Dallas Mavericks
The 2022-23 Dallas Mavericks can be defined by missing the playoffs and play-in entirely the year after making the Western Conference Finals.
What did we learn?
The Mavs royally fucked up the Jalen Brunson situation.
To not only fail to resign Brunson but to also lose the asset for nothing is a horrendous look for an organization letting its franchise player down.
The Mavs’ heliocentric offense was more Luka-heavy than ever this season out of pure necessity. Luka provided the same LukaMagic to an even bigger extent, an early frontrunner for MVP doing absolutely everything for the Mavs.
In the first 50 games of the season: (Luka played in 45 games)
Luka led the Mavs in scoring 38 times.
Luka led the Mavs in assists 34 times.
Luka led the Mavs in rebounds 28 times.
No team in the NBA in December won more games than the Dallas Mavericks and that’s because Luka somehow took his game up another level. There was a tremendous stretch of three 50-point outings in five games (!!!) and a 60-21-10 performance that was beyond legendary.
But the Mavs took a giant step back in January, going 6-9 with the 6th-worst net rating in the league. In the first seven games of this season that Luka did not play, the Mavs lost every game. (And they lost by an average of 12 points.) Furthermore, when Luka scored 30+ points, the Mavs were 26-18, but in the other 38 games, the Mavs went 12-26.
And so, the Mavs traded for Kyrie to get Luka some help in the form of another ball-handler and shot-creator. Trading for Kyrie worked out in the end about as well as it has worked out for all of the other teams that have acquired Kyrie — which is to say that it did not work out at all.
It was not all on Kyrie by any means. But there is a very consistent theme with him. He shows up to teams and they begin a downward spiral. After the Kyrie trade, the Mavs went 10-18 and decided to tank their way out of the play-in, a move that did actually work out, but the league frowned heavily upon. (The Mavs were fined $750K, chump change to Mark Cuban.)
It didn’t help that Jason Kidd did not trust the Mavs’ biggest offseason acquisition in Christian Wood. C-Wood off the bench was fine (he started just 17 games), but he needed more minutes if only for the additional offense. However, there is no denying that he still looks for his own shot too much and that his defense can be quite shaky.
J-Kidd overall was not the same level of head coach as last year when he transformed the Mavs’ defense. The Mavs’ D last year became their pillar of strength, a top-5 defense from Dec. until the end of last season. This year? The Mavs’ defense was bottom-5 over that same stretch.
As for some of the role players:
Reggie Bullock started the season ICE COLD again.
The Mavs did well when Tim Hardaway Jr. scored the ball, a 29-19 record when THJ scored at least 10 points, and a 9-25 record in all other games.
They missed DFS on the wing dearly after trading him to Brooklyn.
Spencer Dinwiddie tried his best in the Brunson role, but he was sent packing for Kyrie as well.
This Mavs season will always have Maxi Kleber’s walk-off 3 against the Lakers.
A definite silver lining to an otherwise marred season for the Mavs was the significant improvement from Josh Green. With 10 more minutes per game, Green doubled his scoring this season and shot 40 percent from 3. He also shot 64 percent on 2s, an excellent number for a guard.
The other good news is that the Mavs do actually get to keep their first-round pick. Tanking out of the play-in paid off.
But the Mavs are very much on a Luka clock to get this right. To see him lose his joy this season playing the game that he loves so much was an ominous sign.
Tick tock.
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Additional Notes
It was wild that Dwight Powell went from an 82-game Iron Man last year to receiving multiple DNP-CDs to start this season.
The JaVale McGee experiment was a $17-million blunder. For as rejuvenated as JaVale looked in LA and PHX, he looked just as washed in Dallas with his numbers taking a steep decline. The 8.5 minutes per game he was given were the lowest of his entire 14-year career.
Rookie Jaden Hardy had some moments where he looked as legit as he did in the preseason. Never understood why he was not given more of a chance.
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
We don’t bet against Luka around here. Over 48.5 wins.
Mavs 2022-23 record: (38-44)
Nope. But we don’t blame Luka in the least.
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What’s Next?
The No. 10 pick in the draft. If they keep this pick, using it for a defensive-oriented player seems like the move.
The free agent list here is lengthy: Kyrie, C-Wood, Frankie Smokes, Keef Morris, Justin Holiday, Theo Pinson and Dwight Powell, the longest-tenured Mav.
Bring back Luka’s joy for the game.
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