I know this isn’t fun for the fans, but it’s the best decision for the franchise. The Dallas Mavericks have officially given up on the season as they have rested 5 important players, including Kyrie Irving, in tonight’s must win game vs. the Bulls.
Like I said, there’s nothing more annoying for fans than to watch their team openly tank out of the playoffs, especially when said team still has a chance at making the playoffs.
Yet, even though this Mavericks team possesses two All-NBA talents, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, it’s honestly best that Dallas misses the playoffs as this team simply has too many needs to actual make a significant run. Ever since the trade deadline, this team has been nothing short of abysmal as they have fallen from 4th in the Western Conference and an automatic playoff seeding to 11th and one of the 10 lottery pick teams.
It’s honestly one of the more astonishing mid-season collapse in recent memory given how this team made the Western Conference Finals just last season. Though, I guess it really should have been foreseen when the Mavs not only lost the criminally underrated (at least last season) Jalen Brunson to the Knicks in free agency, but also when they traded away Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith to the Brooklyn Nets in the Irving trade at the deadline.
Now, I have to hold my hands up and say I was praising the life out of owner Mark Cuban and the Mavs front office as I thought the addition of Kyrie Irving to this roster would negate any loss in form/momentum removing defensive stalwart in Finney-Smith (117.0 DEF RAT) and a superb ball distributer in Dinwiddie (6.4 APG).
And, that has somewhat come to fruition as Kyrie Irving has been sensational since he arrived in Dallas with his 26.9 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 6.0 APG, and 1.2 SPG, but the Mavericks have gone 9-16 in that span. Why? Because Mavericks have the worst frontcourt in the NBA today! Period!
The Mavericks starting front core has some of the very worst team stats in the NBA as they rank 30th in the NBA with 7.6 offensive RPG, 28th in the NBA with 31.0 defensive RPG, and 30th in the NBA with 38.8 total RPG, while the Mavericks also rank 28th in the NBA with just 3.7 blocks/game and field goals made/game with 39.9. Sure, not all of these stats can solely be attributed to the failures of the frontcourt, but nearly all of these stats have been traditionally dominated by the frontcourt.
The center and forward positions are designed to gather rebounds, make layups, alley-oops, etc., and blocks almost always come from within the paint as the centers and forwards are trying to stop players from reaching the rim, which is something the Mavs’ centers and forwards have been allergic to this year. Thus, I think it’s fair to say the Mavs’ frontcourt is the worst in the NBA as they range anywhere from 3rd worst to the very worst in the most important “big man” centric statical rankings in the league.
That’s why it’s important for the Mavs to keep this draft pick as if the Mavs somehow sneak into the 10th position over the OKC Thunder (they’d have to win their last two games and have the Thunder lose theirs), the New York Knicks would take this year’s pick as it would fall out of the Top-10 lottery protection the Kristapas Porzingis trade placed on it.
And, with the Mavs only tradeable piece being Kyrie Irving (who’s out of a contract this summer), it makes sense why they’d keep this year’s pick and draft a competent starting forward/center.
It just stinks that the Mavs have to obviously tank for it.
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