TL;DR we need a Dwight upgrade but it needs to be acknowledged that he has his job for a reason -- he's an extremely competent off-ball big and the gap between him and our alternatives has never been particularly close.

I can't help but feel bad for the years of Dwight Powell slander in this sub. I would have thought the Moses Brown experience would have demonstrated the difference between a guy who can get 20 rebounds on a good night and a guy who is capable of clocking in and doing his job at an NBA level. Dwight at starting center is absolutely incompatible with winning at the highest level, but the frequent suggestion that he (especially in the past few years) has not even been an NBA level player has always seemed insane to me.

As a screener, re-screener, roller, DHOer, Dwight is, if nothing else, extremely consistent and competent. So many Luka layups are a direct result of Dwight setting a perfect second screen/seal under the basket after rolling. He can hold the ball at the top of the key and patiently distribute. Just remember for a moment how many times we've seen CWood or Maxi with the ball 10-15 feet out and just absolutely fumble the pass or handoff.

We need an upgrade, and it's not a secret that Dwight is absolutely not providing value equal to his salary. It just shocks me how many people seem to be genuinely confused as to why we keep playing him. Dwight is by far the most consistent and competent big we have in terms of executing his role in the offense. As far as I know, the Luka-Powell stats have always shown this -- the pairing doesn't work just because Powell jumped high, it's because he's one of the few players we have who is reliably in the correct spot and performing the correct tasks.

Hi guys,
I was wondering something about international players. We all love and worship Dirk around here : he's the face of the franchise, statistical leader of every major category, legendary player, 21 years of service, wonderful human being and role model, won the most beautiful ring of all time, etc.

But where does he fall now on the international players top 10 ? Not so long ago, he was the undisputed first, in front of players like Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Ginobili... But since, we witnessed an influx of incredible international talents.

Some of them even have a complete resume already. Giannis is Champion, 2xMVP, DPOY, Finals MVP, MIP, 7xAll star at only 28YO. Jokic has yet to become a Champion but he already has 2 MPV and he might be able to win another one during his career, since he's also 28YO.

Is it possible that Giannis has already surpassed Dirk on that list ? Objectively, aside from the 30k points and 21 year career (which are amazing accomplishments), what would be the argument to affirm that Dirk is still above him on the top 10 ?

Cuban asked how many people illegally streamed last night's game.

https://uproxx.com/dimemag/mark-cuban-narc-trending-game-7-celtics-heat-illegal-stream/

I have no clue how much he gets paid or how we could get him. I really liked him with Kyrie. Even without Kyrie he was pretty good.

So i’m curious, is there any chance we could get him where Nets accepts the offer?

Conditions: Hendricks and Walker are off the board and at least Wallace or Black are available. The only thing that can entice a team trading up, other than big wings, which are what we are thirsty for as well, is PG. Wallace and Black, at this juncture, are the only names that I could see teams getting nervous about losing and ready to trade up aggressively. Hendricks and Walker are the only top-10ish names that I want in Dallas (discounting the obvious top 3). In our situation, where we need to squeeze every possible route of long-term improvement and we cannot do anything just for the kicks, I don't think it is advisable at all to draft a guy like Wallace, Black, Dick or even Whitmore. We have an extremely tight window to maneuver around and we need to be clean, precise and assertive in our moves. We need to get what we need, not what is cute.

Condition #2: we are not packaging this pick for a veteran. I will have a stroke if we use this to get Ayton, Grant or whatever guy on a bloated contract to make us lose in the 2nd round and get stuck in a roster with Luka, Kyrie, said guy and a bunch of G-Leaguers because the CBA will rekt hard teams with a lot of big contracts. I do want us to get a veteran, but with the 2027 FRP and trying to balance the contracts going out and coming in, specially length-wise.

Partners (going in a crescent order):

a) Toronto: #10, Timmy for #13, Boucher

I still get a bit iffy about that one because we all know Masai loves trades where either he wins or the other partner loses. He doesn't play fair if he is selling, so this would rely hard on him not wanting to pay FVV and wanting to get younger with Wallace or Black. Wallace is smaller than his usual but I'm shocked people are not talking more about Black. A 6'7 PG that cannot shoot? This is Masai's personal dream /s

Jokes aside, I have a little hard time seeing this happening, but more than one Raptor fan told me this would be realistic and within the Raps' MO. A small trade down, although not getting us another FRP, would net us Boucher, an amazingly solid PF/C hybrid, that can either start or come off the bench and contribute now alongside Maxi. At #13 we can still make other moves trading down further or we can even have some flexibility in our choice, specially if we are eyeing a C with the 27 FRP package (we would need to involve Bullock, though, and this starts to snowball in a way that I'm too tired to think right now). Boucher can eat up 25-28mpg from the 4 and the 5 right off the bat. As I said, I think this is a price too steep for what Masai usually likes to spend, but I trust Toronto fans more than myself on their own FO.

b) Utah: #10, Timmy for #16, #28, Olynyk

I always thought that one for Bertans but then I thought "This is Ainge, why in the world would he accept Bertans?". The fact that I like Bertans doesn't mean the league does and the league does not. To get Olynyk, I believe we would need to offer Timmy, which is at least a neutral asset. Olynyk doesn't require explanations, I believe. He would be our starting C right off the bat, he can play the 4, he can get boards, he can set screens, he can pop. He isn't great, he should not be starting, but as an expiring making just 12M? Hell yes. I love Timmy, but he is probably the most expendable guy in the roster with some trade value.

Utah has #9, so we would need to believe here that they would take Hendricks or Walker at #9 and then want to get back at #10 to get their PG of the future. If they get Black at #9 or something like that, there's no incentive at all for the trade-up. Sitting down at #16 will get them in the Hood-Schifino territory, but Wallace and Black will be far gone, specially with Toronto at #13 and teams wanting to trade up. If they do not get their PG at #9, they will want to get one and, if they do not get a PG, they're getting a big wing, which makes Olynyk expendable.

At #16, with #28 available, we are in solid footing. All the 2nd tier bigs (Lively, Clowney, Murray, TJD, Nnaji) and good wings (Miller, Coulibaly, Howard, Cissoko) should be on the board even at #28. We could very well walk out of the draft with a starting-caliber veteran frontcourt guy on a good deal and two young guys ready to contribute now and to be part of our core later. Pretty much one of our best possible scenarios IMO.

c) Brooklyn: #10, Bertans for #21, #22, Doe, Sharpe (maybe)

Best case scenario for emotional reasons. I want Doe back. Yes, he was starting to show some physical decline, yes, he was not the same, yes, he had a hard stint with the Nets...don't care. Doe is the Mavs. I would be extremely thrilled about having a Finney-Smith wearing 10 again, he would make our wing rotation back to a good level with Green and Bullock splitting minutes with him. The Nets actually want to get rid of him (losers), so I would be more, more than up to get Doe back home. I read that, since it is a new season, we can trade for Doe right back at the draft night, but if we cannot, this idea goes down the sink. O'Neale is too rich of a price, Sharpe alone is too poor of a price. Doe is the perfect price for both parties. Going from the 20s into the lottery isn't cheap, after all, and the Nets needs an actual, real PG. A Wallace-Dinwiddie-Bridges-Cam-Claxton starting 5 will rob more wins than people will give them credit for.

At #21 and #22, most of the guys from above would still be available. Lively and Murray should be off the board (people are severely underrating the desire that contenders will have over Kris Murray, a plug and play 3/4, 3-and-D guy), but all the others should be on. If Nico can make some magic and get Sharpe back as well (a tall, tall order), we could walk out of this with Doe, Clowney, Sharpe and Miller (I'm trying hard not to let my love for TJD do the writing, but make of that what you will). The Kyrie trade would pretty much be: Dinwiddie, 2023 and 2029 FRP for Kyrie, Sharpe, 2023 and 2023 FRP. We would see it under way better lights.

I usually had Indy as other option, but I cannot convince myself. Sure, they want less rookies and getting another lotto piece would be neat, but...what are they trading for? They already have a starting PG and a bench PG. Sure, they could trade Nembhard in a splashy move for OG, but I would believe they would be using 26 and 29. If they want 10 to package with 7 for a star, they would be giving up pretty much their whole depth.

I don't believe this would happen, I think they will stay put and actually rebuild the proper way, but if they get too anxious and, for some reason, want to move up, I could see something like this:

#10, Timmy, Bertans for #26, #29, Isaiah Jackson and Duarte

A hefty price, but a sufficient one for trading pretty much two SRPs to get into the lottery. If they need #10 to make a move for OG or whatever, they could pull the trigger here. For us, it would be very, very good. First, considering it would clean up 30M from our cap space if I'm not mistaken, considering Jackson and Duarte are on their rookie deals. This would allow us to actually have something other than the TPMLE to offer in the FA market, which could allow us to bring in some wing or even overpay a C. Second, Jackson and Duarte are two young and good players. Duarte is not that good of a defender, yes, but a solid shooter with the tools to not be a revolving door, that has the potential to be a really special shooter. This is just a cherry, though, I think it is forcing the issue. My real prize here would be Isaiah Jackson. A rugged defender, big body, good rebounder, that can play down low on both ends of the court. He doesn't work as well as a PF without a stretching 5, but he is thick enough to be a C in the NBA. Intelligent, good BBIQ, solid instincts, he would find minutes right away and he is riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight there in order to breakout. This is the move that we need to make: get guys that are about to breakout, not after they broke out and are demanding big-time money. Could we ask for a future FRP here? I think it is forcing the issue too much, but who knows.

It is obvious that the Mavericks are in a conundrum right now. We have a 1-2 punch that is good enough to win a championship but at the same time we do not have the pieces around them to even make the playoffs. We are also being held hostage by a bunch of bad contracts right now.

It is going to be interesting to see what this front office decides to do. We can either wait out all of our bad contracts and reboot our roster for the next 2 years or trade all our assets and try to win now.

In my opinion we need to trade our remaining assets to try and win a championship. We are likely committed to Kyrie being our number 2 for the next couple of seasons and he’s already 31 years old. Also I don’t think Luka Doncic is going to be willing to waste another 2 seasons.

Our only trade assets are Hardy, Green, and our 10th pick and 27 first round pick. Hardy is a stud but he doesn’t compliment Luka and Kyrie. Green is a good 3 and D guard but we need a wing who can guard 1-4. I think we should trade Hardy, and our draft picks to trade for either a wing or center who can effect the game on both ends (ie. Jarrett Allen, or OG Anunoby) then trade green to offload bad contracts and obtain a role player.

Would you guys rather rebuild for the next 2 seasons or go all in and try to win now?

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For me it's probably Luka's 53 piece against Detroit on January 30th, when the assistant coach kept talking shit to him, so Luka made the entire Pistons team pay with blood. xD

https://preview.redd.it/wkyc9xgm5o2b1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=fd070880d2b5f5d9123ae94bb95c49ab9d9aa2ce

2 Interesting Storylines over the past year involving Luka:

1. Comparisons to Harden during Rockets Era
2. Criticisms for arguing with refs too much

Both of these boil down to officiating: how on court refs call games, and how the league sets the rules/directs the refs to call games.

While Luka rightly was criticized this season as he was frequently distracted by the refs, however Luka was at the same time emphasizing something that I believe to be a serious problem with NBA officiating as it stands currently.

Once you see it you can't unsee it.

RULE CHANGES SHAPED THE MODERN ERA:

Ironically, it was 1998, the highest ratings for a finals in NBA history that the Jazz had a record breaking low 54 points in an NBA Finals game. But it was actually the following season, after Jordan retired, that the pervasive issue of low scoring games became a serious focus for the league. In the early 2000s sweeping changes came to the league that progressively moved the rule set into one that much more favored offense and paved the way for the current era.

ENTER JAMES HARDEN:

James Harden "metagamed" the NBA in the late 2010's, becoming a master of drawing contact on nearly every play and totally exploiting the ruleset to give his team an advantage. Harden wasn't unique in shooting a high volume of free throws per game, the NBA long has had very high volume free throw shooters in years past, it was HOW he was drawing contact that caused controversy. James would lunge, hook, kick out, and flop so frequently and get whistles. This made fans and media personalities alike frustrated with how these bizarre plays would be so impactful on games.

When this finally reached fever pitch, the NBA said they would call far less of these sorts of contrived shooting fouls. They changed rules that eliminate some of the more egregious exploits of the rules, such as needing to be in a proper shooting motion to get a shooting foul and not calling fouls on shots that unnaturally lunge into a defender in awkward ways to get "fake contact" for a foul. Many praised these changes, and we certainly saw a lot less of what Harden was doing.

The difference between Harden and say, Michael Jordan who also had a season as the #1 volume free throw shooter is that Jordan was getting fouled due to how hard it was to guard him and how effective he was offensively that at times you had to stop him from getting free looks all game long.

THE PROBLEM PERSISTS, ENTER LUKA DONCIC:

Luka is somehow a mix of Jordan and Harden in this regard. Luka IS A MASTER at drawing contact on his plays, but he doesn't need to flop dramatically to do so, the cadence of his movement is so dynamic and unpredictable that it is easy for him to use a few jjukes/fakes/hesi to get his defender in a bad position to get an easy bucket thru contact. At the same time, he is also someone who can single handedly take over a game, so defenders will foul him at times to stop him from getting easy looks.

There is a serious problem here. Luka is not flopping, hooking and kicking to try to get fouls every play. While he is most certainly playing in a manner to draw contact consistently, the contact he draws most of the time is legitimate per the NBA rules and thus should be shooting fouls.

Rick Carlyle commented on this during the height of Luka receiving criticism for arguing with refs this past season, essentially confirming that yes he is getting fouled a ton and a ton of them are no calls.

LUKA IS RIGHT

Harden identified and exploited the problem with the rules around shooting fouls, Luka is simply showing us how bad the problem is. No, Luka should not shoot 30 free throws per game, but this rule being so arbitrary has led to Luka getting hacked quite a few times a game with no calls.

HOT TAKE

My hot take here is that Luka is emphasizing something far more pervasive than just how it is effecting him. Infact I think the leagues response to Harden has been a trojan horse for a new brand of officiating that swings the pace of games substantially. The NBA knows fans hate whenever the outcome of a game is fully decided by the refs and rules such as coaches challenge and reviewing plays has been great to make that a much less frequent occurrence, but the arbitrary calling of contact fouls has a substantial impact on swinging the momentum of games. If your team is on a run and the opponents get an "and 1" on a legitimate contact foul you generally won't care about it, and the inverse is true that if your team is getting trounced and one of your guys gets a shooting foul you will cheer for it. The problem is that these same contact fouls or worse are getting overlooked or called seemingly arbitrarily throughout the game. So much momentum swings thru these calls and it just seems so obvious the leagues response to Harden just hid the problem instead of addressing it.

FIX THIS ISSUE BY ALLOWING MORE CONTACT AND FOCUSING ON REAL FOULS

IMO the NBA Rules of the 90s era that allowed for more physicality and focused a lot more on calling fouls for defensive plays that literally were hacking at players arms while shooting was far superior to the current ruleset, maybe some of those old rules should come back.

7'1 switchable rim protector with 3pt potential... Probably he'll be the guy at #10 without trading down.

The man is a elite rim protector, can switch, can rebound, and has elite length.

He has to develop his game on offensive but this guy has the potential to be one of the best defensive anchors in the league

De'Aron Fox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Malik Monk, Tyrese Maxey, Tyler Herro, Immanuel Quickley. These are some of the names that have transitioned almost seamlessly from their Kentucky Wildcats days into the NBA. Could Cason Wallace be the next Kentucky player to flourish in the NBA?

In a recent poll about the Mavericks draft pick, this sub seemed to prefer Gradey Dick over Cason Wallace. I hope that is simply because one has a much funnier name than the other. In my opinion the only players that may be available at the tenth spot worth picking over Cason Wallace are Taylor Hendricks and Jarace Walker. I'd be interested to know what other names you would consider.

Cason Wallace is probably the best perimeter defender this draft class has to offer, he may even be the second best defender overall. He moves his feet incredibly well to stay in front of ball handlers and hardly ever allows an easy shot. Whether he is stripping the ball away mid dribble or pouncing on errant pass, his combination of hand eye coordination and intuition consistently force turnovers. The ability to contest vertically without fouling is rare in college players. Wallace not only posseses this advanced skill but pairs it with amazing athleticism to complete all kinds of rejections and chase down blocks. On offense he is not as impressive, but is a mature player with a decent jumper from three and in the mid-range. He has good touch at the basket, but will probably need time to learn how to finish over bigger NBA defenders. He also has playmaking upside and is comfortable with the ball in his hands. Probably not the player you want spearheading your offense as he isn't the best at creating space for himself. However that would not be that relevant to the mavericks, which brings us to the fit on this team

I admit his fit with the mavericks is not as obvious as other picks in the range. We are severely lacking in size, interior defensive presence and rebounding. We have two elite guards. Jaden Hardy will probably cement his position in the guard rotation. Green will play the 2 often enough and THJ ist still a rotation guard. So how does the Wallace pick benefit the Mavs? Well, we'd finally have a point of attack defender for our backcourt. Whether he is sharing the floor with Luka, Kyrie or Hardy he'd more often than not be able to pick up the opposing teams best ball handler. The prospect of Hardy and Wallace sharing the floor off of the bench is genuinely exciting. We'd have another player who can playmake and distribute the ball for our less offensively skilled players. Our guard depth would be sorted, perhaps even softening the blow should the nightmare scenario of Kyrie leaving soon kick in. It also, in my opinion, makes THJ completely expendable. Perhaps it also opens an avenue to trade Bullock for a big or wing with a little more size and rebounding prowess.

Should we miss out Hendricks and Walker, I'd be more than happy with Wallace as a "consolation". What do you think?