But even Dončić can’t turn any five-man unit into an elite scoring machine, something exhibited by the 16-point margin per 100 possessions when playing without Powell and Hardaway. Because last season’s high-octane offense couldn’t overcome Dallas’ atrocious defense, it’s logical to reallocate some minutes provided to offensive talent to more defensive-minded players. What Kidd has been tasked with this season isn’t just the team’s rotation, but its identity. “Talking to those guys at the meeting (the day before training camp began), it was eye-opening how many.” “We do have a lot of new guys,” Kidd said after the team’s first practice. But, unlike prior seasons, there are many more capable players than ever before. Only Williams is guaranteed to start next to Dončić and Irving, and even Irving will need more time to gel with this Dončić-led team after playing just 20 games last season. with the Chicago Bulls), one former lottery pick ( Dante Exum) coming back from an overseas stint who Kidd says will be in the team’s opening-night rotation and two 2023 first-rounders ( Dereck Lively II, Olivier-Maxence Prosper) who the organization believes will be given chances to play. Those skill sets passively add to the Mavericks’ spacing on every possession, and they amplify Dončić as much as he amplifies them.Īnd on a team that enters this season without any defined hierarchy, it won’t be shocking if they yet again procure larger roles than the team may hope.Īlong with its six returning rotation members, Dallas has acquired three players who played in another team’s rotation last season ( Grant Williams with the Boston Celtics, Seth Curry with the Brooklyn Nets, Derrick Jones Jr. Only two players, Klay Thompson and Lauri Markkanen, attempted more catch-and-shoots 3s per game than Hardaway (6.0) last season. Often, those passes go to Hardaway, whose willingness to shoot is unquestioned. Powell isn’t just one of the league’s best rim-running centers - among the 30 players who set the most screens last season, his led to the highest average number of points scored per pick - but a connecting hub for handoffs in the high post and kick outs in the short roll. The roles they play in a Dončić-led offense, even more than their abilities as players, have been crucial to this team’s success. But more notable was how the team fared when Dončić played without either of them: just 112.9 points per 100 possessions while being outscored by eight.Ĭould Dallas really start two rookies on opening night? Mavericks mailbag When those three played together, the Mavericks averaged an eye-popping 129.4 points per 100 possessions while outscoring opponents by 11 points per 100 possessions. That includes the team’s most productive three-man lineup from last season, a long-successful permutation that Dallas has leaned on for years: Dončić playing with Powell and Hardaway.Īmidst last season’s catastrophic results, it was Dončić-led lineups with his two longest-tenured teammates that often offered the most consistent results. This season, head coach Jason Kidd’s first and possibly biggest challenge will be finding new lineups to replace departed players Dallas has spent years relying upon. But both are defensive liabilities with specialized offensive roles, and Dallas knows Dončić’s desire to contend needs to be satisfied soon. It isn’t fair that Powell and Hardaway, both known to be hard-working professionals, have come to represent what has been the front office’s long-running failure to surround Dončić with a championship-caliber roster. Now, that cycle has begun anew, and we’ll see if the outcome is different.Īfter last season’s playoff-missing embarrassment, Dallas has restocked its roster with a deep bench filled with athletes and defenders. He and Powell have survived prior replacement attempts, inevitably returning to the starting lineup after being benched. “I didn’t know if I was going to be here if I’m going to be honest with you,” Hardaway said at the team’s media day, referencing the team’s widely known attempts to trade him. That will finally change this coming season, with only six players remaining from last year’s training camp roster representing just 44 percent of the minutes played before the team’s February trade for Kyrie Irving. In the past three seasons, Dallas had been one of only two teams that had at least 75 percent of its minutes come from players on the previous year’s roster. Since last season’s trade deadline, Dallas has finally achieved a major roster overhaul, the most serious reshuffling since Dončić arrived in 2018.
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