OKC Thunder @ Dallas Mavericks 2/10 3pm

[ArbitraryWater]

Same standard. Impact. When you make bad teams good you get my respect.

so what is Mitchell doing in Cleveland?

[BarberSchool]

Luka Doncic
Kyrie Irving
Tim Hardaway II
Derrick Lively II
Josh Green
Dante Exum
Daniel Gafford
Maxi Kleber
PJ Washington
Derrick Jones Jr
Jaden Hardy
Dwight Powell

That roster, fully healthy, can beat any NBA squad in a 7-game series besides:

Healthy Denver
Healthy Boston

They can beat anyone including Denver and Boston

This is a team that I believe can go another level in the playoffs

FULL TILT Healthy Celtics squad might get outrebounded by this Dallas team, and Luka & Kyrie will probably each have some massive 45-50pt explosion, but I don’t think they would beat Boston in a series. Keep in mind, Boston shoots a TON of 3’s, so Dallas 48min of rim protection wouldn’t be AS MUCH of an advantage in that matchup, with Zingis giving them really great spacing.

And with Denver’s big roster, the rebounding would be even, and Denver’s superior coaching and experience would be enough to beat this Mavs roster. Unless somehow Green & Washington can frustrate Murray BADLY for 4 games.

But both Mavericks and Clippers ROSTERS look really really good, and have a lot of different lineups, each to deal with specific opponent strengths. I also really think a huge factor in Lively’s development (Tyson Chandler), will also help Gafford add a few more tricks on both sides of the ball before the playoffs, as well as Tyson/Powell/Maxi will all help Gafford get much more proficient at READING when to roll for a lob, versus when to set a gortat screen.

Nobody will want to face this new Mavs roster, if healthy, in the post season.

[Xiao Yao You]

so what is Mitchell doing in Cleveland?

He joined a good team as he did in Utah

[NBAGOAT]

FULL TILT Healthy Celtics squad might get outrebounded by this Dallas team, and Luka & Kyrie will probably each have some massive 45-50pt explosion, but I don’t think they would beat Boston in a series. Keep in mind, Boston shoots a TON of 3’s, so Dallas 48min of rim protection wouldn’t be AS MUCH of an advantage in that matchup, with Zingis giving them really great spacing.

And with Denver’s big roster, the rebounding would be even, and Denver’s superior coaching and experience would be enough to beat this Mavs roster. Unless somehow Green & Washington can frustrate Murray BADLY for 4 games.

But both Mavericks and Clippers ROSTERS look really really good, and have a lot of different lineups, each to deal with specific opponent strengths. I also really think a huge factor in Lively’s development (Tyson Chandler), will also help Gafford add a few more tricks on both sides of the ball before the playoffs, as well as Tyson/Powell/Maxi will all help Gafford get much more proficient at READING when to roll for a lob, versus when to set a gortat screen.

Nobody will want to face this new Mavs roster, if healthy, in the post season.

the mavs could give a run but they wouldnt defend well enough vs the clippers unless lively makes another leap. Washington isnt a good defender

[Axe]

The thing you have to understand is, just because the play-in team Toody led last year was dispatched easily in the first round, doesnt guarantee all of them will be. The Heat were a play-in team last year and made the finals. Eight seeds have upset one seeds in previous years as well. Toody wasnt able to do it, but others have. So to write off teams based on where they stand today, that doesnt make sense.

Toody has also struggled in the playoffs as a higher seed. He just doesnt have a good track record in the playoffs, spanning two different teams. Maybe youre projecting how things usually end up for him onto other players? But that's not necessarily going to be the case.

In other words, not worth the $205 million in the contract...

[ArbitraryWater]

He joined a good team as he did in Utah

and added 7 wins to them and probably more this year while they gave up pieces for him.

[Xiao Yao You]

and added 7 wins to them and probably more this year while they gave up pieces for him.

the pieces they gave up as good as they were is part of the improvement I'd guess. You aren't going far with 3 bigs unless they can defend like McDaniel and Gobert and Sexton wasn't going to be happy with his role I don't imagine.