With Jerry Jones and Dak Prescott taking up a lot of the oxygen in Dallas, it’s refreshing to hear about the Mavericks. A stable and respected franchise, starting at the top with their vocal owner, there is a lot of anticipation surrounding this team’s playoff push. With a firm grip on the seventh seed in a bloodbath of a conference, it is well deserved.
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Luka
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The NBA has made it implicitly clear that it wants a Zion vs LeBron playoff match-up. Obviously it makes sense, and I’m not one to judge the NBA for its business decisions. Nevertheless, passing the torch to him ahead of Luka is setting the bar too high… for Zion.
In a sport where one player can make up for an otherwise average roster, few people are more valuable than Luka Dončić. He is 21 years old. Before February he had to settle for water at team dinners. Articles have been written, are being written, and will continue to be written on his brilliance. He is the best player on the court on any given night unless he’s playing the Lakers or Bucks. Simply using his numbers, which are nothing short of fantastic, is like judging Michael Jordan off of his Wizards stint.
His 31.8 three-point percentage doesn’t jump off the stat sheet. Before you use that as an argument against him, I challenge you to watch a Mavs game. He’s not used as a deep-threat floor spacer, despite what his 9.1 three-point attempts per game might suggest. Luka takes absurd shots, usually contested and/or unassisted, sacrificing his shooting percentage and drawing double-teams the length of the floor. He doesn’t rely on athleticism, handles, or schemes to get open looks. He forces defenses to respect his ability to knock down anything and then uses his second-to-none court vision to ensure a high percentage shot is taken.
With Giannis, he will define the next NBA decade, marking the first time in history that Europeans hold that position. Despite that, his Dallas Mavericks are not ready to defeat the current powerhouses.
Floor and Ceiling
One of my favorite ways to discuss a team’s potential is with the simple analogy of floors and ceilings. Talking about Dallas this way works well. There’s a lot of raw talent that can boom or bust in the next couple of months.
On one hand, their aforementioned Slovenian superstar is consistency defined, and never sways too far from his per-game averages. Dallas’ second and third options, Kristaps Porzingis and Tim Hardaway complicate what I think of this unit as a whole. The Unicorn, who was once viewed as the future of the New York Knicks, ranges from single-digit point efforts to 35-plus point explosions. Could coaching have anything to do with this? Rick Carlisle clarified that he wants Kristaps terrorizing guys with his size on the outside, not at the rim.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsRick Carlisle: “A post-up is not a good play anymore. It’s just not a good play. It’s not a good play for a 7-foot-3 guy. It’s a low-value situation.” So, no, he doesn’t agree with TNT broadcasters that Kristaps Porzingis needs to post-up more. Mavs love how KP spaces floor.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) December 27, 2019
KP shot five percent worse from downtown in 2019-20 than he did in 2017-18, his best season where he shot 39.5 percent. His overall field goal percentage fluctuated from month-to-month more than you would like to see.
Tim Hardaway, who was sent to Dallas in the same trade as Porzingis, has been elite from deep this year, but he isn’t an elite shot creator. If the coaches in Dallas really want to make a push, then using his 40 percent accuracy from three will be a huge part of it.
However, with the Dallas Mavericks standing two and a half games behind the Rockets, it is unlikely their first-round match-up is anything other than the Clippers. It should not come as a shock to Mavericks fans that they lose that series. But if they end up with a more favorable opponent, say the Nuggets, than I could see a repeat of what Portland gave us last year. They do play Houston, who might be without Russell Westbrook, thus making that goal achievable. I estimate that they will win anywhere from four to six games. They do not have the luxury of a super easy schedule. Their saving grace is two games against the Suns, but nothing else will come easily for this Mavericks unit.
Best of the Rest
Due to my poor writing skills, I’ve already discussed my expectations for Dallas without mentioning any of their depth. That’s on me because that doesn’t do them any justice. Dorian Finney-Smith is used to getting no recognition, so nothing new here. Just take a look at this:
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsMost of y’all picked player 2️⃣, and surprise, it’s Dorian Finney-Smith.
— All Things Mavs (@All_Things_Mavs) July 15, 2020
Player 1️⃣ is Danny Green and player 3️⃣ is Robert Covington.
Finney-Smith is making $4 million a year.
Robert Covington is making $12 million a year.
Danny Green is making $15 million a year.#MFFL https://t.co/scPm8jherE
This past season has helped him emerge as one of Dallas’ most important players, starting and being one of the more underrated defenders in the NBA. Unfortunately, Dwight Powell will be out with an Achilles tear. Seth Curry, the only Curry in the playoffs this time around, will of course be relied upon for his all-world shooting.
And of course, what are the Dallas Mavericks without their lovable big man Boban Marjanovic.
