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NBA SIMS LEAGUE
Is it the Indiana Grizzlies or the Memphis Pacers? Over half the team made up of these NBA teams ...  
Jan 29 10:41 pm

NSL Insider - Team by Team: Dallas Mavericks

by KLEMMELO, updated on Tuesday, October 19 2021, 07:50 am EST

Hav'ya heard?!... It's Javi no more....

 

LJ in all his glory rose from the ashes of broken NLL hopes and dreams and years of mediocrity. He's just like Prince minus the transcendent Song writing and Instrumental skills... All that aside it's got more to do with him being so polarising and is the NSL's very own generational icon.

 

A man who decides every morning who they wanna be that day and just goes out and lives his best life. He likes to Zig abruptly, when no one else told him to even Zag in the first place...


So is it time we add another icon to the list fellas?...

 

MJ.

 

JT. #BBoyz4Life

 

*Whispers* BJ's

 

And now... LJ.

 

Season Highlight:

 

Dispatching a 53 win Clippers team in the first round, while comfortably getting it done in 5. KD melted them averaging 39.8/9.4/3.2/1/1.2 with Schroder coming up big averaging 25/2/6.

The part that has promptly been swept under the rug and buried deep in the minds of the rabid Mavs fanbase; The 4-0 meltdown in the following round, against a "somewhat" crippled Portland. With  an average losing margin of 17.75 PPG, 7 Portland players scoring in double digits while allowing 73 combined points a night from the Blazers big 3... I mean, it was embarrassing... And I lost to the Dubs in the Play in by like a million points.
 

Season Lowlight:

 

A number of things would be on the shortlist for Dallas' season lowlights, or at least numerous scenarios where they could've been better and/or just a victim of bad luck.

Injuries were a pretty crucial factor for the Mavs lack of consistency for stretches in the regular season. Obviously the gut punch was acquiring Oladipo, only for him to go down for the season just weeks later... That along with KD missing nearly half the season, Oubre out 27 games and Zinger sitting for 13... A bit hard to maintain winning basketball with a constantly interchanging line up.

A lot could also possibly be said for the GM, Rumoured that a "Lack of communication" and "Tactics" were big reasons why they couldn't get over the line in with some deals. Some deals that could've had them set them up well for this upcoming FA...



"...Not again, LJ pinky promised this time..." -Schroder's (Pictured on the right) comment after another shuttle bus to no where...

Finally... The post season sweep at the hands of Portland. I know that sting too... Throwing salt in those fresh wounds, with this being the second season in a row, bumped out of the Playoffs by the Blazers. Last year was at least a valiant effort taking them to 6 without KD and other key guys. So I'd imagine following it up with this performance with most of your team in wouldn't sit well.

 

Best trade:

Garry Harris/DAL 2021 2nd

For

Portis/Cancar

I mean... I'm legitimately puzzled as to how LJ got this done and it's arguably his best deal for just straight value. To get off a couple years of Harris who's vanished from this realm altogether... While throwing in a mid-late 2nd to get back a handy high 70's-80 rated, young, versatile big... Crazy.

The small caveat that tips the scales for being his best deal is Portis then being a part of a bigger trade down the line acquiring KD.


Worst Trade:

 

Buddy/Forbes/Ojeleye/Fernando/DAL 2022 1st/DAL 2023 2nd
For
Oladipo/Birch/Iwundu

 

As listed above... Sure, majority of this is just a case of some really bad injury luck... But it's not exactly like you can claim ignorance or feign surprise when a guy like Dipo goes down long term again... Buddy isn't some fringe all star or anything don't get it twisted; But he knows his role and can be handy for a team contending. In game he's probably a fair step above the player he is currently in the NBA, depending on the engine/settings... So it kind of evens out...

The part that's hard to swallow is giving up the first with how it all ended up... Which again, I can't come down hard on LJ as if he had some kind of crystal ball, but due to only a spattering of deals over the last 12 months; This one is the most obvious one with a lot of variables and high chance of it being a future detriment.
 

Other notable trades:

 

  1. Young/Wiggins/Portis/Len
    FOR
    Durant/Oubre/Kabengele/DAL 2020 1st

 

Was a close second for "best trade" and probably would've been no question for me being the best if Young hadn't of shown out as much as he has lately.

 

You do this every day of the week as a contending team and yeah, KD's spotty injury history and at his age, his shelf life is limited. His in game domination even compared to his NBA numbers is what mitigates the smaller window to contend.

 

  1. Kaminsky/Mykhailiuk/A. Jefferson/DAL 2022 2nd
    FOR
    Seth Curry/Spellman/Fernando


Great small deal here to get some real value in 3 guys who are actually worth playing in most rotations in the league. Curry is always good value as a bench guard providing an offensive spark without laying brick houses every few games. They helped grease the wheels on some other solid deals for the Mavs. Solid dealing.

 

Free Agency:

 

Things are Grim. Not going to lie. They have 8 roster spots filled and you would imagine there's no reason they don't bring back Birch and Dipo as easy re-signs. I would say they would be in a reasonable position, even if Schroder was going to be a player they'll have to spend big points on to keep... That's the problem. We are a week out and the Mavs are sitting on 2 points... Which is a fair effort to get back from -40/50 from lux fines.

 

What ever way they go there's a lot of risk involved and will need to pick up 5-6 guys on the day in a perfect world. That's the other thing, with Birch/Dipo back they'll be sitting on around 115-118m. Full MLE will be available to them which is good. But if they used most of that and picked up a handful of min guys that's 130+ already on the best day.


Star:

 

KD. Already considered by some to be top 15 All time and quite  comfortably I might add... 1 MVP, 2 Rings, 2 Finals MVP's, 9x All-NBA, 4x Scoring champ, 2x All-Star MVP, ROTY, All Rookie.

 

27/7.1/4.2/1.1/1.1 Career Avgs. Shooting splits of 49.4/38.4/88.3 playing with the possibility of being in the 50/40/90 club for his entire career is ridiculous, reserved normally for a group of players consisting of low volume pass first PG and role playing specialists.
 

Last season for the Mavericks KD dropped 38.4/8.2/4.8/1.1/1.5 over 45 games... I'm not saying he would've nor SHOULD have won MVP but he would've been right there if he was able to suit up for more then half a season... Expecting big things.


Flop:
 

LJ'S Communication skills in trade negotiations. There, I said it.

 

Seriously though... I don't think you can deny that it's Oladipo... To go from acquiring a big starting piece with the assumption he was going to re-sign in the offseason locking him up for a few years... A move almost making the Mavs a "Big 4" down south...

 

To now after staring down the barrel of another devastating injury and long lay off, being forced to essentially signing a minimum one year deal to try and get back on his feet... Not exactly ideal.  

 

Also going to give a dishonourable mention to the 2k Gods in Generally crippling the Mavs with injuries, perhaps holding them back from their true potential...

 

You hear that 2K?...

Phuck You.


Injuries:
 

Too many to mention. They got proper bent over but with KD missing half the season coming back from the Achilles for the most part... Zinger missed his typical 10-15+ games just because he's an alien and 7+ foot guys aren't aloud to move like that... Oubre with a few annoying stretches here and there, and Obviously Dipo going down for the season and a good part of this coming one.

 

Otherwise going forward *Touch Wood* they don't have any current injury issues to plan around.


Draft Grades:

 

Showed up on the night, with no picks but just wanting to be there "For Support...?"

 

...We didn't have/Want to ask any follow up questions.

 

The Future:

 

Freddy and Zinger project as the obvious future for the Mavs. They'll be the Dynamic Duo they'll rely on in KD's twilight years/post retirement. That's assuming he isn't traded while he still held value.
 

The rest is pretty in flux at the moment and like any other contender, the roster will see quick turnover outside of the main core. It's normally the one or two big deals on the way down the mountain that properly signify a shift in gears. So only time will tell...

 

They at least have all their 1st Round picks in years 2023-2026 and I do really like Cam Johnson with Okeke having some real promise to be something special. Other then that I do hold out hope that Freddy, with Lowry now moved on, could go up a level or two as one of the stars on the NBA Raptors.

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