PGT: Mavs kick off the season with a W

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by grndmstr_c

Hopefully once they're at full strength with Devin and Brandan we'll see the bench do a better job holding leads when key members of the starting 5 are resting.

I wonder how much Devin is going to help our overall defense? He's fallen off a bit with age, but he's still a pretty good defender... Possibly the best guard we have on that end of the floor, but that remains to be seen. If he can recover quickly from surgery and play at the same level that he has for the last few years, then he might be able to mitigate some of our defensive deficiencies. If nothing else, he can still score.

And Wright tends to give up an uncomfortable amount of offensive rebounds to our opponents, but he's bulked up a bit, so hopefully that doesn't happen so much this season... Plus, he tends to make up for it in blocks and steals, so he at least holds his own enough on defense to take advantage of his upside on offense.

This team is only going to get better when they're healthy...

[grndmstr_c]

Originally Posted by Underdog

I wonder how much Devin is going to help our overall defense? He's fallen off a bit with age, but he's still a pretty good defender... Possibly the best guard we have on that end of the floor, but that remains to be seen. If he can recover quickly from surgery and play at the same level that he has for the last few years, then he might be able to mitigate some of our defensive deficiencies. If nothing else, he can still score.

And Wright tends to give up an uncomfortable amount of offensive rebounds to our opponents, but he's bulked up a bit, so hopefully that doesn't happen so much this season... Plus, he tends to make up for it in blocks and steals, so he at least holds his own enough on defense to take advantage of his upside on offense.

This team is only going to get better when they're healthy...

I think Devin will help quite a bit once he's healthy. He's a significant step up from Mekel at backup point guard, he'll be able to play a bit of a Monta-light role as a basket-attacking guard off the bench (otherwise missing from the roster), and I actually think he and Ellington will make for a pretty solid two-way backcourt bench duo.

Blair (particularly in the second half) and Daly seem to have both played reasonably well last night, so to be fair, I don't know that Dallas missed Brandan all that much in that game. That said, he's arguably the team's second best "big" after Dirk, he's the only proven rotation-caliber shot-blocker on the team after Daly, and he has a history of fitting well on court with the team's two best players (Dirk and Monta), so I'm pretty confident he'll make a significant impact when he's back.

[Dirk's Knee]

Originally Posted by grndmstr_c

I think Devin will help quite a bit once he's healthy. He's a significant step up from Mekel at backup point guard, he'll be able to play a bit of a Monta-light role as a basket-attacking guard off the bench (otherwise missing from the roster), and I actually think he and Ellington will make for a pretty solid two-way backcourt bench duo.

Blair (particularly in the second half) and Daly seem to have both played reasonably well last night, so to be fair, I don't know that Dallas missed Brandan all that much in that game. That said, he's arguably the team's second best "big" after Dirk, he's the only proven rotation-caliber shot-blocker on the team after Daly, and he has a history of fitting well on court with the team's two best players (Dirk and Monta), so I'm pretty confident he'll make a significant impact when he's back.

Devin will be a huge upgrade over Mekel backing up PG but don't get your expectations up regarding him defensive. He may be an upgrade even over Calderon in defense but the better guards in the league will still have their way with him.

Originally Posted by oilfieldtrash

When is Larkin coming back and if so can he even crack the rotation? It sure will be tough with all the guard depth we have. It really seems overloaded in the backcourt. Have plenty of trade bait for a big.

I'm wondering this as well. Last night Mekel only clocked 9 minutes. Now Larkin should return before Harris, but Mekel knows the offense. Perhaps he'll show something in practice which will get him a handful of minutes rather than Mekel. But once Harris is well Larkin and Mekel will both probably ride the end of the bench only seeing trash time. A shame really. But the point is we have an insurance policy at PG and won't be pulling up guys off the street.

We may be deep at PG, but with the exception of Calderon (who shouldn't be a trade option) the salaries don't amount to anything so unless there's a talented center out there who's earning next to nothing on a team with too many big men the idea of bundling up a few smalls for a big, which is a GM no no anyway, is pretty far fetched.

I think once Wright is back we should be OK in the paint. Dalembert is likely going to net ~7 RPG with a block or 2. Wright's going to add another 5 boards and 10+ points if he gets solid minutes. And you can still fall back on Bernard James to hack the hell out of the premier centers and force them to earn their buckets at the line. Let's see how we look against Houston. That will be a real test of our big men (well, except Wright).

[grndmstr_c]

Originally Posted by Dirk's Knee

Devin will be a huge upgrade over Mekel backing up PG but don't get your expectations up regarding him defensive. He may be an upgrade even over Calderon in defense but the better guards in the league will still have their way with him.

The better guards in the league are the better guards in the league because they have their way with pretty much everybody. I'm not expecting Devin to be a stopper; just expecting him to be a guy with good lateral quickness who'll make his opponents earn their points.

[Dirk's Knee]

Originally Posted by grndmstr_c

The better guards in the league are the better guards in the league because they have their way with pretty much everybody. I'm not expecting Devin to be a stopper; just expecting him to be a guy with good lateral quickness who'll make his opponents earn their points.

Basketball Reference has his defensive rating (estimated points allowed per 100 possessions) at 106 last year. Calderon had a rating of 111 last year. I know stats aren't always the absolute indicator especially when talking about abstracts such as defensive presence, I'm just guarding my expectations.

[grndmstr_c]

Originally Posted by Dirk's Knee

Basketball Reference has his defensive rating (estimated points allowed per 100 possessions) at 106 last year. Calderon had a rating of 111 last year. I know stats aren't always the absolute indicator especially when talking about abstracts such as defensive presence, I'm just guarding my expectations.

So, what you're saying is, he should be better on the defensive end than the guys who played the point guard minutes last night. Again, when I say two-way player, I'm just talking about a guy who's going to contribute solid minutes on both ends of the court. Not that high a bar, and apparently one you don't even disagree with, so I'm not sure where the disconnect is here.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by Dirk's Knee

Basketball Reference has his defensive rating (estimated points allowed per 100 possessions) at 106 last year. Calderon had a rating of 111 last year. I know stats aren't always the absolute indicator especially when talking about abstracts such as defensive presence, I'm just guarding my expectations.

I'm not much of a stats geek, but didn't someone post Harris' defensive impact on Atlanta here when we signed him? Apparently that team was much better defensively when he was on the floor.

[Dirk's Knee]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

I'm not much of a stats geek, but didn't someone post Harris' defensive impact on Atlanta here when we signed him? Apparently that team was much better defensively when he was on the floor.

-6 points net defensively with him on the floor, which is good. +9.6 overall, which is very good. Actually way, way better than Calderon's numbers last year using the same metrics (though with Calderon's split between 2 absolutely horrible teams so when the numbers are negative no matter if a player is on or off the court it's tough to really make any judgement). Like I said, just guarding my expectations...