2022/23 NBA REGULAR SEASON THREAD "TANKING FOR WEMBANYAMA"

mavs have all their draft picks from 2024-2030 and have no one besides luka set to make more than $20 million after this season and the cap is going up. they're set up well to make a big move whether it's thru a trade or FA or both. let's see how it plays out

yeah theyve got the ammo just need to nail it, wait for the next young(ish) star to shake loose

luka needs to start recruiting

another way you could look at the dirk era mavs historically is like... ok who were the great dynasty-esque teams in the west of the 2000s and early 2010s

duncan spurs... won a bunch of titles, they're clearly in a different tier than the dirk mavs
kobe lakers... won a bunch of titles w/ two diff eras of teams, also had some stinker teams, but we'll put them in a different tier as well

7 seconds or less suns... never made the finals
webber/vlade kings... never made the finals
KD/wesbtrook thunder... made the finals one time, no titles

the mavs fall neatly in between these two groups as a team that made the finals twice and won the title once. again i just don't think this is damning of them at all & actually speaks to the fact that they cleared hurdles other franchises did not

luka needs to start recruiting

― im a beacon of light (Spottie), Wednesday, November 9, 2022 12:40 PM (thirteen seconds ago)

i think a legitimate concern is that luka's style of play prob will make it hard for them to attract another star thru recruitment. i think the more likely path for them is using their picks to acquire a star & then using their cap space/first round picks they're not allowed to trade to get the high level role players you need to flesh out a roster

you know who would be amazing for the mavs and also maybe available is siakam

yeah that would be an ideal combo. if the wolves move on from KAT he and luka would be nearly unstoppable as an offensive combo but the defense aspect might be too bad to wanna do that

there's some wing guys like anunoby and jaylen brown who are gonna hit FA in the next few seasons for various reasons that would make tons of sense for them to target

they could be a KD team if he goes on the trade market for real. does brow get put out there? paul george? if the sixers go upside down and embiid wants out, suns and booker same thing. idk

luka + kat would be the GOAT whining to the refs team

theyd have to have three plus defenders to play kat and luka together

all those other pairings make sense. do those guys wanna play luka ball tho is the question

feel like they should not go for old guys like kd or brow, they gotta build for the long term

yeah but does luka want to wait?

just get siakam or kat

they simply need a second guy whos better than 'average role player' doesnt really matter who as long as they can play off ball

it would be good if theyre a good fit who doesnt like that

to their favor none of the teams in the west are particularly scary so the best player on the floor any given night or in the series thing might have more power.

their idea w/ the porzingis trade was for the second star who is a big who could play w/ luka in the pick and roll as a floor spacer. i think the issue they ran into was that talented big men who can space the floor don't necessarily want to *only* do that. also the bigs who are dynamic on offense esp as shooters and also can hold up on defense are few and far between and if they're star level players are gonna be really hard to acquire. i would love to see them learn from that and target a wing player or shooting guard instead and stick w/ the kleiber/wood kinda bigs who can do the pick and pop thing from a role player perspective.

i agree they should get a wing idk who though

siakam (big wing, best type of guy)

the problem with zinger more than anything was that he was bad because of injuries

also a black hole

Just checked the standings, didn't know the Pelicans are also underwhelming out the gate

LeBron James says rest is the only way to get over his left foot pain, but says that he doesn’t have the luxury to take more time off. He says he will plays tonight against the Clippers.

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) November 9, 2022

pels have a good point diff and have had starters in and out of the lineup i think

the problem with zinger more than anything was that he was bad because of injuries

LeBron the stat-chaser

he should, all time career points leader is the only thing left he can accomplish on that team

ive watched a pels game and they were not convincing. coaching is an issue and starting cj and jv doesnt work

xp - lebron chasing the all time scoring record is about the only reason for fans to come to the laker games this season, too

ive watched a pels game and they were not convincing. coaching is an issue and starting cj and jv doesnt work

― micah, Wednesday, November 9, 2022 1:21 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

im not sure zion and ingram maximize eachother out there either. might just be a matter of finding the right rotations cos they have pieces that make sense

they should trade for hield and myles turner

yeah seems like a tema that might b e able to mutually improve trading with the right team

i mean even i can admit the hawks fucked up not taking Luka. i get it and still think Trae is, skill-wise, just as good as Luka but you can't teach size and Trae is tiny.

maybe the hawks just had pictures of them where they looked the same size

pels have that lakers pick right. should be worth something

unclear how the pels went from scrappy borderline playoff team to having all these expectations but i say give em a minute to figure it out

im a pacers fan i know when a team is doomed to mediocrity

lol fair

btw theres a game on due to tropical weather

Bol Bol has reasonable defensive adaptability on the perimeter & does a great job of being patient against Luka@bballbreakdown pic.twitter.com/uxgbK0gybB

— BBiomechanics (@BBiomechanics) November 9, 2022

Being one of the 6-8 best franchises with a transcendent player (and Nash for a big chunk of that time) kind of points to the reason Cuban/Mavs FO don't get that much respect.

They had Dirk and instead of drafting well and building around him for 20 years (like the Spurs) Cuban would go on tilt for a second superstar (who wasn't going to come to Dallas), following DeAndre Jordan around town or promising that this time he'd get Shaq, for real though.

I agree that the Dallas FO is wack

lol yeah they didn’t win 6 titles so they shouldn’t get any respect. all they did was make the playoffs 15 out 16 years between 2000 and 2016, but if only they had built around dirk.

also the deandre jordan thing was 2015. dirk was 36 at that point. i think you’re conflating your timelines

Both things can be true

i’m looking at stats muse right now, the mavs have played in the fifth most playoff games since 2000 and won the seventh most. they’re one of eight franchises (lakers, spurs, heat, celtics, warriors, cavs, pistons, mavs) to have appeared in at least two finals and won at least one in that time. so what’s the bar to clear for being a good franchise? who’s making the cut? miami, boston, san antonio, and golden state?

"They made a lot of weird decisions" and "were pretty terrible at drafting and coaching up young players" doesn't mean no respect, just that the areas they could have done better are glaringly obvious and make it harder to believe they'll successfully build around Luka. One really good draft pick in 20 years does not make me think they'll pull off another one any time soon.

Not sure how the Jordan year matters, it was an example of Cuban's sometimes bizarre behavior (and poor decision making) when it comes to getting his guy (who he inevitably does not get). That behavior has not subsided.

No one said they're not a good franchise. The thing about having an all time great is that you can be a good franchise for a long time without making a lot of good decisions otherwise.

Cuban got lucky that Dirk never left, will the same be true of Luka if he doesn't have a ring by 27-28?

dirk was a great player. he won one MVP and made first team all NBA four times. i think you guys are a bit over your skis in your thinking of how many titles players of that caliber typically win

sorry you were explaining to me why they don’t get “that much respect.” so they’re a good franchise but they also don’t get that much respect? what’s wrong with this picture then?

if the argument is simply that the mavs could’ve done better then i’m not really sure what we’re talking about. i’m hard pressed to think of any franchise that couldn’t have done better over a 20 year stretch

Maybe the question is, if f you had to pick a front office to run your team, where would you rank them. I vote below the hawks current FO