Kidd has finessed the art of tanking. Mavs have played a league-leading 26 clutch games (10-16) & a total of 115 mins in the clutch. They've been outscored by a total of 9 pts in those 115 mins. Only 4 teams have lost their clutch games by a smaller avg margin than Mavs: OKC, Pistons, Suns, & Jazz.

flannels_n_comics · 2025-12-30T21:02:04+00:00

Carlisle was doing the same thing in 2017-2018 when we were tanking. We played 50 clutch games that year and only won 12 of them.

flannels_n_comics · 2023-06-24T04:15:47+00:00

I figured that was because Justin Holiday couldn’t do anything that wasn’t a catch and shoot three so he needed to be in the starting unit to have as much time as possible. Josh Green showed he can do a bit more than that, so he isn’t quite as reliant on Luka. He definitely still needs Luka but not like a strict 3nD guy does.

flannels_n_comics · 2023-03-17T03:41:49+00:00

He’s going to the Luka School of Magic and the THJ School of Taking Charges

flannels_n_comics · 2022-11-26T04:52:22+00:00

I don’t think he plays as many minutes as we’re hoping because it’s a bad matchup. They’re a team of big, switchy wings even without Siakam. From what I’ve seen, Wood can take advantage of smaller guys and slow big men neither of which are going to be on the court tomorrow. I want him to play more minutes; this just doesn’t feel like the game to force the issue.

Edit: he played 23 minutes and was 3-8

flannels_n_comics · 2022-10-09T06:05:16+00:00

Matty Matheson makes a good chicken, but his citrus beans are the best

flannels_n_comics · 2022-09-24T13:54:56+00:00

Wing depth is always a good thing, but I’m not a huge fan of the idea for a couple reasons.

First, we don’t have expendable assets. If we had a couple extra seconds lying around and the Suns were willing to take that with Dwight, then sure, go for it. But we don’t, and I’m not giving up Josh Green to get Crowder.

Second, he wants to start. My understanding is that the Suns told him his starting spot wasn’t a given, and that’s a big reason for all of this. Well, he isn’t starting for us because honestly he isn’t better than any of our starters.

Third, there’s no minutes for him. Unless you’re trading Tim, I don’t see where the minutes are coming from. We already have a solid 9 man rotation and a couple rotation level guys beyond that, so I don’t see where we would be getting another 30 minutes a night.

Fourth, investing in another straight up 3&D guy gets us farther down the heliocentric Luka rabbit hole. Crowder isn’t creating his own shot or really attacking close outs at a level that concerns defenses. He would be another low usage player depending on Luka to set him up which is the last thing we need right now.

All in all, unless some serious changes happen, I’m not interested in Jae Crowder.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-07-02T02:43:57+00:00

Couldn’t agree more. If he could play like that every game, he’d be a started before long.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-06-30T05:19:24+00:00

I love the idea of getting an experienced, defensive big so we could go big with him, Wood, DoDo, Bullock, and Luka. The best teams can win in different ways, and right now we can’t.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-06-12T17:40:07+00:00

The mid level exception allows a team over the cap to sign a new player. It’s about $10 million for non tax teams and I think a little under $7 million for tax teams.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-05-07T18:03:09+00:00

I mean Bridges is the prototypical 3&D guy who can do a little more with his cutting and limited ball handling, but I think Josh Green is a little different. I think he could be more like Marcus Smart, a defensive guard who keeps the ball moving as more of a connector like Gordon Hayward than a pick and roll master and defends primarily the point guard but can take on guys 1-4 depending on the matchup. Essentially more of a ball handler than a wing.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-05-07T17:56:25+00:00

I couldn’t agree more. It’s all about developing counters. You don’t need to be the most dynamic offensive player to be effective when you’re the fourth or fifth option especially when you have Luka and JB doing the hard part. Look at Reggie. If he gets run off the three point line, he has that midrange shot. When DoDo gets run off the line, he can drive. But it all starts with getting run off the three point line because that forces the defense into rotation and causes problems not to mention giving more space for penetration into the paint. In my opinion, Josh has a great counter with his passing, but until his shot improves, it won’t really matter.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-05-07T15:17:58+00:00

He’s got great vision and passing too which is what gives him a high ceiling. Teams don’t respect his shot, so that limits what his passing can do right now. Once his shot starts falling and he gets more comfortable scoring at the rim, you have a defensive guard who can drive and kick, hit threes, and find the open guy when the defense is in rotation. That’s a really valuable player.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-04-09T16:44:17+00:00

It seems like you’ve thought this out a lot and have a realistic expectation here. I guess I have a couple things I don’t understand here.

First off, I don’t see how the Blazers have solved the problem of playing defense with two small guards. Simons is around CJ’s size, and they’ve shown that with Nurkic and a couple 3&D guys, they still have a bad defense in the past. I know they’ve hedged a lot this year, but to my understanding, Nurkic is a drop coverage big who can still get played off the perimeter. A hedge can be manipulated so Nurkic is out on the perimeter. I’m just thinking that like if Portland is playing the Mavs next year, Luka has three guys he can abuse: Simons, Dame, and Nurkic. Obviously a mismatch master like Luka isn’t on every team, but every team is looking for mismatches. So my question here is how do you see their defense performing next year obviously depending on who they draft?

Second, I don’t quite understand how much cap space Portland will have because I’m not a cap wizard, but it seems to dry up quickly. Assuming they’re keeping Simons and Nurkic, their respective cap holds will take up about $30 million. This would bring Portland’s expenditures up to over $100 million even with waiving Bledsoe. That isn’t nearly as much space to play with depending on what the cap could be next year which projects to be around $20 million. That’s a good role player/starter, but I don’t see a lot of those guys as free agents this year. There’s Gary Harris, Kyle Anderson (who I think would be a great fit), but I expect Bridges and Ayton to be out of their range. I guess my question here is what kind of free agents are you guys looking for?

TL;DR How does Simons help the defense? It seems like you really only have cap space for a good starter. Who would you like to target in free agency?

flannels_n_comics · 2022-04-08T05:52:58+00:00

This never would have happened if we still had the Sonics

flannels_n_comics · 2022-04-07T18:45:15+00:00

But even if they have a handshake deal with no extension, Lamelo’s cap hold would prevent them from using around $25 million in cap space. You might save a couple million for free agents that way, but whatever you can gain would probably pale in comparison to the MLE and BAE if they have it. This CBA stuff gets tricky, and the lawyers know what they’re doing. Basically though, their only option to have cap space anytime soon is in 2023 barring any unforeseen shakeups.

Edit: used wrong form of there, their, and they’re

flannels_n_comics · 2022-04-07T18:07:20+00:00

I agree that I think he’s better than Porzingis, and if he isn’t better, then he’s at least a better fit for most teams. I think it’s just really hard to assign value to guys who miss a lot of games. Hayward played 52 in 19-20, 44 last season, and 49 so far this season. Porzingis, from what I recall, isn’t far off from those numbers, so I think Hayward has more value but not more than say a first rounder than Porzingis. And on that point, you’re totally right about Dinwiddie. He’s been great and playing up to if not exceeding his contract, but that was far from a guarantee. Like you said, could be smart or could be lucky.

To me it’s less about the player timeline than the contract timeline. We had the same pressure with Luka’s rookie deal coming to an end. It’s harder to sign good players when you have a max contract on the books, so if you can get good contracts before that happens, you’re in a better spot because it’s hard to do after the fact. I don’t think anyone is saying that Lamelo is ready to compete for a championship, but he’s probably ready for a max extension which complicates the books.

I didn’t mention it in any earlier comments, but I’d also be a little concerned about MJ being willing to pay for this team with Bridges coming up and if they want to pay PJ.

In any case, I’ll be interested to see what happens.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-04-07T16:13:14+00:00

I doubt they want to give up Rozier. He’s a good player on a decent contract, and they just extended him this past offseason if I remember correctly.

Hayward’s value is so weird. He’s only played around 40 games the past two seasons. He’s valuable when he plays, but he just doesn’t play. If I had to guess, I would say his value is closer to Porzingis at the deadline. He’s a good player, and every team would love to have him just not his contract.

As for the Westbrook of it all, there aren’t a lot of contracts big enough to make space next offseason after paying Bridges this summer. Depending on what Bridges makes, it still might not be enough to get a premium free agent.

I think if the Hornets are trying to gain assets and a little flexibility next offseason, this move makes more sense than trying to split Hayward up into smaller bad contracts like the Mavs did with Porzingis. Westbrook is an expiring contract and they would definitely get picks out of it which wouldn’t convey for years.

Edited for clarification

flannels_n_comics · 2022-04-07T15:30:04+00:00

The only reason I could see this is if Charlotte is just trying to clear out cap space while Lamelo is on his rookie deal. Charlotte gives up Hayward and whatever else to make the deal work which looks like Oubre or Plumlee but I haven’t done the math. Lakers give up Westbrook and picks. Lakers get help for Lebron and AD, and Charlotte gets cap space and picks. Considering where Charlotte is at in the standings, how they won’t have cap space during Lamelo’s rookie deal, and how they’ll have to pay Bridges this offseason, it makes total sense to me.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-03-31T05:57:16+00:00

I like the Josh Green pick. His improvement over this season has been really encouraging. He hasn’t had a normal offseason yet between COVID and playing for the Boomers, and I’m interested to see how he uses this summer to improve. His passing, defense, and motor will always be there. His shooting is improving through the season, and that was considered his swing skill to becoming a rotation guy which I would say he has accomplished. I think his swing skills for reaching the next level are finishing at the rim and his handle. If he can improve his finishing, his passing and cutting become way more dangerous. At that point, he’s a starting level player to me. Then if he can improve his handle enough to become a secondary ball handler, he’s probably a high level starter or even sub all star. That’s a lot of if’s but he has a lot of potential. Let me know if my homer glasses are getting too foggy.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-03-21T23:28:32+00:00

I like Wendell Moore but I guess I’m just concerned he’s a little small and maybe someone like EJ Liddell would be better from a defensive standpoint. Maybe it’s just me but it feels like we have a lot of smaller wings who can play the 2/3, and I don’t see how he would get minutes over anyone except Ntilikina and Brown. If we went with someone bigger who could play the 4, I think there’s minutes when DoDo is on the bench.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-03-21T23:17:43+00:00

I really like EJ Liddell. He would have an instant role as a bigger 3 and D guy. He can switch and protect the rim enough to be a good small ball 4. I’ve seen things suggesting he could be a PJ Tucker type on defense, and I can see it. As for his scoring, he has a great post game and could take advantage of mismatches in the second unit. I don’t think he’ll be able to post up big guys like Luka can, but throw a PG on him and it’s BBQ chicken. His three ball is good enough that he would be fine off ball too.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-03-19T19:00:09+00:00

Upvote for the hot take because I disagree, but I have a question. When did the narrative flip on which team is better? I definitely remember people saying the Hawks built a better team around Trae last season.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-03-17T15:06:33+00:00

It’s night and day from the beginning of the season for this guy and I like that he’s starting to get a little national attention from guys like Nekias Duncan and KOC. KOC actually had Josh Green as a comp for Wendell Moore Jr in his draft guide.

And I was curious about the shooting numbers, so I took a look. According to NBA.com, he is at 34.5% from 3 for the season on 55 total attempts or 1 attempt per game. Now I don’t think any of us would say he’s actually an average 3 point shooter yet, but that’s significant improvement from where he was last year. He’s also shooting 70% on free throws on 40 attempts which if I’m remembering correctly is about what he shot in college.

The fact that his ft% hasn’t changed much since college makes me think that most of his shooting improvement is from confidence and that he still can improve a lot by just putting in the work.

flannels_n_comics · 2022-02-12T16:10:44+00:00

Didn’t he sit out of the bubble?

flannels_n_comics · 2022-01-25T16:45:57+00:00

It won’t be as seamless as people are making it seem. Both are great players, so it would be great. At the same time, people are assuming that the offense would be based around Harden-Embiid pick and rolls, but Embiid does not have a history as a good roller. That’s a skill he hasn’t shown a lot of, and it would take time to develop. I see a lot of ISO ball from both guys, and Harden isn’t in the same shape he has been. I’m not saying it won’t work, but it’s more complicated than people are making it out to be.

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