half when he went 0-3 than the second.   He won't look pretty if he isn't scoring, but it is a good sign that he feels he belongs on the court with starters.   Interesting move starting him.  I wonder what they thought process was?

Wood was very good on offense.   Nice to see him and Luka get time together.  

The guys all fighting for the 15th man or two ways were all forgettable last night.    Could be that they are all pushing.  

Fun to have basketball back again.  First quarter was great, the rest was blah!

[Jym]

It was good to see some Luka passes inside to Wood deep in the paint
Was always so weird that KP never would put himself into position to receive those type of looks

Feels like in one pre-season half where Wood didn't even start, they collected more highlights of that variety than the KP/Luka combo in 2+ years

Bodes well

[Chicagojk]

I hope Suggs is ok.

Mavs got off to a hot start but seemed out of rhythm for the rest of the game.  

Green just needs to be a factor on offense.  He wasn't last night.   I was hoping we would see more growth from the start of the year.   If he gets 15 minutes a game, he will need to make them count.   I would love to see a game where he gets like 12 shots and maybe 6 threes.   

I just don't see Frank as a guy who gets regular minutes as a third ball handler.   

Hardy was better in the first half when he went 0-3 than the second.   He won't look pretty if he isn't scoring, but it is a good sign that he feels he belongs on the court with starters.   Interesting move starting him.  I wonder what they thought process was?

Wood was very good on offense.   Nice to see him and Luka get time together.  

The guys all fighting for the 15th man or two ways were all forgettable last night.    Could be that they are all pushing.  

Fun to have basketball back again.  First quarter was great, the rest was blah!

I should note that Hardy wasn't far off from scoring 15 plus points last night.  He had several good looks and a few shots were in and out.   

To me, I wonder if he challenges Frank for remaining minutes that are left over.  Frank is the superior defender and would probably do well if you don't ask him to have any creating responsibilities.   But things don't move well when he is asked to run the team.   The thing with Hardy is running a team is not his thing either.  He wants to get it and shoot it.    But I wonder if there is any chance Hardy gets some minutes as the year goes on?

[DanSchwartzgan]

I should note that Hardy wasn't far off from scoring 15 plus points last night.  He had several good looks and a few shots were in and out.   

To me, I wonder if he challenges Frank for remaining minutes that are left over.  Frank is the superior defender and would probably do well if you don't ask him to have any creating responsibilities.   But things don't move well when he is asked to run the team.   The thing with Hardy is running a team is not his thing either.  He wants to get it and shoot it.    But I wonder if there is any chance Hardy gets some minutes as the year goes on?

As I've been saying, there is about a 20 minute role for someone (or some combination of someones) outside the obvious top eight (Luka, SD, THJ, DFS, Bullock, Maxi, Wood, McGee).  The logical candidates are Green, Hardy and Frank and Frank doesn't seem to be a serious contender (if you can base anything off of two scrimmages and two pre-season games).  It would be so great if one of those guys could earn that six minute starter spot at the beginning of halves.  It makes a huge difference in setting up the flow of the rotation and who is available to finish halves (much like they did with Powell in the playoffs).  

If Hardy would just make a pro-level percentage of his open shots (and avoid highly contested shots), there is a spot here to be won.  We won't ever know unless he's given a chance.  It almost has to be a spot with the starters.  It makes no sense for him to play with the Wood/THJ/Dinwiddie bench that is already loaded with scorers.

Note that Maxi finished the half and that Wood played with either McGee or Maxi all of his 14 first half minutes except a minute and a half as lineups were transitioning.  It looks like Maxi/Luka/DFS/Bullock will continue to close halves and someone from among THJ/Dinwiddie or Wood will join them.  With the exception of THJ owing SD a few minutes, last night was probably as close to a regular season rotation as you are going to see IF they decide to let Dinwiddie come off the bench.  The big rotation made sense.  Green comes in as a bench defender as Bullock and DFS are resting.  Wood and THJ provide bench scoring with Dinwiddie running the show.  The question is are they willing to go through the growing pains of the rookie playing six minutes a half against starting level guards.  If not, Dinwiddie or THJ starts and Hardy is competing for second unit shots against the other one (SD or THJ) and Wood (not ideal).  I still think Green plays (as a bench wing defender) even if Hardy is getting some time.  It just won't be the 18 minutes I was hoping for (but I've also said I think Hardy is getting rotation minutes by mid-season, so they have to come from somewhere).  

The developmental stuff for Hardy and Green is fun, but I wonder if come the playoffs we don't wish we had one more guy...even an Alec Burks level guy...soaking up those Hardy/Green minutes.  Let's hope one/both truly emerges.

[MFFL]

I really think Hardy is going to earn some minutes this year, and not just garbage minutes

[ItsGoTime]

I really think Hardy is going to earn some minutes this year, and not just garbage minutes

I think this is true if Green doesn’t earn minutes. If only we could combine the two. Green’s defensive prowess and Hardy’s offensive confidence.

[dirkfansince1998]

@"DanSchwartzgan"

Where do you see Bertans in all of this? He was in the playoff rotation last seasons. Does the return of THJ make him redundant. Or do you think that his minutes (8-12 per game) will all go to Wood/McGee.
I could easily imagine a role for him next to McGee. But that brings us back to the fit question because I cannot imagine that he will share the court with Wood.

[DanSchwartzgan]

@"DanSchwartzgan"

Where do you see Bertans in all of this? He was in the playoff rotation last seasons. Does the return of THJ make him redundant. Or do you think that his minutes (8-12 per game) will all go to Wood/McGee.
I could easily imagine a role for him next to McGee. But that brings us back to the fit question because I cannot imagine that he will share the court with Wood.

That’s a tough one…much like Powell in my mind.  He makes good money and the team tends to have positive results when he plays.  However, if you are going to ask the Wood, THJ and Dinwiddie’s of the world to come off the bench, you have to give them minutes.  I’ve not envisioned McGee getting 20 (15-18), but he DFS, Maxi and Wood minutes were spot on if you double the first half last night.  So there ‘might’ be a small role for another non-wing (Powell or Bertans) if you pull a few minutes from McGee.

Short of that, Bertans (and Powell) are highly paid third stringers.  They have to be ready when called upon, but may not have a regular role.

[Chicagojk]

The developmental stuff for Hardy and Green is fun, but I wonder if come the playoffs we don't wish we had one more guy...even an Alec Burks level guy...soaking up those Hardy/Green minutes.  Let's hope one/both truly emerges.

It would be great it if was Josh, I agree.   I think the first 20 games will be important for him.   If he struggles and the Mavs feel like they are close, I think they look to make a move by trade deadline.   It could be a small move.  Teams like Charlotte, Washington, or Chicago, etc are going to disappoint and play below expectations and will decide to pack it in at some point to tank.  I think there may be some players who are available for limited assets.    I guess it would be key to look for a guy not good enough to garner a 1st, but good enough to help a contender.   Maybe a player in his early to mid 30's?  I think Caruso & Josh Hart types are thinking too big with our limited assets, but I would love either if Josh struggles.  

I think Hardaway is eventually used for a bigger piece.  I am not sure it happens this year though.

[cow]

When everyone was excited about the Josh Green hype, I watched a video of Luka/Kidd mic'ed up and at the very end of the video, someone is called for a moving screen and Kidd talks to Josh telling him he needs to wait for the screener to get set.  Josh just looked so dejected.  I hate to be a body language doctor but that worried me a bit.  Last night was a weird game.  He did some nice things last night, a nice drive early on, a hustle offensive rebound that he followed up by jumping out of bounds to pass and turning the ball over, a nice strip on some help defense that was negated by a McGee foul.  But he still really looks lost in the half court offense.  He has all these athletic tools and no confidence to use them except when he's scrambling.    I want to believe there is something there but if you knew nothing about Green and Hardy and watched that game last night, you'd never guess that this is Josh's first year and that he was a much higher draft pick than Jaden.

[DanSchwartzgan]

If Hardy would just make a pro-level percentage of his open shots (and avoid highly contested shots), there is a spot here to be won.  We won't ever know unless he's given a chance.  It almost has to be a spot with the starters.  It makes no sense for him to play with the Wood/THJ/Dinwiddie bench that is already loaded with scorers.

Note that Maxi finished the half and that Wood played with either McGee or Maxi all of his 14 first half minutes except a minute and a half as lineups were transitioning.  It looks like Maxi/Luka/DFS/Bullock will continue to close halves and someone from among THJ/Dinwiddie or Wood will join them.  With the exception of THJ owing SD a few minutes, last night was probably as close to a regular season rotation as you are going to see IF they decide to let Dinwiddie come off the bench.  The big rotation made sense.  Green comes in as a bench defender as Bullock and DFS are resting.  Wood and THJ provide bench scoring with Dinwiddie running the show.  The question is are they willing to go through the growing pains of the rookie playing six minutes a half against starting level guards.  

Here is an attempt at graphically laying out the rotation from the Orlando game to the closest 30 seconds.  It allows you to see the overlap between Luka and Dinwiddie and how the big minutes played out (with about 1:30 of Wood as lone big).  It was a fairly basic 9 man rotation except Hardy and Green shared what would normally be one spot.  It was also fairly platooned with the exception of the McGee cameo appearance in the second quarter for about 3 minutes and Luka staying on with the second unit until the end of the first quarter (which is common for him).

Given the reporting about Wood, Maxi, Hardaway and Dinwiddie coming off the bench, Green (and his D) almost has to be the one who joins that group once Luka sits.  To me, the question is whether Green also gets the six minutes to start the half that Hardy got or whether Hardy gets to retain those minutes.  My guess is that it is Green on opening night, but the situation is fluid.  Of course, this plan is based on the reporting of a couple of guys who I don't know.  Just two games into the pre-season we've seen reporting about lineups be wrong.


JM---------/CW--------------------/JM------/MK-------/
DS--------------/MK----------------/DS-----------------/
RB------------/TH------------------/RB-----------------/
JH------------/SD--------------------/LD----------------/
LD----------------------/JG-----------/TH---------------/

[Razzmatazz_Hopskidillydoo]

When everyone was excited about the Josh Green hype, I watched a video of Luka/Kidd mic'ed up and at the very end of the video, someone is called for a moving screen and Kidd talks to Josh telling him he needs to wait for the screener to get set.  Josh just looked so dejected.  I hate to be a body language doctor but that worried me a bit.  Last night was a weird game.  He did some nice things last night, a nice drive early on, a hustle offensive rebound that he followed up by jumping out of bounds to pass and turning the ball over, a nice strip on some help defense that was negated by a McGee foul.  But he still really looks lost in the half court offense.  He has all these athletic tools and no confidence to use them except when he's scrambling.    I want to believe there is something there but if you knew nothing about Green and Hardy and watched that game last night, you'd never guess that this is Josh's first year and that he was a much higher draft pick than Jaden.

That's not a weird game. It's almost a typical Josh Green. Hustle-and-display-athletic-ability.
Except for this one, his defense was bad, or at least, not Josh-Green-like.

Two games.
I was expecting more ball handling experiments, more time with the ball, more shot attempts.

But it looks like the Green I was hoping for would just be a 3 and D player. Expectations toned down considerably. But I would at least, expect him to shoot at least 36% percent from 3 and have a minimum of four 3 point attempts per game, or at least not pass when he is open.