Dallas Mavericks – Disappointment Abounds

By: Greg Rector

The Dallas Mavericks won’t be a part of the NBA playoffs. The trade for Kyrie Irving to give Luka Doncic someone to take the pressure off didn’t work out as planned. The Dallas Mavericks went just 8-12 with Irving and never appeared to be a dangerous roster. There is no way I am calling out Kyrie Irving for this result. I’ll leave that to the fanatics out there. Nor is this the fault of Luka Doncic. The Dallas Mavericks are in for a very long off-season and will need to have some serious work on the roster in order to stay competitive in the NBA Western Conference.

The Roster

Luka Doncic averaged 32.7 points a game and Kyrie Irving brings his 27-points-a-night average to the table as well. That’s 59 points a night and you can put that pair up against any duo in the league. Here’s where the trouble has been so obvious for the Mavericks, only Tim Hardaway Jr (14 PPG)  and Christian Wood (16 PPG) average double-figure scoring for the Dallas Mavericks. There are far too many non-contributors scoring-wise on this roster and the likes of JaVale McGee, Markeif Morris, Davis Bertans, Maxi Kleiber, Reggie Bullock, and Josh Green don’t contribute enough offensively and many of them are also getting long in the tooth age-wise for today’s NBA.

Dallas Mavericks Future

The current “plan” for Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is to re-sign Kyrie Irving. If that happens the Mavericks will have two stars without much help for them. In my opinion, they will need to decide if Christian Wood should be a starter or the engine for the second group off the bench. Keeping bodies around has to come to an end though. I don’t see anyone from the Mavericks G-League team that gives one hope either. The Dallas Mavericks will need to not only have a good draft but they better find talent not currently in the league who can come in and provide some scoring punch and are better defenders as well than the current group is. Christian Wood like Irving is also an unrestricted free agent. So the Dallas Mavericks front office has to find a way to keep Wood around as well or do a major sign and trade involving Wood.

If they cannot keep Kyrie Irving it may not take very long for Luka Doncic to want out of Dallas as well. I’ve long wondered why free agents haven’t come to the no-state income tax teams in Texas. The obvious weakness of the Mavericks is the lack of wing players and that has to change immediately be it via free agency or the draft. When your bench leader is the only wing player scoring in double figures that is a glaring weakness. The Mavericks can’t compete with the likes of the Clippers, Grizzlies, Kings, or Nuggets without seeing new front-court players.

Jason Kidd

Head coach Jason Kidd has carried on with something that happened when he was with Milwaukee and coached a young Giannis Antetokounmpo. Kidd has no problem laying the blame for issues at the player’s feet. Now I agree there are times when holding players accountable is called for, in this era though the fine line is there and players will fight back if they feel coaches are calling them out unfairly. I also question Kidd’s in-game abilities to adjust based on an opponent. There are many players who will not want to deal with a coach who they feel won’t have their backs and that means free agents may eliminate the Dallas Mavericks as an option.

The Window For Luka

Luka Doncic has three years remaining on his current contract. In order to avoid having his prime seasons become wasted, the Dallas Mavericks absolutely need to find answers this off-season or risk seeing the Slovenian superstar demand his way out so he can play for a contending team. Losing his friends like Jalen Brunson to the Knicks and Dorian Finney-Smith in the Irving trade also doesn’t help matters in keeping Luka happy. The Dallas Mavericks have to find a way this off-season to re-tool themselves. If they don’t there will be an even bigger mess when Doncic declares he wants out.

Good luck Mark Cuban, you’re going to be one busy NBA owner this off-season.

AS always find me on Twitter @GregCowboys