<< Adam F. asks, “Do you think the Mavs need to upgrade the center position before the start of the season to honestly be considered a serious contender this year?”
Unless that center is Bam Adebayo or Anthony Davis, no — for the reasons stated above.
To me, it doesn’t make sense for the Mavericks to pursue another center at this point. There’s nothing glamorous about a Dwight Powell, Maxi Kleber and Richaun Holmes platoon, but it’s a functional center trio that gives time for Dereck Lively II’s development. You hope Lively can force his way into real minutes in the season’s second half, something that would be beneficial for everyone involved — for Dončić’s pick-and-rolls, for the front office’s future plans and, of course, for Lively himself.
The only potential upgrade that still seems feasible, if unlikely, is Clint Capela. But one of the first things the Dallas front office did this offseason was talk to the Atlanta Hawks about trades involving him, and what the Hawks wanted in return was considered far too much. If Atlanta softens its stance, maybe it’s something to consider. But Capela isn’t moving the needle enough on next season’s team, I don’t believe, to consider trading anything of significance for a stopgap solution who turns 30 next year. >>
https://theathletic.com/4697582/2023/07/24/mavericks-mailbag-luka-doncic-kyrie-irving/
I have come around to the same perception. If we get a bargain deal, sure. Otherwise we are better off having multiple energy options and lots of fouls to give while we give Lively more minutes a playoff team would otherwise give a rookie. Note: 2021 Holmes was a starting level center and there is legitimate hope he could get back to that version of himself.
by lsmith77
18 Comments
Yes
Dwight Powell and Richaun Holmes is far and away the worst C rotation in the entire league. Absolutely in need of an upgrade
I don’t know why they said cCapela wouldn’t make that big of a difference. We need a guy who can rebound and protect the rim. He can still do that. We just need the bare minimum that a center can offer and it would make a world of difference for this team.
I am excited to see what Holmes can offer but I’m afraid he won’t get the chance at times because of the safety net of Powell being there.
Hopefully a trade can materialize during the season or there’s a good buyout candidate at some point. I would hate to get run over in the playoffs by another Looney.
I’d take Capela for THJ/McGee and a 2nd. Not sure why Hawks would do that trade, though. Maybe they need to get Capela off the books if they want Siakam or whatever…
I think with Luka every year should be maximized without going crazy (giving away young talent or FRP for gambles).
I’ve said it all summer – I trust in Nico.
Only year Mavericks ever won a title was when we had 2 dominant bigs
Jackson Jr and Adams, Jokic and Gordon, AD and Lebron, KAT and Gobert, Morris and Zubac, Looney and Draymond, Zion and Jonas, Ayton and Durant. These are all matchups dallas has to face in the western conference, and I didn’t even mention guys like Sabonis, Kessler, Nurkic, that 8 foot Frenchman
We were last place in rebounding and guys like pat bev were boxing out our guys in the post
Expecting a 19yo 12th pick to give meaningful minutes at center position in year one is pure delusion.
>there’s nothing glamorous about a Dwight Powell, Maxi Kleber and Richaun Holmes platoon
he ain’t wrong about that
I’m fully of the belief that if hypothetically you add a starting center capable of rim protection and rebounding to our 2022 team, we’d very well maybe have another banner hanging up in the AAC.
I’m struggling to understand how even Clint Capela even in 2023 is not a significant needle mover to start, play ~25 mpg, and totally transform our team’s capabilities when as we saw last year we lacked an answer to getting terrorized inside/on the glass.
It’s a tough question. Obviously ideally you always want an upgrade, but the secondary question is “at what cost?”
I am not good with giving up our last tradeable FRP of the 2020s for a C and am hesitant to give up any of our young guys. I think Hardy is the most expendable but I think he has too much upside. Green I am mixed on (he is a rollercoaster) but we desperately need all the defenders we can get. OMax and Lively I don’t want to trade yet. They are great fits with our needs on paper.
The easiest solution would be to re-sign Wood for, say, $4M and cut him later if he is a problem. But we already know that is not going to fix our defense or our locker room. The only hope there is the relationship is salvageable and he buys in and works hard to get another big deal next summer.
Also I don’t put a lot of value on rebounding alone. The best rebounding team in the league last year was Houston. If you can get a good rebounder, great, but is it really worth a massive premium? In the modern NBA, 5-out offense changes a lot of priorities. As we saw in our playoff run, even elite rim protectors like Rudy Gobert can get run off the court with 5-out. I’d rather have a versatile defensive guy like Bam or JJJ than a traditional big, especially if I am spending a lot of money or trade resources on the position.
The short answer is yes, we need a better starting center. The real question is can we get one without giving up assets that would be better saved for a trade later for a player at another position? The answer to that seems to be no, since by all accounts Nico has been trying and no trade has happened. And unfortunately there are no free agent centers we could sign with our leftover money who would make a difference. I would LOVE to get Capela (or Zubac as the third team in a Harden trade) or someone of that ilk; those guys would make us better especially in the regular season, let us keep Maxi’s minutes low until the playoffs, and give Lively who’s (hopefully) our center of the future time to learn and develop. I’m not sure guys like that would put us in true contender status though. As much as I’d love a stronger starting center, it seems the Mavs have made the calculation that it’s better to not overpay for someone like Capela even though they know he’d help the team, in order to save assets with an eye toward the future. After this summer’s pick conveys to the Knicks we’ll have several firsts to trade and a lot of expiring salary if we keep THJr and McGee and might be able to swing a real playoff difference maker or two. I know it’s disappointing as fans to potentially have another year of Dwight starting, but this is probably the best decision. That could definitely change though if the big trades (Harden, Dame, Siakam) happen and teams are needing to move redundant centers to teams who will take them cheaply! I bet we’ll see one or two of those big trades in September or right before training camp like we did the last two years. Edit: I will say I’m a fan of Nico’s insistence not to overpay, even for players he clearly thinks will improve the team in the short term. That mindset should hopefully contribute to building a winning roster long term.
No wrong. Capela would be a massive upgrade.
Most of y’all are missing the point of the article.
What it will take to get Capela is not worth it. Hawks don’t want Tim, McGee and our seconds. If we throw in our 2027 first, we will get him but it’s not worth it.
Capela at best gives us 2/3 more wins. That doesn’t make us a contender.
Keep our first and we might be able to move 3 first along with Josh, Hardy and whatever to get an elite wing in 2024.
Our current C is not contender worthy, no one is arguing that but selling the farm for a C that might be good this year and could fall off next year is not worth it.
I really think holms will prove to be better than people think. He could easily be a bamesque center and a great lob threat for Luka and kyrie.
The center upgrade helps significantly more with our regular season outcomes than the post season ones. Our seeding could help though. I just think any upgrade we get won’t play more than 20 mins in the playoffs.
You’re getting downvoted by the short-sighted Mavericks fans in this sub who are always stressed about a potential Luka trade request .
You’re 100% correct imo . A starting big would be helpful but the available options (Capela for example) are not going to make us contenders in the short-term .
The best strategy is to wait for a bargain deal like you said and preserve our limited assets for a big fish next season . We should be able to package up to 3 first round picks in the same deal .
Some of our fans need to temper their expectations for next year . The goal is to make the playoffs and find a way to reach the second round . We’re not supposed to reach the finals after the disaster of last year .
At this point of the off-season, the deals that will materialize are opportunistic closer to the start of the season. Participating in multi team trades, teams getting desperate in the fall or realizing trade markets weaker than expected. The will to make the change is clearly there but I for one am glad Nico is being disciplined about it.
We want a center upgrade but it feels like we’re either underwhelmed or overpaying and neither is helpful. Might as well wait and see what we got. We’re not going to solve all our issues in one off-season.
I just want our C or PF to have more rebounds than our PG. That’s all. As cool as it is to see Luka average 8-9 rebounds per game, it paints a very scary picture and how desperate the team is for rebounds. The closest was Wood with 7.3 last season and then Kyrie Irving at 5.0. Two guards were in the top 3 in rebounds and one of them was #1. If that’s not pure depression, I don’t know what is.
The mavs aren’t winning the nba title with capela this year ,not happening.
And he’s 29 already.
So certainly not trading a lot of assets for him .
Use Holmes / Powell and develop lively who is the long term answer.
And by develop I mean the nba not the g league