At 15-ish games in, could be as high as #1, or as low as #30 still. Knock on fingers and cross wood that everyone stays healthy. :)

DAL has a bunch of the roster on “exemption level” contracts, MLE, TPMLE, BAE. Those contracts are all pretty much “interchangeable” as 1:1 trade options, and there’s more of them / teams in the league who have and can move those contracts. As long as the total talent is “equal”, those are the sort of “positional fit” trades, that don’t necessarily require any draft assets moving between the parties.

We’re at least one starter (SF) and one backup (big) away from contending.

This year 1st or 2nd round should be realistic. We could catch fire and go further but its very unlikely. Our defense is just not great and thats going to take some time to fix, an in season trade isnt going to do it, need to let the young guys develop.

all and all I am happy with where we are and have an optimistic outlook on the future

the team will win high 40’s low 50s be about 4-6th seed, tough first round out second round possible. that is as the current roster stands, if lively is able to add 5-10 pounds of muscle by the end of the season(very hardy to do during season) he might be able to hold up against bigger centers a little better. if omax goes from buried on the bench to developed enough to give 10 minutes of solid wing defense and ok offense it could make dallas legit second round team that would be a tough out.

​

I think dallas needs to consolidate some of the rotation pieces like Seth, Tim, Exum, into 1 player that would be an upgrade over Tim (best out of those) who is about the same offensively and better defensively. part of the issue is the construction is still guard heavy and consisting of playing the guards as wings despite being undersized.

This will be like shouting into the void, but there needs to be some Patience with this team.

We have, in essence, a 3 year time frame with the shape of Kyrie’s contract. At least that’s probably the mindset of the front office when they signed him to the contract.

We are WAY ahead of schedule with the fast development of Lively. We have a true center for years.

We’ve gotten a lot more athletic, Luka has taken his conditioning seriously and we’re playing up in pace.

LuKai look amazing on the court together. I’m gonna need my long-timers in this sub to chime in on how we’ve never had two players of this magnitude playing together in a Mavs uniform. There are times where I’m shaking my head thinking that Kyrie “Uncle Drew” Irving is a freakin Dallas Maverick.

However, our Defense is ass. But it’s going to take TIME. This roster is leaps and bounds better than that WCF roster that was a Top-10 defense. But that WCF roster had TIME together.

…also, another wing taller than 6’6” wouldn’t hurt…

But there doesn’t need to be some mad scramble to slam some shit together NOW or at this Trade Deadline. Going to the playoffs and getting bounced out IS NOT the worst thing in the world. Go into the offseason and keep working.

It’s hard to temper expectations, especially since Lively has been so good for them so early. But it’s clear as day that they have enormous holes on their roster. Their rebounding is too inconsistent and the defense is just too porous. Anything can happen in the playoffs since they’ll have the best player on the court 9 out of 10 times every game, but as they are right now, this roster will have a hard time returning to the WCF.

They really need to stockpile on big, lengthy defensive wings in the offseason. After the pick conveys to NYK maybe trade for Siakam. I’m still sold on him being the missing piece. He could be this team’s Aaron Gordon if he buys in.

They need to play Curry more. They are going to need him for the playoffs.

I feel we are likely to be active at the TDL.

hot take? i still dont believe kyrie will be a maverick at deadline

FO dont dumb, analytics is there (especially regarding “defense”), we have 6’7 PG, we didnt pay Brunson

we traded for Kai because “well the price is cheap, and if he re-sign, we have good player to trade!”

also age + injury concern, seems fishy that they are so sure that Kai is the chosen one as Luka’s running mate for next 3 years. maybe there’s behind the scene understanding between Kai and Nico. and Kai definitely have suitors such as Lakers, Heat, or Magic (as 3rd team, we getting Siakam baby!)

Shop Kleber, Hardy, Holmes and even THJ for defensive upgrades. I would try to work for a package like Caruso and Drummond from Chicago. Green should also be on the table for someone more consistent.

The hard fact is no matter how good our offense is, we are not a contender as long as our defense is below average. And it is not merely below average, it is as bad as last year’s. Lively, DJJ, Exum and Grant should have all been upgrades over last year’s rotation but we aren’t seeing it in effect because it has been offset by falloffs from Green, Tim and Powell (our three best defenders last year.) We can’t afford to not have three elite defenders next to Luka and Kyrie if we want to be a top 10 defense.

just wait and see, long season.

We are in that transition period of building something more sustainable long term. We are transitioning out of the vets and into more youth.

Lively, Omax and Hardy are great young pieces we’ve never really had in my time as a Mavs fan. Grant is a glue guy who can teach guys how to defend. (Hence all the talking hehe) Powell/Maxis days are numbered but I still appreciate them out performing their projections in their careers.

We have gaps but they can be sorted out over the next couple of years. This year is about taking some fliers on different players and seeing who we give a slightly better, tradable contract in the future(DJJ/Exum). Holmes is more a salary filler. Green is younger with a tradable contract.

We needed better flexibility in our salary matching ability for trades. We have more of that now. Nico is well known in the player community and I would not be surprised if we get a great sign and trade player in the future.

Kyrie is great, he helps Luka stay fresher longer into the season. Luka can develop his game more learning to play off ball a little. He’s also a 6’2 guard on the wrong side of 30 (albeit with fresher legs) so he doesn’t fit our long term goal. I see him as a nice stop gap that eventually gets flipped for more when a team is ready to over pay and we’ve developed other playmakers.

Luka is amazing and anyone who says otherwise is a dope. He gets better every year. We haven’t even seen everything he so capable of. Improvement on athleticism and defense are showing. If we put a competitive roster around him he could run the league for years and years. He excels with any type of player.

Overall I feel so much better about this roster than I did at the end of last season. I felt so pessimistic and downtrodden. I have to give it to Nico, he’s done a great job of revamping and working toward a more sustainable competitive roster going forward.

Also DFS should retire a Mav.

We are a Looney type big and a long defender like Jalen McDaniels away from being a contender in my opinion. I think we should use Hardy or Green and maybe picks to solve one of those issues. We have so many guards right now and only two can play defense (JG and Exum). I think Exum is more of what this team needs as currently constructed than Hardy.

I know everyone wants to keep Hardy, but to upgrade you are going to have to give up something to get something.