[b_o_r]

Originally Posted by jthig32

You're right, I will point to Marion, because he has no issues doing everything you just described. Marion seems to find plenty of cuts to the basket with Dirk and Kidd on the floor.

Marion has a variety of moves in/around the basket with that little flip shot and he is way faster (especially first step wise) than Lamar. Secondly, Marion scoring is way more varied than cutting to the basket. Dude is always around the basket--involved in PnR, beating his man down the floor to establish deep position, post ups, looking for the offensive rebound, etc. That has been his game since college. He has applied his skill set to this offense.

Originally Posted by grndmstr_c

Not sure what this has to do with the part of your earlier post that made me go "Huh?", but I'll respond anyway. I have no argument on the lack of a go-to move, but while Lamar's never been in Dirk and JET's class as a jump shooter, he's historically been a much better mid- to long-range shooter than what he's shown this year. Point being, I don't at all believe you can account for his struggles by a playing-to-his-weaknesses argument. A prime example, you keep acting like him playing PF is the tonic for his struggles, but the fact of the matter is that he's been a huge failure in his role as the team's backup PF.

He was historically better at everything as well too. However, last year he hit 47% percent of his jumpers which was a career high. Before that he languished in the 41%-38% range. The most telling stat is his shot selection. Lamar's shot percentage from the inside in '10 (43%), '09 (49%), '08 (59%) to whopping 27% with the Mavs which is on par with Butler.

I contend the hardest position in the Mavericks offense is the SF position when Dirk and Kidd are on the floor together. For this offense to flow properly, the SF has to be a good jumper shooter, preferably a no dribble shooter . Marion makes do because of his craftiness, but Carlisle from the beginning has implored him to rediscover his lost long range shot. You notice the Mavs were quick to replace him with Butler--a jump shooter. When Butler went down, they wanted Peja who was plugged into the starting lineup almost immediately. Why do you think people want Carter to start at the 3? Do you really believe that Brewer was just a salary dump? There was no other legit SF on this team but they gave away Corey for nothing. Between Lamar and Marion, Corey had the weakest outside shot so he went.

Also, I never contended Odom's cure all would be to play him at the 4. He is just more aggressive as far as looking for his shot with his natural skill set. His FT attempts double when he is at the 4 which means he is trying to drive. But like I said in an earlier post, even when he does the right thing he misses the easy shot. I rather have him go for the layup because it is more likely to fall than to continue to shoot the jumper that he was always been average at making.

Originally Posted by grndmstr_c

1) The Mavs' centers are frequently used as screen-setters in the offense, 2) Dirk's role in the offense goes way beyond simply getting the ball in the low post, and 3) I wonder if you've ever seen Shawn Marion play for the Mavs if you think there's no room for the SF to be a cutter.

And more generally, that anyone would espouse the notion that having Dirk and Kidd on the floor at the same time is somehow incompatible with good spacing just baffles my mind.


Again, not really what I was Huh-ing about, but Lamar's got enough size, good enough handles, and he passes well enough that posting him against SFs should be a viable option, and one that I won't mind seeing them try a bit more. And honestly, at this point, if you're going to continue to play the guy at all I think you've got to be willing to experiment some, because he's not been succeeding at much of anything that he's been doing to this point.

The Mavs centers are more likely to be screen setters once Terry checks in first. When Kidd and Dirk our on the floor together, Kidd's primary focus is to get the ball to Dirk. The offense runs through Dirk at that point, and everyone plays off of Dirk.

The posting up smaller players isn't a viable option because he was never really good at it. He is a face up player period.

If Dirk was a couple of years younger, I would be through with the experiment. Lamar is simply not a good fit for this team even if he was in a good mindset. The Lakers gave away the reigning 6th man of the year and their 3rd best player for nothing. If that wasn't a red flag, I don't know what is.