When the buyer acquired Kyrie Irving in the middle of the season, the Mavericks held two major stars, KI and Luka Doncic, hoping to find the possibility of breaking through from the melee in the middle and late stages of the Western Conference. In the 11th place in the Western Division, they didn’t even have to play in the playoffs. What’s the problem with this disgraceful ending? How to solve it?
[Hall of Fame Summit]Famous experts give lectures, and listen to expert sharing on hot topics. The authors of the Sports Vision Hall of Fame will share more professional vision in this mode.
Vol.1 Doncic, Young, Ayton, Williamson, Morant What are the prospects for future stars?
Vol.2 April Crazy! Will Curry be on the altar again?
Vol.3 Completely broke with the Sixers, what is the explanation for Ben Simmons’ “sell me”?
Vol.4 How does the NBA decide to stop the game to deal with the epidemic?
Vol.5 Bridges Hot, AD Not ? NBA 2021-22 Half Season Surprise/Disappointment Awards
Vol.6 Wizards painless upgrade, Nets 76ers heavy reciprocity?Midseason trade winners and losers
Vol.7 Pre-season plans to compete for the championship, and plans for the end of the season are in chaos? Where does the Lakers crash?
Vol.8 contest surprise?Highlights from the first round of the playoffs
Vol.9 “KD Soap Opera” has ended, is it meaningful or a bad show?
Vol.10 The ace main controller Stephen Curry is injured. The Warriors changed their course in the middle of the season?
Vol.11 The gap between LeBron James and “GOAT” as the scoring champion in history?
This year’s mid-season trade, simply put, is a soap opera where the wind direction is completely led by the Nets. Kevin Durant’s move to the Suns has become the most shocking blockbuster trade, but KD has become a commodity that the Nets can put on the shelves. Shouting “Trade Me” started, so the Nets first sold KI and then sent away KD. The era of double stars and even the Big Three that was originally expected four years ago has come to an end.
Although KD has missed many games due to injury after joining the Suns, as long as he plays, the Suns have not lost yet, which also makes the Suns the fourth seed in the Western Conference, but they are very interesting in the playoffs, but KI—or This is not the case for the Mavericks who got KI. Before the trade, the Mavericks were tied with the Suns for fifth place in the Western Conference. The cooperation between KI and Luka Dončić was originally expected. After KI joined, he also led the Mavericks to the Jazz and the Kings. Two wins, followed by a wave of 7 wins and 18 losses, including only 5 wins and 11 losses when the two played at the same time, causing the Mavericks to retreat steadily. In the end, they even ended up with 38 wins and 44 losses, ranking 11th in the Western Conference. Can’t even make it to the playoffs.
In the last two games of the Mavericks, even in order to keep the draft pick protected by the top ten picks this year, they deliberately rested the main players, including letting Dončić play only 12 minutes before resting against the Bulls. The record fell to the bottom ten in the league. It seems that the goal of the Mavericks at the end of the season has been achieved, but it is more ironic than the expectation of making a difference in the playoffs when they traded.
Why did the Mavericks find themselves in the predicament of not being able to play in the play-offs despite being a buyer in the trading market? After the regrettable end of this season, how should the off-season be corrected? Sports Vision has invited Hall of Fame authors such as Zhongli Sports Car, A Zhun, Dexter, MIND, EJ Mutang, Long Live Todd, Chun Shao, and Matterhorn to explore the Mavericks.
1. The Mavericks received KI in a mid-season trade, but they missed the playoffs in the end. What do you think is the biggest key?
Zhongli small sports car
In order to reduce the burden on Luka Doncic, it is necessary for the Mavericks (Lone Ranger) to find a second star player. In the middle of the season, “taking advantage of the fire” to trade Kyrie Irving can be described as a big gamble-unfortunately, this time the Mavericks are still not good enough Luck, and even fell out of the ranks of the play-offs.
It is inevitable for KI to become the target of public criticism, but the key to the team’s failure to qualify for the playoffs is “defense”. After the All-Star Game, they only kept their opponents below 110 points in 2 games, and the remaining 7 victories have 5 points difference In the single digits, we don’t even need to introduce more advanced data to understand how struggling the Mavericks are on the defensive end. There is no way to go further by relying on mutual firepower alone. The Mavericks in 2023 happen to be an unfortunate case.
Of course, the Mavericks still have offensive problems such as different ball-handling styles of the two stars, insufficient off-ball cooperation… etc. Unfortunately, the team did not have a sufficient running-in period, which led to the early arrival of the summer vacation that fans did not want to see. Today’s interlocking dilemma is not the sole responsibility of any one person, and the team must rectify it in the summer.
Ah Zhun
In fact, both running-in and coach scheduling can be discussed, but if we really want to choose the biggest key, I think it is still defense.
In the case of the KI trade, it sent Dorian Finney-Smith, which I feel very hurt. Because before the trade, the Mavericks were not a strong defensive team, but in this transaction, the Mavericks also traded out the only player in the formation that can limit the opponent’s wing. Of course, Luka Dončić can also be competent, but it’s just something he can afford at the moment Too much. And the exchanged KI is not good at defense, not to mention that the transaction also includes Markieff Morris, who is more offensive than defensive, which makes the already undersized inside even worse. .