STD (@#$show thread daily): Mavs suckage

[LukaMagic]

Gafford has great hands and great length. He is a great addition.

[LukaMagic]

As is PJ. PJ's arm span is HUUUGE.

[LukaMagic]

Lively has great offensive and defensive positional awareness. And he's such a young player. He is also a great addition.

[LukaMagic]

And this is the same thing HOME AND AWAY. As you can see Mavs are doing significantly better AT HOME in terms of that offensive-defensive balance.

This tonight is A RARE easy game for Mavs away.

And that AWAY RECORD is what is the most concerning thing about this Mavs team. That's what they need to improve. Because they are in the negative.

[LukaMagic]

Was that a block by Kyrie? Kyrie has a great, great feel for the game. But he just gets in his head too much.

[Melonhead]

When was the last time they dominated from tip and get an easy game? Thunder but that still was somewhat competitive early

[LukaMagic]

THJ is by far the weakest part of this squad.

[Melonhead]

I really don?t care about 30 point triple double get Luka and Kyrie out

[Melonhead]

Mavs finally get Luka a center and he?s trying to set Wilts record within a
month lol

[LukaMagic]

THJ is forcing Kyrie to pass the ball to him. That's the relationship that THJ has with Kyrie. He is pushing Kyrie into some sort of special treatment. And then that gets Kyrie into some weird shit and bad funk.

THJ is like that. Many basketball players are like that. Childish like that. "Pass it to me. Pass it to me. Brother. We're brothers. We always together." Primitive like that. Then they go on to things like: "Grant Williams is a piece of shit. Etc."

THJ is that kind of dude.

[LukaMagic]

C o r r o s i v e . . i n f l u e n c e . . o n . . t h i s . . t e a m . .

THJ.

[LukaMagic]

Very, very poor execution by Hardy on a fast break. That was 2 on 1. That MUST BE CONVERTED. That was very poor and needless attempt at an alley-oop.

[LukaMagic]

Here is the points scored vs points allowed in HOME GAMES OVER TIME. Look at those two middle columns. THAT IS PROGRESS. That is where Mavs need to be and that is what they are working on.

Again, these are only games in which Kyrie and Luka have played together. Because that is really what is important for Mavericks. It is Kyrie and Luka that potentially make the Mavs to be able to challenge in the West.

[blessednegr0]

Hardy out performed THJ yet again in spare minutes.

[LukaMagic]

And this is the same thing in AWAY GAMES. Points scored versus points allowed OVER TIME in games with both Kyrie and Luka.

As you can see, here is where the Mavs are struggling.

Tonight's game will affect that last column and make it better looking.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Hardy 11 points in 7 minutes. I don't care his shortcomings...I'd play him over THJ 10/10.

[LukaMagic]

Luka Doncic with 14 assists tonight and Kyrie with 1.

THAT WAS BAD FOR THE MAVS. Mavs would have lost this game if they played any solid team. Chicago looked piss poor.

[LukaMagic]

Originally Posted by LukaMagic

Luka Doncic with 14 assists tonight and Kyrie with 1.

THAT WAS BAD FOR THE MAVS. Mavs would have lost this game if they played any solid team. Chicago looked piss poor.

But credit must be given to the Mav's defense.

[LukaMagic]

Originally Posted by LukaMagic

Mavs would have lost this game if they played any solid team.

This is not totally correct. Luka Doncic is such a great player that with him on the floor anything is possible. He can have even better numbers. But tonight's game is not how Mavs are optimizing their chances of success.

[BPo001]

Tonight Luka passed JET to become #2 on the Mavs all time made 3?s list.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

I just like that we won with center play. That's how we should win every game.

[SMC0007]

Luka is good

[LukaMagic]

Originally Posted by LukaMagic

Chicago is getting ZERO RESPECT FROM THE REFS.

Chicago is not among the markets that control and run this league.

https://youtu.be/__w3XLCXUko

Players are TALKING ABOUT IT. They know what's going on.

[LukaMagic]

Looks like Mavs will spend 3 days in California. The Mavericks organization should tightly control where players hang out and how and with whom they spend time while they are there. They must do that to ensure the team cohesion and to prevent and seal out any corrosive influence and impact from the outside.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Mavs are 5-0 when Gafford starts. I'm down for it although it looks like Lively has gotten over the rookie wall.

What a nice problem to have.

[Melonhead]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

Mavs are 5-0 when Gafford starts. I'm down for it although it looks like Lively has gotten over the rookie wall.

What a nice problem to have.

I?m fine with either starting. What I don?t like is when Gafford struggles in space, they revert to Maxi. Because he?s not stopping anyone either AND he can?t score or rebound.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by Melonhead

I?m fine with either starting. What I don?t like is when Gafford struggles in space, they revert to Maxi. Because he?s not stopping anyone either AND he can?t score or rebound.

OMax would solve that issue, but Kidd won't play him or Hardy.

[SMC0007]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

OMax would solve that issue, but Kidd won't play him or Hardy.

You dont understand the deep logic. THJ has to play bro. He could go off and make a handful of 3s in a row at any point! Might even take a charge. Who cares that every single 3 is ill advised and any basket could be his last one for 2 months. The potential is there! Besides, Kidd and the FO can't afford pappa Hardaway sounding off with negativity.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by SMC0007

Besides, Kidd and the FO can't afford pappa Hardaway sounding off with negativity.

This is it. It's stupid fire control over that dumb shit. They probably want to keep it cool because of the Grant Williams fail.

I'd rather have kept Grant Williams over THJ.

[SMC0007]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

This is it. It's stupid fire control over that dumb shit. They probably want to keep it cool because of the Grant Williams fail.

I'd rather have kept Grant Williams over THJ.

Its twice over too late to keep daddy quiet. That dude spouts off every time he has a platform to do so.

After hearing Michael Finley on some interview with '105.3The fan'. I think Grant and Luka relationship was completely burnt. Which makes sense when Grant then jabs at Luka in post game after 1 win.
April 9th vs Hornets will be something to see!

Not playing Hardy is border line criminal. If Luka or Kai go down, he doesnt have much playing time lately so its a tall task to jump back in the mix of meaningful minutes. God forbid that happens around or in the playoffs.

[LukaMagic]

https://youtu.be/BO31QnA_5j4?t=36

So here is . j u s t . o n e . e x a m p l e . why Hardy cannot play many minutes. Notice here how he doesn't know how to act on switches. His awareness is extremely low. He just puts his head down and runs after his own guy.

In basketball, you must be able to know when to switch your defensive coverage so as not to disturb and offset what other players on your team are doing. And look at Hardy here. He is completely oblivious to that.

So in this position Hardy should have just stayed where he is on this photo. But, as you can see, he is not able to do that. He is not able to notice what Luka is doing. He is totally blind to such things.

And in the last game I made one more comment about him not being able to convert a 2 on 1 fast break. Those are basketball essentials that he struggles with.

Yes, Hardy can score. Yes, he can also drive. But he lacks many, many fundamentals like this. When he drives he also puts his head down. And look at him on defense. He cannot be relied upon for basic coverage and switches.

However THJ's defense is bad, THJ is a much better defender than Hardy is. And probably much, much better. And that "much, much" in the previous sentence is not so much a compliment to THJ but a reflection of just how poor Hardy is.

But, of course, Hardy is young. So he can work on such things and improve.

[blessednegr0]

Originally Posted by LukaMagic

https://youtu.be/BO31QnA_5j4?t=36

So here is . j u s t . o n e . e x a m p l e . why Hardy cannot play many minutes. Notice here how he doesn't know how to act on switches. His awareness is extremely low. He just puts his head down and runs after his own guy.

In basketball, you must be able to know when to switch your defensive coverage so as not to disturb and offset what other players on your team are doing. And look at Hardy here. He is completely oblivious to that.

So in this position Hardy should have just stayed where he is on this photo. But, as you can see, he is not able to do that. He is not able to notice what Luka is doing. He is totally blind to such things.

And in the last game I made one more comment about him not being able to convert a 2 on 1 fast break. Those are basketball essentials that he struggles with.

Yes, Hardy can score. Yes, he can also drive. But he lacks many, many fundamentals like this. When he drives he also puts his head down. And look at him on defense. He cannot be relied upon for basic coverage and switches.

However THJ's defense is bad, THJ is a much better defender than Hardy is.

THJs defense is much better than Hardys? Come on now... THJ has been absolute shit as of late. Give him rotation minutes at least.

THJ is the one wrong thing with this team at the moment.

[LukaMagic]

https://youtu.be/BO31QnA_5j4?t=54

And here you have a similar situation with Lively that exposes Lively's inexperience.

Lively is generally very good. He has a very good positional sense. But here you can see how he OVERCOMMITS to help cover Curry. And then you can also see how a more VETERAN PLAYER uses a bit of a hustle, pushing and shoving to expose that over-commitment. This is just inexperience here. Lively has awareness.

What Lively is doing here is trying a bit too hard. He is probably excited to play Golden State Warriors away, and he is trying hard to help out on switches with Curry. So that, therefore, he over-commits. These are things of inexperience. These things are impossible to change for Kidd. Lively is 20 years old and these guys around him are all extremely experienced in all sorts of situations like these.

You have a 20 year old kid pushing and shoving with Draymond Green who knows all of the tricks and all of the dirtiest tricks in the book, and who's been doing it for years. And then these other guys on GSW team push and shove each other day in and day out with Draymond Green. They are experienced like that. And Lively has perhaps played them only once in his entire life.

And, of course, along with LAL, GSW are probably the team that gets the very most favourable officiating in the whole NBA. The team with the dirtiest bigs that get most faviourably treated. That's GSW.

Detroit Pistons also have very dirty bigs but they don't get such a favourable treatment. And, further to of course, GSW is probably the dirtiest team out there. Season before last when they faced Denver then purposefully POKED JOKIC'S EYE to put him on the bench. That's how they won over Denver. That's the sort of things that they plan.

So if Dallas were to play GSW they might expect all sorts of things like that.

[LukaMagic]

https://youtu.be/BO31QnA_5j4?t=80

So here you have ANOTHER SITUATION this time not with Curry but with Klay Thompson. And all of you must know that this is GSW's offense that the Mavs are dealing with here. And GSW's offensive set-ups are probably one of the best basketball offensive set-ups ever (given the players that they have and the success that they have had). So this is tough to play defense. This here is Mavs dealing with one of the toughest teams in the league. Offensively at least. (I've never really watched GSW's play but I suppose those things must be true given their successes).

So notice here how THJ is already ON A BIG RUN chasing after and chasing down KT. And, of course, KT doesn't need much time to shoot. So he is a big threat. He can get the pass now in this position that he is on the photo, or he can go around that #5 and get a pass there. And he will do whatever he decides suits him best. This is tough to guard.

So what do you think? If he goes around the number 5, should THJ and Lively switch? Or should they not switch?

[LukaMagic]

https://youtu.be/BO31QnA_5j4?t=121

Here is a similar situation with THJ again chasing after somebody on the same part of the court. At the moment on this photo he is behind the GSW player number 32.

[Melonhead]

Curry is out so you know what that means?

Draymond won?t play either lol

[LukaMagic]

Originally Posted by LukaMagic

https://youtu.be/BO31QnA_5j4?t=80

So here you have ANOTHER SITUATION this time not with Curry but with Klay Thompson. And all of you must know that this is GSW's offense that the Mavs are dealing with here. And GSW's offensive set-ups are probably one of the best basketball offensive set-ups ever (given the players that they have and the success that they have had). So this is tough to play defense. This here is Mavs dealing with one of the toughest teams in the league. Offensively at least. (I've never really watched GSW's play but I suppose those things must be true given their successes).

So notice here how THJ is already ON A BIG RUN chasing after and chasing down KT. And, of course, KT doesn't need much time to shoot. So he is a big threat. He can get the pass now in this position that he is on the photo, or he can go around that #5 and get a pass there. And he will do whatever he decides suits him best. This is tough to guard.

So what do you think? If he goes around the number 5, should THJ and Lively switch? Or should they not switch?

The answer here is that THJ should switch with Lively and that is because Lively is a very mobile big with great length who can challenge KT well at the 3-point line, but also if KT were drive inside. As you can see, what happened here is that THJ dropped out of the play which led to an easy 3-pointer for GSW.

That's what Lively brings as a big. Length, size, aaand mobility. And a good positional sense. That's why Lively is such a good young player.

[LukaMagic]

Originally Posted by LukaMagic

The answer here is that THJ should switch with Lively and that is because Lively is a very mobile big with great length who can challenge KT well at the 3-point line, but also if KT were to drive inside. As you can see, what happened here is that THJ dropped out of the play which led to an easy 3-pointer for GSW.

That's what Lively brings as a big. Length, size, aaand mobility. And a good positional sense. That's why Lively is such a good young player.

But to be able to switch THJ must be able to see all of that in the situation that he is in. He must be able to know that it is Lively who is there, he must be able to see Lively's position, read all of that, and then decide to switch at the most optimal moment. That has to do with MATCHUPS that Kidd talks about during press conferences often. Exploiting such matchups. Every players must know very well when to switch, with who to switch and with who to not switch, and so on. So that a player must have both the knowledge of that and awareness of that in the situation that he is. As well as the ability to act upon all of that.

[LukaMagic]

Originally Posted by LukaMagic

https://youtu.be/BO31QnA_5j4?t=121

Here is a similar situation with THJ again chasing after somebody on the same part of the court. At the moment on this photo he is behind the GSW player number 32.

And here is DP instead of Lively. A much weaker defender. But this is also not Klay Thompson. And as you can see, THJ again appears to have dropped out of play. THJ often appears to drop out of plays like that.

DP here, for example, should know that this individual driving the ball at this moment is a LEFT-HANDED SHOOTER. And that means that he does not prefer to stop to shoot the ball at this moment pictured. Left-handed shooters such as him prefer to stop to shoot when driving with their right hand because that's when their LEFT SHOULDER IS ANGLED BETTER AND IN THE DIRECTION OF THE RIM. So that DP should give him a bit more space to entice him to shoot and then use that space to better defend THE DRIVE that SUCH A LEFT-HANDED PLAYER WILL PROBABLY PREFER TO DO in this situation. Which is what this player did.

That also has to do with awareness and knowledge and reading the situation. Making decisions like that all the time depending on switches, runs, and all other things that are made during a possession.

[Melonhead]

8 seed team all on their own. Can?t take care of business and make games hard on themselves.