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From the latest Zach Lowe article (sorry clips not available)


8. Can the new-look Mavs find the right amount of variety?

This legitimately startled me:


That can't be the Dallas Mavericks, right? This is what would happen if you told the Mavericks to do an impression of the Golden State Warriors: a hard push from Luka Doncic; an extra ball handler in Spencer Dinwiddie to move things along; a respected gunner (Davis Bertans) to enter the ball and pivot into a split action with Doncic; and finally a step-up screen for Doncic leading into a Maxi Kleber pick-and-pop triple.

The Mavs are probably the league's worst and most disinterested transition team -- the slowest to get up shots after both defensive rebounds and turnovers, per Inpredictable. Dallas has pushed up the standings -- it's 18-6 since Jan. 1 -- behind smart, suffocating defense. The Mavs rank 16th in offensive efficiency overall, and a tick above league average during that 18-6 stretch -- even as Doncic found his A-game.

Imagine how dynamic they could be if they sprinkled in more of this around their Doncic-centric spread pick-and-roll attack? Deviations from that usually took the form of obligatory, low-efficiency post-ups for Kristaps Porzingis. That is a happy trickle-down effect of flipping Porzingis to Washington, which was really about dumping Porzingis: replacing him with two players who added at least the possibility of a healthier sort of variety.

You don't want to over-democratize, and shift too much offense away from Doncic. But more transition play is a no-brainer, and the constant presence of at least one of Jalen Brunson and Dinwiddie around Doncic (and sometimes both) will unlock some around-the-horn sequences Doncic can both start and finish.

Hell, even just getting Doncic a few open catch-and-shoot looks would be a nice reprieve for him:


Dallas has been my sleeper "if all goes well" Finals threat all season. Doncic is that good in the playoffs. My first reaction to the Porzingis deal was that the Mavs had slightly lowered their ceiling now to wriggle more flexibility later -- that they would miss Porzingis' rim protection and occasional bursts of shooting.

What if that turns out wrong?