What is krack Alakin Hardwood Knocks listeners, I am Dan fa Valley coming at
you once more without my fantabulous co host Adam FROMWOL If you aren't listening to
this podcast on Thursday, September thirtieth, it is Adam's thirtieth birthday. He
is no longer a baby, so wish him a happy birthday at Framwell zero
nine. He's actually on a trip which I could not make and was invited
on rest. As short, we're real life friends. That's what makes Hardwood
Knox so fucking special and sub mediocre at times. Anyway, we're soldiering on
with our team. Look aheads, we're up to the Dallas Mavericks. I
have Dalton Trigg, who is the founder and lead host for the Step Back
MAVs podcast. They are also under the Blue Wire Pods umbrella. He is
likewise a writer and editor for Mavericks SI. Follow him on Twitter at Dalton
Underscore Trigg. That's at da l O n Underscore tri Gg. We get
a great conversation covered a lot of ground here. Luca Chris stops porzingis Tim
Mardaway Junior, Maxi Cleeb with a whole nine Please note that we talked about
which big should be starting alongside KP since he's going to be playing the floor,
and we settled on pretty much. Everyone bought Dwight Powell, and then
it was later released as soon as we finished recording that it was gonna be
Dwight Powell. Maybe not as soon as we finished recording, but you get
the point, so disregard that. But also our talk about fit absolutely positively
matters, very super incredibly quickly. Let me just remind you, implore you
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Underscore Knox. I'm at a breath from all this effing self promotion, so
let's get into the Dallas Mavericks with Dalton Trigg. Dalton, thank you so
much for coming on the Hardware Knox podcast to talk some Mavericks with me.
I think first and foremost, we have to start with the congratulations on getting
access to your personal Twitter account back. That's got to feel that's got to
feel incredible. Yeah, Yeah, that was a time. You know,
free agency is kind of like my time. That's when uh, you know,
I get real excited for stuff that's likely not going to happen because the
MAVs always strike out in free agency, but it's always a fun time nonetheless,
and I was kind of on the sidelines for all that, so I'm
glad they finally got me back. They doubled down and made up for it
and verified me recently, so that was that was a good surprise too.
So the roller coaster trajectory and a lot of people don't get their accounts back,
so you're probably even left. Yeah, that was a wild two months
swaying for me. That's a great segue though, because you mentioned people getting
invested in Mavericks pipe dreams and I have zero qualms about trolling any NBA team
and I love doing it. It gives me life. This offseason, however,
it just didn't feel like the offseason I troll the Mavericks because the pipe
dream equity wasn't there. It was it was Kyle Lowry or bust. And
then even if you were going to contingencies, it was like, you know,
Spencer did' will be okay, great, But is that someone to get
really upset over? So do you think the MAVs Twitter seemed disappointed from as
many people like following my Twitter or what was retreating in my time and they
seemed a little disappointed at first. Do you think the criticism is kind of
overblown for their absence of making a big swing this offseason. I think I
think the criticism is overblown, But the reaction to how the off season ended
up, it's kind of one of those things where like, yes, it
is overblown because the MAVs did make some good moves, even though it wasn't
real splashy. They did improve their team the rosters better than it was last
year. That's just a fact. But you know, the reaction to that
is warranted, I think, in my opinion, because of the expectations that
you know that were set at the top. You know, Mark Cuban made
comments and said that this team needs another like a bona fide second score basically
ka Man, Yeah, basically hinted that Christopsporzingis had come up short there,
said they needed one of the main goals of the offseason was to add some
secondary playmaking and ball handling to lessen Luca's load. And you know, Kyle
Lowry obviously would have helped with that. But like you said, past that,
there's not really, you know, that many options there. And I
had heard or seen somewhere that Spencer Dinwiddy, even if the MAVs had tried
to get him, I think New Orleans was second on his list past Washington.
So I mean, I don't know, I I think the reaction was
warranted given the expectations, but overall, when you look at it, those
expectations shouldn't have been set that high anyway, you know, based on based
on what they had to deal with this. The problem with it was is
this was the last summer at least for the next couple of years, two
or three years, that the MAVs are going to have a decent amount of
money to spend. So that's where the frustration. They're pretty cash. The
real the real frustration is rooted back in twenty nineteen when they when they also
had a bunch of cash to spin, and they decided to just you know,
kind of sit on their hands, and and they found out they weren't
going to get Kimba Walker, who they went after they waited for Danny Green's
decision for like five days in waste free agency. So that that's that's where
all this is rooted at. And people just really just want them to spend
money. But yeah, I mean, this offseason it turned out well for
him, but uh, they'll have to go out there and win some games
to kind of change people's minds. Is it fair to say that in lieu
of being able to get that secondary playmaker because they just didn't get them,
like that just didn't happen. They decided, Hey, we're gonna lean all
the way into just Luca plus shooting. At this point, I think that's
pretty much what it is, you know, right now. I Mean,
obviously they're hoping that they have some internal development from some of the guys with
you know, in that department with the secondary ball handling and distributing and all
that. But for the most part, you know, they're they're kind of
going back to what they were the season before last, before they tragically traded
Seth Curry for Josh Richardson, which was just an absolut disaster. So they're
kind of going back to the time. I can't even dunk on the trade
because I was I understood it at the time, and I was like,
oh, Josh Richardson just had a little bit of a down year, Philly.
You can't get any worse, and rest assured it got worse. Yeah,
Yeah, that's that's typically that's typically the MAVs luck. If you look
back at some of the some of the signings they've had over the years.
But I mean I look at and somebody made the comment the other day because
I put that Reggie Bullock he's gonna end up making a ton of threes for
the MAVs this year. And he's a great corner three point shooter, which
is what the MAVs need. I think he was like forty six percent from
the corners last year. It's gonna be a big upgrade for them, just
like the style of player he is. And he's just an overall better shooter
for his career than Josh Richardson was. And you know, I've had some
people say, well, yeah, that's what we said with Josh Richardson last
year too, But I mean, I mean you look at their careers and
how long they've been doing this and the volume of three point shooting and everything,
and I really don't think it's close between Bullock and Richardson. I think
I think that's gonna be a much better fit and they'll get back to the
style of play we saw the year before last where they led the league in
offense. Yeah, Josh Ucherson has never been like a catch and shoot guy
or like this motion guy, and that's very much been what Reggie Bullock has
done his entire career on offense. You asked him to put the ball on
the floor. There's gonna be issues, it's gonna be an adventure. But
as someone who could play off others, I thought that was a smart signing.
I thought the Knicks were dumb for not keeping him. I know they
wanted to lean into shot Creation, but they had Kemba and Rose and Burkes
and Evans Fournier. I felt like they had room to know not sign one
of them and keep Bullock because he was also their best perimeter defender last year,
and so you are getting that I'm an addition to pairing with Dory Finney
Smith. I liked the Sterling Ground addition too. He had a quietly good
season in Houston last year, ran some point for them, and then someone
else who I don't think he's gonna give you any like tertiary shot Creation in
real, meaningful minutes, but as someone who can play off Luca and then
again also defend and defend up like he defends bigger than he actually is.
No, those were not home runs, but I thought they were shrewd signings
in an offseason where just didn't feel like the MAVs had any other realistic options.
Yeah, I mean, you look at that playoff series against the Clippers
and they pushed them to seven games. It really shouldn't even go into seven
games because you know, Luca, he was subbed out way too early in
that Game three where they were up so big and lost the lead and all
that. But as that series went on, you got to looking at the
roster and it's like, Okay, what can they do different here to kind
of kind of put them over the top against this Clippers team. And it's
just like they just ran out of options. They just didn't really they didn't
really have anybody to throw out there, like like Reggie Bullock or Sterling Brown.
So it'll be great to have him on the team this year. You
know, it's two very capable players. Like you said, it's not it's
not like a home run type signing. Both guys have really flown under the
radar in my opinion, at least from like an overall league perspect active.
I think most MATHS fans have kind of come around to the idea today.
You know, these guys are gonna help a good bit. But I mean,
I'm really excited for him personally. I think anybody who plays with Luca,
especially if you can shoot. The three is gonna benefit even more from
that, So I'm excited to see what they can do. Is there any
one of this roster that you can see even graduating into a fact simile of
like that second option that Luca needs, And I think I would narrow it
down and just so we can actually talk about these players, it feels like
it would be Jellen Brunson or Tim Hardaway Junior is the closest they would come,
and just that's it. Or do you see anyone else on this roster
that would potentially be an option there you're talking about just like from an overall
scoring like shots. We know Jellen Brunson can put like real pressure on the
rim, but you need someone else on this team, in my opinion,
to hit off the dribble jumpers. And Jason Kidd can talk about Christops pulling
up from mid range, I don't want to see it. And until it
starts happening and those jumpers start falling, I'm probably gonna think that Brunson or
Hardaway Juniors their second best chance at having But I would call a legitimate number
two options, someone who's not so dependent on Luca to have their their offense
generated yeah, I think at this point and Tim Hardaway Junior he's made he's
made stride since he came over from New York and that that KP trade a
couple of years ago, but you mean the Tim Hardaway Junior trade. The
Tim Hardaway Junior trade is what it turned out to be. Yeah, So
I mean he's been great. He was just like a volume three point chucker
at one point, but now he's taking smarter three point shots. He's worked
with God Sham God on his dribbling and everything, so he's become better in
that department. It's not something that he's going to do regularly, but he's
capable of, you know, driving past people and getting too the rim.
And he had some thunderous dunks last year and that's always fun when he breaks
one of those out. But I think if I had to pick one,
I would go with Jalen Brunson just because of his age. You know,
he's a good bit younger than Hardaway Junior. He's gotten if you look at
his stats since his rookie year, he's gotten better every single season. So
there's no reason for me to believe that he won't get better again this season.
And he almost had fifty forty ninety efficiency last year, so he was
really efficient. There were times, especially in that Clippers series, where he
would take on a guy like Paul George and just he's like a bowling ball.
He just like kind of throwing him off of him and get to the
rim and hit a hit, a contested layup or something like that. So
I think if I had to pick between the two, I feel more confident
saying that, you know, Jalen Brunson could eventually, you know, grow
into that role. But I still would like to see them Avs address that
by either a trade or a Gore and Drogic buy out, you know,
something like that. I would like to see them add to that a little
bit, even if it's not, you know, adding an actual star.
Yeah, I think i'd agree with you, which is based off also how
Jalen Brunson played last year. His playoff performance worried me a little bit,
but it's such a small sample that you can't, I guess, read too
much into it. I would agree with you. They need to figure out
a way to get someone else in there. I would be shocked if go
On Drogets gets brought out this season. I think the Raptors would have to
be just terrible, or maybe he's so bad that they buy him out.
But that does feel like a very much middle of the season development. Some
players in the league, it gets to a point where they're so good it's
tough to imagine what they look like if they're better, But they're also so
young that it's like, Okay, they didn't peak. Luca is one of
those guys MVP candidate could just do everything on offense. What does a better
version of Luca Donchee look like at this point? Is it one that can
actually get some rest? But I mean, it's really funny because I just
wrote a training camp profile on Luca for Dallas Basketball dot Com a few days
ago and gave him a little preview at the front, at the front part
of it, and then on the back end, it was like, okay,
expectations for Luca this season. It was almost humorous because you get to
look at what he's done over the last three years, especially last two,
being a All NBA First Team guy two years in a row, almost average
a triple double last year, really improved his three point shooting. He was
thirty five percent overall from the season, but you know, from I think
the last almost forty games of that season. Last year he shot thirty seven
percent. So that's that's continuing to get better. I mean, honestly,
I don't really know. I mean, the expectations are kind of the same
from an overall production standpoint, but you know, there's still areas where he
can improve. The free The free throw shooting has been a problem. Uh.
You know, for a guy of his stature shooting and getting to the
line nearly eight times per game for his career so far, shooting seventy three
percent from the line just isn't gonna cut it. He's got to improve there.
He's got to work on controlling his emotions. He got some silly technicals,
almost got to a point where he was suspended, you know, towards
the end of the season because of that. So he's got to get that.
He's got to work on that. But yeah, I mean, adding
a guy, adding two guys like Bullock and Sterling Brown can really help him,
you know, take his game to the next level, like you said,
just by maybe giving him a little bit more risk. You know,
maybe you have more games that you're able to put away early and he's not
having to do every single thing for every single minute he's out there in order
to get you a win, because the U should rate really is a problem
right now, and that's what they need to focus on, you know,
cutting back on this year, he can still give you the production that he's
given you with the less you should rate, right, And that's what So
when I was racking my brain trying to think about this, basically everything you
said, what I came up with was Luca plays like the same amount of
minutes, but he's averaging thirty and ten because his efficiency has gone up,
his teammates thirty more of his shots, and maybe his turnovers has come down
because there's just more room for him to offer rate. And that's you know
that it doesn't seem like that much of a leap because he averaged like twenty
seven and nine last year essentially, But if you're getting thirty and ten from
him on better efficiency and thirty four thirty five minutes, that's fucking incredible.
So Jason Kidd already mentioned did not take long that he plans to play Christops
Porzinkis at the four. What do you make of that? Do you support
that decision? He's also says that he wants to encourage him to take different
shots. I know Christops is more efficient in the post. Last year,
he was still not efficient in the post overall, Like it just wasn't that.
So what do you sort of make of that? And the follow up
that would be if if Christops is gonna play a bunch of power forward,
who's the big on the Mavericks roster that needs to lock the most time beside
him in those stretches, Well, the first part of that is I'm okay
with it. If if if saying like Maxi cleba if he is the Maxie
Cleber that we saw pre COVID because he got COVID last year and when he
came back from that and he was dealing with and Achille issue towards the end
of last season two, he just wasn't the same. I mean, his
percentage, his shooting percentages were okay, but on the on the defensive end,
it was just like he was washed. So I'm hoping that was just
like a lingering because I mean I had COVID the end of last year,
and it took me like two or three months before I was like completely right,
you know, I was still up and going around and everything. But
it it took me, I know it and everybody you know. It affects
him differently, but using Heilers now, so like it's right, the impact
of it is really yeah for sure. Yeah. So I mean if he
comes back and he's like his his pre covid self where he can he's a
really good rim protector and he can still go out there and defend on the
perimeter every now and then if he needs to, then you know, putting
him at the five and KP at the four, I'd be okay with that,
you know. I think we're at a point right now with this MAVs
roster though that I don't I don't think a lineup is going to be set
in stone throughout the season. I think it's going to depend on matchups,
you know, because it's like it's like say the Utah Jazz when when the
when the MAVs played them last year, Uh, they really benefited by having
KP at the five and Doran Phinney Smith at the four, you know,
drawing out Gobert to the three point line and everything, so that that works
well for him. I think we'll see a lot of that this season,
where you have a starting lineup of like Luca, Tim Hardaway, Junior Bullock,
during Phinney Smith and KP. But you know, it just depends on
who they're playing. I don't necessarily like KP at the four. I think
he's better as a five if he's completely healthy, which he seems to be
now because this has been talked about on MAVs Twitter and just MAVs fans everywhere
the entire offseason. But this has really been like his first fully healthy off
season ever, Like he was the biggest off season addition. It was Christop
this summer workouts. Yeah, I mean that that really was it, because
you know, usually he's rehabbing some kind of injury he suffered uh during the
previous season and then he's playing catchup getting into shape and it takes him,
you know, a month into the season before we start seeing better production from
him. So that shouldn't be an issue this year. And if all that
is the case, then you know, I don't have a problem with it,
but we'll see how it goes. I prefer him at the five,
but you know, if he plays at the four and Max he's okay,
that's why you run And this one flies under the radar, And I know
people have mixed opinions on this guy, but Willie Collie Stein, he had
some really good UH two men line up numbers with KP last year before they
hit that stretch where pretty much everyone on the team got COVID and missed three
weeks. They had some games where KP and Willie were playing together and the
defense was incredible and the offense really wasn't like that much either. So that
would be something I'd be interested in seeing too. I don't know, I
don't know how much Kylie Stein can sustain, you know, at that level
of play, like if they do it for a long period of games,
but it'd be something I'd like them to stick with as long as it works.
Yeah, I would prefer Kleiba just functionally because then you have both of
those guys in space the thorn. If you do want kristophs pisiness to vary
up is offensive usage, Collie Stein is going to be occupying, like you
know, Christops is gonna have room to just dribble into the lane or as
much room and you definitely can't necessarily post them up in those situations. And
also the Kleeba Porzingis minutes in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty. It never made
sense to me because those two makes so much sense together on the court,
and the splits weren't great. They kind of turned a corner towards the end
of the year and then that kept up. Like I looked up the data
the minutes we're good with those two last year, so I like that fit
better. But I did see on maps Twitter that a lot of them,
and I'm assuming it's because of that two men data you mentioned, we're very
high. I'm like, oh, it needs to be Calli Stein next to
kp Maybe that's better defensively because I've always used clear, but like he's like
this, he's like a rim protective. He's like a supermobile big where he
just might be better, like they used him to like guard Kauai at points
and in previous matchups. So maybe you trust Cauli Stein Moore is like that
back line protection. But like also maybe Chris Osporzinki should be doing that more.
So I'm just I'm surprised that mass Twitter was so married to the idea
of like Cauli Stein and Porzingis playing minutes together. It's more of an athletic
athleticism thing too, because you know you can throw lobs to Willie. You
know that he's already you know he's a good defender, and you know his
his his stats back that up, you know every time, or at least
you know his plus minuster. He's like a he's like an advanced stats darling,
so to speak. But I don't know. I, like I said
earlier, if Kleiba is healthy and he gets back to how he was defensively
before he had all of his issues last year, that would be my first
option there. But if it's not, if he looks like the Cleba towards
the end of the year on that end of the court, and you know
it's causing issues having KP at the four, and you're and if Jason Kidd
is determined to keep him at the four, then I think you have to
make a move, and you know, try Willie Collistein for a little bit.
I guess maybe I just have PTSD from seeing Willie Collistein is too many
bunnies at the rim over the course. He has look, he has his
moments where you know it really head scratching moments. Is kind of frustrating and
everything, But you know, from an overall standpoint, it just seems like
when he's on the court, even with those miscues, it seems like the
team overall ends up performing better in those minutes for whatever reasons. So if
it comes down to it, I'm willing to live with some of those annoying
moments for the greater good. Please don't let the fact that this is the
official We Would Die For Frank Nilikina podcast among NBA circles. But among these
players, who do you think has the best opportunity to make an impact for
the MAVs this season? Trey Burke, Josh Green or Frank NIELICKENA. Oh,
that's a tough one. I I'm probably I'm gonna go with Franknie Lakeena,
just you know, because he died. A. Yeah, he's still
young. He's twenty three years old. The MAVs, I know, they
have a different regime now, but overall they're they're pretty familiar with him.
They were widely expected to draft him before the Knicks took him a spot ahead
of Dennis Smith Junior back in twenty seventeen, So I think they'll get a
good bit out of him. He has a fresh start if you play defense.
You know, it's just something the MAVs really need, especially from their
guard positions. So I could see him having more of an impact this season
and getting more of an opportunity. I will say that it was hard for
me though, because I really love Josh Green. I've been a big fan
of him since they drafted him. I thought that was the right choice at
the time. I still think he has a bunch of potential, but you
know, I I would like to see him get some opportunities as good of
a defender he is. You know, he showed a lot of flashes last
year and he really surprised me too. I did a player profile on him
recently too, But there were times last year where he would pass the ball
and it was like flashy passes, it was on the money, it was
it was something that I didn't know he had coming out of the draft,
and I'm sure it surprised a lot of other people too, And I was
just thinking, like, man, he can do this on at least,
you know, a little bit more consistent basis. That would help with the
secondary distributing issue that the MAVs have. But overall, I'm gonna go with
Neila Keena, especially if he can shoot the three ball. I know it
was very limited volume last year for him shooting the three, but if he
can shoot over forty percent from three and play the kind of defense he plays,
he's gonna have an impact from the moment he gets his first opportunity.
I've long thought, in actual seriousness, that he is a three in d
wing that people just viewed as a guard and they couldn't find the right role
for in New York, even though I think it was staring them in the
face. So I hope he gets run with them, and I will I
would die for fred Nila Keena at this point, but Josh John, I'll
say that, Please go ahead, No, I'll say this. I do
think he's gonna because the MAVs have sixteen guaranteed roster's right now, and I
would be shocked if he doesn't end up making the final roster. I think
Trey Burke's going to be the guy that ends up getting getting cut before all
this is over with. Look in defense of Trey Burke, the MAVs might
not have Luca if not for him, because he helped the Knicks win some
pretty meaningless games down the stretch. Of before the draft, so they might
want to keep him on For Kardikle Josh Green, I would love to see
him get more run I'm just wondering, if you know, having Dorian Finny
Smith, Reggie Bullock, Tim Hardaway Junior and then even Sterling Brown, I
don't. I think I've seen some MAVs depth chart projections where like Josh Green's
ahead of Sterling Brown. But I would be a little bit shocked just based
off the immediate expectations of this team if he's like even like, will he
either fourth or fifth wing? Like, it's pretty hard to get minutes in
that scenario. Yeah, it's gonna be tough for sure, because and that's
why I said, I think Frank will end up getting, you know,
more opportunities in the guard positions, even though like you said, he you
think his best spot as being a three and D wing. But I mean,
Josh Green, He's gonna have to make the most out of his opportunities
that he gets early on. If he doesn't, then he very well could
find himself buried in the rotation again. Even though even though Rick Carlisle is
no longer here and it's a new head coach and everything. You know,
we we kind of gave him the benefit of the doubt last year. Green.
That is just because Rick Carlisle is famous for being super hard on rookies
and not giving him a lot of run and all that stuff. But you
know, if Josh Green doesn't come out this year and take advantage of those
those early opportunities to where he can solidify a rotation spot, then you know
it's gonna get harder and hard to you know, keep keep hyping him up.
But I'm holding on hope because I, like I said, I loved
him coming out of the draft. I thought he was exactly what the MAVs
needed at the time. I didn't think Josh Richardson like you said. I
mean, I thought it was the right move at the time too, but
you know, it just blew up in their faces. And he didn't get
a lot of opportunity. And you know, those those guys, the rookies
last year, they didn't even get to go play with the Texas Legends in
the G League and he because the Texas Legends didn't participate in the G League
bubble. So, like you know, even Tyrell Terry when they assigned him
to the G League he was playing for the Memphis Hustle. He had his
own personal stuff going on last year, so it was just a weird year.
I'm hoping for a little bit more internal development from those guys. I
do think people tend to scoff at the idea when you talk about players like
that for a team that's as good as the MAVs, But when you look
at just what they have in plays like those are the types of players that
you need to hit on, at least until that final New York Draft pick
conveys and you're traded. Asset trove just opens up a little bit. And
I'm not saying because you need to use them as trade assets, but you're
also now dealing with very limited cat flexibility moving forward. Like these are the
types of prospects projects that you need to hit on to deepen your team and
bolster your rotation. Oh yeah, you know, the MAVs draft history is
horrible, Like it just overall if you go back looking at every year that
they've drafted, I mean, Luca and Jalen Brunson, and one draft is
the best they've done since they got Dirk and they didn't even draft Dirt.
I guess they didn't draft loose, So I mean, they really just haven't
done that great in the draft. It's really sad, I mean, because
you look at some of these tents, like you look at the Golden State
Warriors. How lucky they got hitting on all those guys and ended up creating
a dynasty. You know, it'd be nice to just have like one or
two guys that they draft that turns into a really really good rotation player.
Now, given they've had guys that they've taken flyers on as undrafted free agents
like Dorian Finney Smith and Maxi Cleland that have, you know, they've worked
with and developed and turned them into something. But it'd be nice to have
a guy, you know, a first round pick like Josh Green or a
fringe first round pick like Tyrell Terry, have a really good second year and
just keep developing, developing, and then you have a really good asset on
a rookie deal that you can you know, even if you don't keep them
on, at least you'll have a guy that can produce and you could potentially
use in trade packages, and then all of my pipe dream trade ideas won't
be such pipe dreams. Then is there any insight aside from what we know
about Christospers, they gets into what we can maybe expect differently from the MAVs
under Jason Kidd. Is it maybe actually getting out in transition? Is he
going to bring back that wildly aggressive I don't even know what the word would
be. I don't want to say ineffective, but very risky defensive style that
we saw him champion in Milwaukee. Any clues they are just of what we
could expect, you know, if there's just a major functional point that that
you expect the MAVs to sort of go about differently with Jason Kidd at the
helm, given given the off season and adding guys like Bullock and h Sterling
Brown And I mean, I don't know how the center rotation stuff is going
to turn out, but I really like some of the stuff I saw from
Moses Brown last year. You know that's they traded Josh Richardson to Boston to
get Moses Brown, and that he may not even be on the roster by
the time the season starts, but sometimes looks like he's waiting through cement,
but like he's yeah, I might be Yeah. The thing I've liked is,
you know, so far the first through the first day of training camp.
The other day, they showed him getting advice from Tyson Chandler, who's
at MAVs camp, you know, coaching him up. So I think if
you're going to learn from somebody, you know, former mav that that helped
lead the team to a championship, that helps a lot. But anyway,
I think the main thing with Jason Kidd is, like you said, they're
gonna get out and run more. They're not gonna have near as much play
calling as you know what they did at times with Rick Carlisle, and I've
kind of joked and said that's because you probably don't want kids calling a bunch
of plays, given given his previous head coaching history. But you know,
maybe he'll surprise a bunch of people there. But when you have a guy
like Luca who sees the floor the way he does and he's able to create
his own shot, he can get past the guy and see another guy in
a corner, or you know, he can create stuff that you don't have
to call plays for. So I think they will get out and run a
lot more this season. And Luca, I don't know if you saw him
for his media day stuff. But I mean he's in the best shape he's
ever been for a for a preseason. I saw the I saw the picture
of comparison. I don't know how on Twitter. Yeah, he does look
like he's in he's in really good shape. Yeah he was not. He
was not in you know, prime NBA shape starting last season, and his
shooting percentages really struggle. And that's one reason why he didn't shoot more than
thirty five percent for the year from three because it was so awful the first
month and a half that it just was it was playing catch up from there.
But I think he kind of took that to heart. He played for
Slovenia in a great Olympics run this off season, and I think he really
took it to heart how he started last year. So I think we're gonna
see, you know, pedal to the metal from the very very beginning of
this year from Luca. But so and I think that'll help with you know,
like I said, the style difference this year for the MAVs. I
think they will get out and transition more and get a lot more easy buckets
because of that. We've reached the cookie cutter portion of the podcast. These
are questions that I asked in every look ahead who and this one. I
know it can change based on what happens in the season. As of right
now, who would you think is the most likely player to be traded from
this roster? And we've already talked about what we know they need most.
Is there a player that springs to mind that you would realistically like to see
them target on the trade market? I'd say, I want to say Dwight
Powell, just because I would like to see Dwight Powell traded. What is
the attachment to Dwight Powell with it? Is it just a cultural touchdown thing.
I don't think there's an attachment to him as much of an attachment to
him now as there was, you know, during the Rick Carlisle era and
Donnie Nelson era. But I think it's at a point now to where it's
like, well, you know, he's making what eleven million dollars this year
and next season, so that that contract was a it was a bad contract
from day one, so that it's just gonna be hard to trade him because
I mean, he's a good leader, he's a you know, everybody likes
him, and he's real athletic and everything but unless he gets back to what
he was before he tores Achilles, I mean, they're just kind of stuck
with it there, so I don't know. I'd kind of like to see
them do something with his contract, even if they have to add in an
asset to you know, to move off of it. But I hate to
say it, but probably Jalen Brunson if they don't come to an agreement on
a contract extension, because you know, he the way his contract was set
up, it was just a straight four year deal and you know, there
was no option or anything like that. So at the end of this year,
instead of going into restricted free agency like like a lot of guys would,
he's going to be an undrestricted free agent. So if they don't come
to an agreement on an extension, as is getting closer to the trade deadline,
I feel like that's a guy who you can include in a trade and
get a good bit of value for back for because he is he's really good.
I think he has the potential to be a starting point guard, you
know, on another team somewhere, So I think that's I think he'd be
an attractive asset and I think they could get a good bit back for him,
and as far as a guy that I would like for them to target,
it kind of gets back into the and you said realistic I think,
which I tend to struggle with and making fake trades. But I don't know.
I'm still keeping my eye on Zach Lavine. I know the Bulls made
a lot of moves this off season, and you know, they had a
really splashy off season and everything. But I'm interested in seeing just how good
that team is. Like I expect him to make the playoffs, but I
don't know that they'll be in the top half of the East. You know,
I just want to see how good that team is as it's as they're
approaching the trade deadline, because like Jalen Brunson, and obviously it's two completely
different level players. But Zach Lavine, he's going to be an unrestricted free
agent next summer if they don't come to an agreement on an extension. So
that's what I would, you know, set my sights for. And as
far as under that, I'm really not sure. I don't know. I
don't want Ben Simmons am free to consider. Are definitely tears below the name
of Drew thinking because I just don't see how the MAVs have the equity to
get those types of guys. This would be the more ambitious one. But
if if the Spurs eventually lean into their rebuild and they just decide this guy's
a little bit too old or the upside isn't there. Derek White, big
fan of Derrek White, and you have the contracts to match. So what
type of draft equity do they like Jon Bruns in any of the other players
in your roster. The other one I think is eminently more gettable, and
I think mass fans through are listening to this podcasts are gonna absolutely despise it.
I would just argue for them to go dig into the data a little
bit about what he does. Eric Gordon would be a great fit for this
team. To me, yeah, yeah, I would be. I would
be fine with the Eric Gordon trade. I like the type of player he
is. I think he fits into what what this team is trying to do
right now. You know, it's funny because it's it's kind of like that
that James Harden Rockets esque type of offense that they're going to be doing now,
where they're just running a lot and shooting a bunch of threes and everything.
So I mean, yeah, i'd be on with Eric Gordon. I
don't know exactly how much he's making, so I have to dig into that.
It's his third year of his contract, is lest is basically non guaranteed.
It's so it's like two years and thirty eight million. The health is
the major conserver when you look at him as just taking ultra deep threes and
space in the defense that way. He was also, before he got injured,
one of the five most efficient finishers on drives last year. So just
as now that you're the MAVs, if you were planning on having cap space,
I get why you don't want Eric Gordon on your books, But now
that cap space is gone and that's over, I would welcome Eric Gordon on
my books if I was the MAVs at this point, right, yeah,
And I whatever that average the MAVs still have a I think it's is it
eighteen or nineteen million dollars trade exception? No, it's not that much as
it. I can look that up as we're speaking. My next question though,
is who was the who do you what do you think should be this
team's go to crunch time lineup, crunch time, lineup I would go with,
And honestly, it would depend on what team you're playing, But if
I just had to, you know, count on somebody to get a bucket,
I'd go with Luca, Tim Hardaway Junior, h Reggie Bullock, Door
and Phinney Smith and KP. I think that's where I think, like you
said, it's matchup based, but I think it is like a crux of
a lineup. I think KP at the five just makes the most sense to
close with. Yeah, I mean, if we're just talking about because I
think that that lineup has some good defensive capabilities. Like Luca, I know
he got some some flak for how he played on defense earlier in his career,
but he was actually pretty good last year in certain areas. You know
when he wasn't, you know, yelling at referees, but he, uh,
he was better on the defensive end. Tim Hardaway Junior, that's one
place where you know, he used to just be a swinging door on defense.
But that's another area he's kind of improved on at least a little bit
since he came over from New York. Like you said, Reggie Bullock,
He's he's a good perimeter defender and fifth Dorian Phinney Smith is too. And
then KP, if he's completely healthy, we know what he can do on
that end. It's just, you know, when he was recovering from that
meniscus injury, his lateral movement just was not there. It was just completely
non existent. Every time the MAVs played the Portland Trailblazers, I just I
cringed because I knew what Dame Lillard was going to do to him on the
switch, which he does to a lot of people, but you know,
it just it gives the appearance of KP just not trying, when in all
reality, he just didn't have the physical ability to you know, keep up
with it. So I'm hoping that's better this year. Yeah, having watched
a lot of earlier KPE when he was healthier, I think he, you
know, he's not going to be like holding Maxie Cleeve was probably better to
hold up in that situation. But he was not like the you know,
the deer on ice that he was last season as often Dorian Finney Smith.
I mean, he had some really clut moments for the MAVs last year.
Uh, you know, through the regular season, and he hit some big
shots in the in the postseason, at least during those first couple of games
where they took a two lead. So I mean, I think I think
having him in a crunch time lineup, and this is his sixth season in
the league, so I feel like he'll you know, continue to get more
experience and be better in those situaestions too. Is there a really weird oddball
lineup that maybe Jason Kid would never try that you still want to see them
roll out? Well, you know Rick Carlisle, he was he loved short
parts. Well, yeah, that's that's not fair because, as you said,
he liked to go with a bunch of guards, so I should I'm
gonna attract that and a bunch of guards is pro fund please? Yeah?
Yeah, I always it was always a joke between me and my my co
host Smack Glats and on our own podcast We've You know, if Rick Carlisle
had five guys under six feet that he could roll out in one lineup,
he probably would. So now if we're just being funny here, you know,
you look at the MAVs roster. They currently have six bigs and which
I think is ridiculous. I think they really do need to make another move
before the start of the start of the season just to kind of, you
know, balance that out a little bit. Either get another wing or just
for depth reasons, or you know, finally addressed their secondary ball handling or
distributing that was stated as a top priority. And here we are close to
October and they still haven't addressed it. So I think they should do that.
But you know, if they ran out Luca and just like a just
a massive lineup, you know, just have a KP at the five,
have Maxie at the four, Willie Colly stunt, you know, throw in
all the centers there. Just put Luca and centers and see what happens.
I went the complete opposite direction. I would like to see Luca, Frankie
Smokes, Reggie Bullock, s Thirling Ground and Dorian Phinney Smith a bunch of
pro defense wings and let's see how it goes. Yeah. No, that
would be fun too. Yeah. Put Luca center and you know, let
him play like Nicola Yokich and put a bunch of smaller defend really not smaller,
but just athletic defenders around him and see what they can do. I
think that'd be fun. As we record this the MAVs current wind total over
under a set at forty eight point five. Are you taking the over the
under on that? And where would you sort of place them within the rest
of the Western Conference at this point, I'm taking the over, uh,
I think. And I know that's shocking coming from somebody who's who covers the
MAVs and it's around the MAVs all the time and everything. But I really
do think this team will have a lot of regular season success. I think
the areas they need to address on the roster will become more prevalent when they
get to the postseason. They have time to address that. But as currently
constructed, I think they'll win a lot of regular season games. I think
they'll win at least fifty games, you know, if not slightly over that,
and end up getting in that top four in the West for the regular
season. Like I said, when they do get to the postseason there,
I hope they've addressed some of these issues that played them last year, because
I mean, they were still fifth in the West last year after having all
the issues with players out there, they were one of the top I think
they were the top two teams them and some other team that had missed the
most combined games due to players being out with COVID stop tracking that last year
because it was so depressing, So I think it was awful. Yeah,
they were. They were in the top two. I don't know who the
top team was, but they were in the top there for guys that missed.
Like I said, you had KP recovering from the meniscus injury and trying
to get back in shape. Luca didn't start out the season in the best
of shape, and despite all of that, they still ended up being fifth
in the West. So I think they'll end up with home court this year.
I personally think they'll end up being in that third spot when the season's
over, but you know, third or fourth, that's where I see them
being this season. They're feeling, to me is first because the West is
so wide open, and I think the way they're built to play is great
for the regular season. As you've already brought up as the playoff concerns,
I might go under just because they have a new coach and because I've picked
so many overs throughout these podcasts, but I will eventually do an exclusive over
under podcast. I'll think about it more. There is there anything I did
not ask you about this team or anyone I didn't ask you about. The
thing needs to be really covered, covered, really quickly before I get you
out of here. I think that Jason kids stuff is something to watch because
I know a lot of people have been pessimistic about you know, they think
it's just going to be a disaster. And like I said, given how
his previous head coaching stops have gone and some of the stories that have come
out of you know, how he was towards certain players and everything. I
struggles behind the scene, right, power struggles and everything, I understand why
people are pessimistic about it. But if you look at what he did as
an assistant coach with the Lakers last two years, and he's he's admitted that
he jumped into head coaching far too quick. You know, he should have
started out learning as an assistant first before getting into that. So he's admitted
that he's had all the reports coming from you know, people with the Lakers
have been nothing but you know, good the last couple of years, so
the more recent stuff is good. You know, he's friends with Mark Cuban,
He's friends with Dirk Nevitski, who is now a special advisor for the
front office. Uh, Nico Harrison, him, Him and Niko Harrison were
reportedly a package deal for the MAVs, so you know, they GM head.
I don't think there's going to be a power struggle there because they're friends
and they've been friends for a long time. So and I think he relates
to Luca on more of a personal level, well than like Rick Carlisle did,
because I asked Mark Cuban the other day about it and he was just
you know, he was just saying how he thinks Jason Kidd's a top three
point guard in league history, and that uh, you know that his experience
is going to mean everything for furthering Luca's development, and he can you know,
it's a guy that maybe Luca can trust more in crunch time situations or
at least guiding him on. But because he's been there and done it before.
So I mean, that's the only other thing I would touch on.
I think there's a lot of stuff that's that's come out, and you know,
even Jason Kidd's personal life in the past, it's been you know,
there's been some bad stuff there. But I think now just talking about now
him with the MAVs coaching Luca and everything. I think it's gonna end up
being more positive than what people think he's in when you look at the on
the court stuff. I just need to see it happen to believe it.
I wasn't a fan of the hire, and just so people don't think we're
glossing over the off courts, and I wasn't. To be clear, I
wasn't either. I want to hire Jamal Mosley. Apparently Rick Kyle didn't.
Ricarlo did not want the MAVs to do that though. That was but the
Jason Kidd domestic pleading guilty to domestic violence in two thousand and one, I
think was the year that I wasn't a fan. Obviously you're not a fan
of that. I didn't think that the MAVs adequately answered to that during his
introductory press conference, that being said to hear Cynthia Marshall, who identifies as
a domestic abuse survivor, I believe say that she spoke with him. That
doesn't make it makes it difficult more because I want to respect her opinion of
all opinions as someone who was a domestic abuse survivor, So that decision I
still wasn't a fan of it. But if that happened, that happened on
the court specifically, I don't trust it. But as you mentioned with the
Lucas stuff, and there's a very high opinion among Jason Kidding's ability to relate
to players around the league. That's even Jannie liked him in Milwaukee, even
though I think Jason Kidd actively damaged Janice Pros in Milwaukee. So on the
court, I do think it's wait and see, But I think after Brooken
in Milwaukee, I'm like, I need to see like Jason Kidd like adapt
as a coach before I'm just ready to believe it. And that's completely fair
everybody. Yeah, you know that, that's how most people are. You
know, I've talked to a lot of people that's been the same way.
It's like you're you're optimistic about it, but you still you want to see
it first. And I mean another thing is Dirk Nevitsky, He's still like
yes, I mean, his opinion is heavily weighed with with what the MAVs
do, especially since they added him as a special advisor. So when he
gave his blessing tiring Jason Kidd that was pretty much it. So, I
mean, I know there was a lot of complainting about it, and I
was part of that at the beginning too, because I really did like Jamal
Mosley, but uh, you know, after a certain point, it was
just like, you know, it is what it is, might well look
forward to it. Be optimistic because when you have Luca Donche's on your team,
I don't really think it matters about like you don't you don't suck up
Luca. There's something that yeah, yeah, you know, the exes and
I stuff doesn't really matter as much when you have a guy like Luca.
They're gonna win a bunch of games for Cardless. You could you could have
a mascot as your head coach and still win a bunch of games. So
I still need to know what happened between the brick Carl and Jamal Mosley,
if anyone has the load down on it at Damp Valley in my DMS,
I need to know. But Dalton, you've already stayed five minutes longer than
I said i'd keep you, and you let our listeners know where they can
find you and your work. Yeah, yeah, you can find me on
Twitter at Dalton Underscore Trigg not suspended on Twitter and my dad yeah yeah yeah
yeah, verified and unsuspended, so that's good. But yeah at Dalton Underscore
Trigg with two gs and then we post all of our podcast stuff. We
have the MAVs step Back podcasts and you can find that at step Back MAVs.
It is a great podcast. Dalton, thanks again for giving me some
of your time to talk about Dallas and rest assured I will be pesturing you
again in the future. So thanks. One's more for coming on. Thanks
Dan, I appreciate it. Good stuff.