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Won't matter
Rick Carlisle is going to kill your offense.
I had four rubik's cubes shoved up there one day on a bet with Mark Aguirre when a cocaine-frenzied Roy Tarpley burst into the locker room and punched me right in the solar plexis. I shat out all four cubes and damned if they didn't emerge solved....but that's nothing like the rim-rattling dunks and defensive plays you're gonna see this fall on Channel 21, your home for the Dallas Mavericks.
Oh yeah, where was I? Looking at the current state of the roster, it would appear that the following are guaranteed to be a part of an eight-man rotation: Dirk, Josh, Kidd, Jet, Damp, Diop and Bass. That would leave Stackhouse and Antoine Wright dueling for the last spot in the rotation, with Singleton, Barea, Foster and Green as bench fodder.
What would be the better starting lineup?
C: Damp
PF: Dirk
SF: Josh
SG: Terry
PG: Kidd
6th Man: Bass
Rotation Players: Diop, Wright/Stack
Terry would essentially be the backup PG and would run the team when Kidd is getting a breather. He'd take some minutes at SG as well and guard the quicker Paul, Barbosa, Parker types while Kidd would check 2's. Diop and Dampier would together play about 38-40 minutes a game. Dirk would play a little bit of center in smallball lineups with Bass at the four. Bass would play about 24 minutes a game, thereby giving the Mavs a low-post scoring option for at least half the game. Hopefully somebody in the Stack/Wright/Singleton/Foster/Green sack of garbage would strongly emerge to claim the last rotation spot
C: Damp
PF: Bass
SF: Dirk
SG: Josh
PG: Kidd
6th Man: Terry
Rotation Spots: Diop, Wright/Stack
This lineup is contigent on Bass being able to guard small forwards. Can he do that? I think this would be a great lineup to try.
Won't matter
Rick Carlisle is going to kill your offense.
I think he's far more flexible and "elastic" than you give him credit for.
I'd really like to see Dirk log some minutes at small forward with Bass at the four and Josh at the two. Depends on how well Bass can guard threes. He has the strength and lateral quickness to be a good defender, now he just needs somebody to teach him how to play it...
Oh Cuban will give him a 3-4 year run. I expect it to go about the way JVG's tenure in Houston went. Fans will fawn over Carlisle for awhile but then boring basketball syndrome will kick in and the slam it into Howard and then kicking it out to Dirk or Jet for the three will get old fast. The average scores will be in the 80's to 90's.
Can't be any worse than what we saw last season. The simple improvements are what we're banking on.
Agreed.
Where are you pulling this out of your ass?I expect it to go about the way JVG's tenure in Houston went. Fans will fawn over Carlisle for awhile but then boring basketball syndrome will kick in and the slam it into Howard and then kicking it out to Dirk or Jet for the three will get old fast. The average scores will be in the 80's to 90's.
He does a good job teaching fundamentals I'll give Carlisle that. But system requires a terrific 3 pt shooter like Reggie Miller and strong inside post presence. Had it not been for Artest screwing everything up for the Pacers with that Palace brawl, the Pacers were picked to contend for the Eastern Conference le for years to come. In fact, the year before they won 61 games. So, I'd say that if the Mavs are going to be successful, they need stronger 3 pt outside shooting. Not that Jet is bad, he's actually pretty good at the 3. Just need more of em.
He's pulling it from his runs in Detroit and Indiana. He was fired because he sometimes has trouble with adapting to the talent he has. Square peg in round hole type stuff.
what does any of this matter? this team is not a contender as currently constructed.
We do have a first rounder this year, there's that. So are there any can't miss Oden/Durant types in the draft? If so, this might be a good year for Dirk to pull a David Robinson and spend the majority of the season in a suit doing funny commentary.
Jet and Dirk are excellent three-point shooters. Stack is not terrible, depends on where he's spotting up from. Foster is supposedly a good long-distance shooter, but he probably won't get minutes this year.
I agree that Carlisle is only going to be around 3 years, that's the average lifespan of a coach not named Jackson, Sloan or Popovich. I just think that initially the players will be into what he's selling and he'll exercise more common sense than Avery did.
I'm just morbidly curious as to how much Carlisle can get out of a good but flawed team. I think this team's ceiling is winning a first-round series, and worst-case scenario, they go 44-38 and miss the playoffs...assuming the team is healthy.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I just wanted to make a play on words and reference the thread le. Carlisle has his flaws, but I think initially he'll have a beneficial effect in Dallas. I expect a bit of a bounce back performance from the Mavs this year, but not enough to do more than win a series.
I'm not a Mavs expert but I think that playing Bass at SF is a really bad idea.
Dirk is a walking mismatch, most NBA bigs have a lot of troubles to guard him. You basically had to choose between staying big and letting Dirk scored a lot of points or going small, doing a better job against Dirk and struggling on the defensive end and in the rebounding area. None is a great solution.
If you play Bass at SF, you destroy all the mismatches created by Dirk.
I say start Antoine Wright at SG. Let JET be 6th man.
My thinking is that a frontline of Dirk-Bass-Diop or Damp is that:
A) You get the benefits of playing a center alongside Dirk, since he is not a great rebounder for his height and you don't want to risk him getting into foul trouble guarding other elite bigs. Dirk's a much better defender that his outdated rep would suggest, but you're still better off letting Diop or Damp take the opposition's best big. Certain lineups and situations it might be better to go small and play Dirk at the five, but the Mavs are a much better team when you pair Dirk with a center.
B) Dirk is what he is at this point, a two in a four's body. Bass gives you a low-post scoring threat alongside Dirk to put additional pressure on defenses.
C) Bass is not a good defender at this point in his career, but he has the physical tools to be one. He's strong and he has good lateral quickness. You could put Bass on opposing small forwards on defense.
I say you either start Center/Dirk/Bass/Josh/Kidd with Terry as the 6th or Center/Dirk/Josh/Jet/Kidd, with Bass as the 6th. Right now the battle for the last rotation spot is between Stack and Wright.
At least that's how it would be if I were Rick Carlisle
If we're resigned to the fact that our lame duck GM doesn't have the competence to improve the roster anymore, here's what I'd like to see -
C - Dirk
PF - Bass
SF - Josh
SG - Green
PG - Kidd
6th - Terry
7th - Diop
8th - Wright
9th to 12th - who cares
If this team isn't going to improve their roster anymore, then let's just say " it" and put our most athletic unit out there, and try to run the out of the opponents as best we can. For times where we need a big in there, Diop is the guy at C. Terry is our bench scoring, and Wright is our bench swingman.
Going small won't win a le, but this team isn't capable of winning it anyways, so we might as well have some fun watching the team. And at least they're somewhat capable defensively.
You've just described the Paul Westhead Nuggets. I'm up for some 130-126 games.
Agree on that.
Mavs should almost plays with a true center. With Diop and Dampier, they have 2 serviceable defensive ones. Their combined playing time should be close to 48mpg.
Disagree. Dirk at the 4 puts way more pressure on defenses than having an average low-post scoring threat with Bass.
Take a team like Hornets. They will be damn happy to see a Bass/Dirk/Diop or Damp front court. Instead of seeing Dirk killing West, they will be able to put Posey on him without hurting their team defense or their rebounding.
You had me at " o."
Against certain teams like New Orleans that is true. But therein lines the rub: The Mavs don't have a true perimeter wing threat to play at the two, which leaves them with starting the Center/Dirk/Bass frontline or Terry at the two. In theory, Terry at the two should work, since he can guard the quick Paul/Parker/Barbosa types and then Kidd can check the shooting guards.
I think you'll see Terry at the two. You need a shooter at SG to stretch defenses, especially when Kidd will be basically useless in a half-court offense.
Ok, here's another question: When Josh Smith forces his way out of Atlanta later this month in a S'n'T, does Joe Johnson get fed up and demand a trade?
probably so, meaning we'd decline a Howard-for-Johnson straight up trade and he'd end up going to the Spurs for Matt Bonner and a bag of pop rocks.
Hey Mav fans, cheer up: at least you don't root for the Hawks. Their biggest offseason priority was resigning both of their Joshes and it looks like they're going to lose both.
At least we didn't give away Dirk and Josh this summer.
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