Where Do the Dallas Mavericks Land on the Late-Season Panic Meter? | Group Chat | The Ringer

Where Do the Dallas Mavericks Land on the Late-Season Panic Meter? | Group Chat | The Ringer

That brings us to the Dallas Mavericks currently parked in eighth in the Western Conference somehow uh since the deadline six and five as well 23rd on defense third on offense uh and definitely helps having played the Detroit Pistons on Saturday uh but what’s going on with the defense here

I think there’s a couple of problems one it’s just way too easy to get them in rotation there are enough guys on the perimeter who you can just get a step on or get by and even more of a problem than that once you do you can count on

Dallas to overreact to that fact by the principles of their scheme and the way that they’ve been coached to to guard those actions over the course of the season so you get a lot of really wideopen threes if you’re playing the Dallas Mavericks and that’s if you’re

Not getting a lot of really really wide open shots at The Rim because of the over like that’s assuming the overreaction even works so those are huge problems and some of that is Personnel some of it is just the style to be honest with you I think I think

There’s ways that this could be prevented to at least get them more in the you know closer to their season average versus where they’ve been over the last couple weeks closer to that 20th range in defense which if you’re the third ranked offense in the league is probably good enough when you have

Luca donic on your team which good Lord over the last eight games 371 and 10 from Luca first player in NBA history to have five straight 35o triple doubles and yet three and five in those eight games because they can’t stop anybody so we’re nearing scary times for

The Mavericks in a very bad way like they they have been wobbly they have a high variance offense because of how much they rely on three-point shooting but they’ve got to figure out a way to stabilize yeah I I I the the offense obviously is is rolling when you have an

MV VP candidate a serious MVP candidate Isaiah like um Luca donic is uh the the offense is shown that it’s pretty resilient and flexible and able to attack any kind of Defense um I think it’s it it’s there the trade was supposed to make their defense more elastic you know these rangier

Quicker I guess you could call both of those guys bigs if you will if not centers outright that was supposed to help them be less you know like Rob said just easy to penetrate and puncture it just hasn’t worked out that way they they in theory added a lot more

Athleticism in that deal but it just hasn’t been brought to bear in the way that they’ve been hoping maybe it is a scheme thing and the new faces haven’t been integrated in such a way that the defense can be brought to average but I think it’s definitely you know I’m at

Like a four with it I can’t be too concerned when Luca donic is still kicking everybody’s every single night um but the defense is you know it’s something to watch and and Lively again he’s a rookie right as as good as he’s been he’s a first year player he’s not

Gonna just dominate NBA teams right on that end and so I think they got some time to shore these things up and to me they just need to be average they can’t be 23rd they need to be closer to 16th s 17th 15th yeah so on one hand there are

Times when it’s Luca Kyrie and Tim Hardway Jr out there and I’m like well no you’re bad on defense no it’s like we need to find the person who did this it’s like very clearly what you’re doing here on the other hand they have switched to this two big yeah right they

Have switched to this two big starting lineup the past two games with PJ Washington next to Daniel Gafford I believe Lively is coming off the bench in both of those games um on the one hand I think it makes sense at the very least to try it out especially as we’re

Going through the regular season on the other hand like I don’t know how you feel about a Rob but it doesn’t feel like despite being bigger in the front Court they play bigger there’s just like kind of a I don’t want to say softness just because of what a pejorative and

What that all that entails there but like they’re not thumping in the way that you would expect with that much heft in the front Court I would say well yeah they’re not thumping bigs they’re more stretch but they can also kind of rebound and they can also kind of

Protect the basket so you’re going for like a combo deal with that but the alternative is you’re starting someone like derck Jones Jr at the four who’s just we’ve seen historically and over the course of the Season too slight to play that position on a longterm basis

So that’s why they do it in the hopes that it can butress their defense you know like neither of those guys is a pure rim protector but combined maybe they could get the job done is the hope I think the problem is that they’re overcompensating for that and really

Maybe they should trust guys like Gafford and Lively more I think the problem with Lively is he gets a lot of fouls and that that’s the problem with him being a young player is he gets doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt on it on like borderline contact but also

Just overp pursues and goes after stuff and that’s part of the reason I think why they’re trying Gafford to see if that can work in that spot hopefully you know you have to hope that between those three and Maxi kba in the rotation that you can Cobble together some kind of

Defense that can work here and some of it is also finding the balance of I think at the expense of Tim Hardaway if we’re all being clear about what the trade-offs need to be here finding more time at the three for you know Derrick Jones and Dante exm who’s been really

Good for them in spots you need those sorts of players with krie and Luca as much as you can at that three spot really flexible multi-positional Defenders who can ease the burden on them cuz this is not working I I think the trades have they’ve really raised

The ceiling like I think Gafford and Washington raise the MAV ceiling they make them a better team they give them a punch on offense and on the offensive glass that’s been really important but the floor is exactly what it’s been which is you could take a bad Step at

Any time and all of a sudden everything collapses in one quarter and it costs you a game yeah that was kind of my concern with PJ Washington too because it’s like you in theory or at least on paper get bigger in size but do you really and then also does he really give

You the type of stretch you need there consistent stretch from that position if you wanted to play def has always been theoretical honestly it it’s like he’s rangy he’s long he’s quick he’s got hops it’s like oh that should be a guy that really helps you on defense has

Just never really come to fruition in any consistent manner not in Charlotte anyway yeah so I think like right now this season I’m probably at a three with this team because I a lot some of these issues might be chocked up to they’re adding two starters functionally at this

Point on the Fly and having to work them in is going to take time and effort and y y but unfortunately in the broader sense is once we get to the off season we’re at a one here because they are so all in at this point and unlike uh

Victor web andama situation where he’s like halfway through his rookie season and everyone’s like where do we get him help uh I mean the the clock is very much ticking with Luca and like the Mavs themselves have pretty much admitted as much by going all in with depth and

Maybe they can swing a trade where they trade some of these players together to upgrade to a superstar but like we’re getting down there to like the scary hours with him and this is going to become a more and more more of a talk Point as we go through the next I would

Say year probably by next trade deadline if they haven’t gotten their together this is going to be a powder keg I mean one question I think is is relevant now Rob is like do you think Jason kid makes it through this season like or not through the season but makes it into the

Offseason it’s tough to say just because he does have that history of the Western Conference Finals run where he really put it together in in a way that was impressive and somewhat even unexpected based on that regular season like he brought that team he’s got a history

With the GM he he also has that you know he’s got a little cover which always goes a long way for coaches in his position I think it’s so I think it’s very it’s going to be very outcome dependent it shouldn’t be but often coaching firing

More than any other decision made at an NBA franchise level is do you make the playoffs especially after last season not even qualifying and what do you do when you get there to show a level of respectability and if if they even if they lose a first round series if they

Have the kind of first round loss we’ve seen them previously like against the Clippers where Luca is unbelievable they’re competitive in all the games they’re going down to the stretch and they just get a little outmatched by a really talented team I don’t necessarily see Jason kid taking a fall for

Something like that but I don’t know that this team has that kind of run in them they they have the capacity to really embarrass themselves against good teams sometimes and they just have not shown up defensiv views for some of these games so I’m I’m Different I think

They can play teams have a way of focusing themselves in the playoffs right particularly on defense more attention the detail uh they just play harder on defense in the playoffs and that’s why I believe that they can be much better than they’ve shown which again much better than 23rd is still just average

But like I think in the playoffs there will be a closer guys just play harder more focused it’s just it just is the case often times

Justin, Rob, and Wos look at the issues plaguing the Dallas Mavericks and debate whether it’s time for them to panic.

Check out the Bill Simmons YouTube channel: youtube.com/billsimmons

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