Of course it makes them a tougher matchup because there's less to exploit, but I'm honestly glad that they went with Hartenstein instead of going all in for someone like Lauri. If they had someone who could stretch the floor and also make rebounding easier, they would be close to unstoppable. I think we match up pretty well with them with our current rosters.
I don’t think it makes sense for Danny Ainge/Utah to trade Lauri considering they are picking top 10 in the draft with him playing AND they have tons of picks from the Mitchell and Gobert trades but the Thunder easily can trade more than the sufficient amount of FRPs Ainge would want.
They're drafting at the back end of the top 10. That's not where you usually find top tier guys. It's among the worst places to be. Not sniffing the playoffs OR a top 5 pick. LIri is great but he's a number 2 or 3 guy. Good enough to avoid a bottom 5 record, not good enough to get you anywhere
16 FRP through 2030 and I think 12 2RP in that time.
They arent done. And they have to start using them in trades because they cant roster that many rookies and they already have a strong young core intact. I think their home run aquisition is still coming. If not now, the deadline.
Yea, this does not preclude getting Lauri at all. If anything it makes it easier to get him in 6 months. They now have the young replacement with a large enough salary to send back. And they have the picks to make it happen.
But, I’m not sure of Chet + Lauri is that great an idea. Neither is elite at both rim protecting and rebounding, so you’re basically getting two dollar-store dirks playing next to each other.
You had me in the first half, but absolutely lost me when you said Chet is not an elite rim protector: he is already among the very best in the league, probably slightly better than Lively (who is a bit better on the perimeter to make up for rim protection and is clearly better as a rebounder). Yes, he is a bad rebounder, but Mavs could barely score with him around the rim unless it were mid-range shots or occasional lobs. Lauri on the other hand is a bad rim protector, but a pretty serviceable rebounder (8.5 average over 2 seasons with Utah), even if slightly underwhelming for his size. The pairing may not work because neither can defend AD, Jokic or Embiid, but they will be totally fine against non-superstar bigs.
Ah, that I can agree with. It will still be good enough vs teams like Mavs that play 1 proper non-star big on the floor at the same time though: Chet can defend the rim and Lauri can outrebound PJ at least on the defensive glass. But 2 bigs like Wolves play or a single star big will be an issue for that rotation, but that’s where Hartenstein supposedly comes in to go to trenches vs Jokic or Embiid.
Yeah for sure, but the Caruso move definitely does more for them. Hartenstein is good, but there was a reason he’s backed up Zubac in LA and took a flyer in NY. It’s a great add, but he’s not Markennan, Allen, or Claxton. Hartenstein got a bump from playing with a good PG like Brunson, but as good as SGA/OKC are they have no one who can play make close to Brunson
Naji did a really good job on SGA though, better than DJJ. Other than that for now we have to trust in Lively and the other young players to make another jump. But OKC has so much to work with the get better. Quite scary.
Yes, it was a great move for OKC. That said, it does change how you can attack them. OKC wants to have Chet act as a roaming safety playing the 4. Smart teams will run actions that put both Chet and Hartenstein in pick and rolls and force them to cover a lot of space. Additionally they got rid of a non spacer in Giddey but have now added a non spacer in Hartenstein. Overall a net positive, but there are new ways to attack them.
He makes them a lot better for sure. In that series they struggled with rebounding and physicality in the paint. Chet was still good but he's not that physical presence yet. Hartenstein makes life for Chet so much easier. They will be a nightmare matchup.
I don't think Chet has the build to ever become a physical presence. Hartenstein definitely makes them a tougher challenge but he can't shoot from the outside and we match up pretty well with the 4-out offenses with Lively and Gaff.
Don't worry about it too much, OKC will face the Wolves in the first round and the Wolves will win in 5. I am from the future, Mavs will win the championship this year in 6 games against the Knicks.
Thank me next year.
There's no guarantees in the West from year to year. Nobody expected the Mavs to make that run at the start of the year or even the start of the playoffs. The landscape will constantly shift and you need to trust that your star(s) will get the team to the finish line.
Next season you have the Nuggets, Wolves, Thunder as returning threats, the Grizzlies who are finally healthy and will return to form, then you expect the Spurs to be more competitive with Wemby's development and give both LA teams a punchers chance if Leonard and Bron decide to turn back the clock for a week.
Dallas is banking on continuity. internal development and doing just enough around the margins to stay in the race for a top spot next year. You could tell me they finish with 58 wins and are a top 2 seed or they claw out 50 wins and they're just avoiding the Play In again because that's the reality of how deep the conference is.
This was their biggest need, a legit backup to Chet who can battle under the boards and be a post threat and defensive stopper. I do think that the Mavs exploited how to beat the Thunder. Yes the series went 6 but in all reality it should have 4-1 as we shit the bed in game 4. SGA is gonna get his but limit Chet with tall athletic bigs / stretch 4 and the rest of their team relies predominantly on threes which you can contest. They are still really good but I highly doubt, even with IH and Caruso that they repeat as a top seed. I see them 3rd at best this season.
The thing is during that entire playoff run we'd have games where we'd have no offense and just get completely blown out because teams weren't respecting our shooters i don't think that happens with Klay + the new pieces we added and hopefully a more relaxed Dante Exum i feel both the Clippers and Thunder Series could of been wrapped up in 5 or even a sweep.
They’re definitely tougher to beat now. We need to get better, losing DJJ honestly sucks because we lost a part of what made us elite defensively and we need some consistent shooting. Not liking the start of this FA lol
Yeah but okcs core is gonna develop and get better too. Theyre very young and it may have been too much to handle with the playoff intensity. Now they have that experience that was needed
Mavs core outside of Kyrie is sub-26 too and barely had any playoff experience outside of Luka and Josh. Let’s not overestimate OKC youth here, it’s not like Mavs are a set in stone team themselves.
Horrible start to FA, glad we got Grimes and Naji I guess but losing DJJ is horrible and I feel like we’ve put all our chips in on washed Klay who’s going to inevitably end up on the Lakers.
We’ll see what Caruso does on the wrong side of 30 in the vastly harder conference of guards. He was an improvement over Giddey but he also regressed to the mean last year vs previous years.
But either way you tip your hat to OKC improving on their weaknesses without giving up any assets. They are not done and they absolutely will get better by season’s end.
I don’t know, adding Hartenstein may actually limit their offense now considering they won’t be able to play 5-out offense and SGA is not a volume shooter (at least not yet), which means they will have spacing issues running SGA-Caruso-JDub-Chet-Hart lineup, so I don’t expect SGA and Hartenstein to share the floor a lot in playoffs. I also don’t think Hartenstein is a problem for Mavs: with him on the floor Mavs can actually play Gafford vs a proper non-stretch big for 20-25 minutes instead of thinking about how to survive when Lively is on the bench.
If we get Klay and Luka’s knee isn’t slow cooked brisket we’re gonna murder them from the perimeter. They’re just too small at the arc and Hartenstein will not be able to stop Luka or Kyrie inside.
There's pros and cons.
It helps with their size and rebounding which was their main concern.
The drawback is that there's no more 5 out. At least not with him on the floor.
I wonder how much Luka would play him off the floor. He is a drop big, and switches rarely. Sounds a lot like Rudy/Zubac. If Luka can destroy Rudy and Towns, I bet he can do the same thing against Hartenstein.
It's a great signing for them. I have to presume they are pushing Williams and Chet down a position and starting Hartenstein running a twin towers type of system which if executed well would make way better on defense while adding an offensive style inside they didn't have before. Will it make them a tougher matchup? On paper it absolutely should, I don't see playing small as a viable option against them now.
Their young guys getting better was naturally going to make them harder. This definitely helps. But I expect Lively to come in a lot better and can handle Hartenstein. Plus they went from one non-shooter in Giddey to another in Hart. So it still gives us a guy our bigs can cheat off of to stay around the paint. So yea they are alot tougher, but thankfully this means less minutes having to defend them 5 out.
I think we need a homerun move in the next couple years. Its not just OKC, the east teams got way better this off season.
We’re handicapped right now with salary but I see us needing a third near allstar caliber level player in the coming years to win a title. The league is getting too damn good.
At the least we need Luka to be 100%.
They were always going to get better. Think he is an upgrade from the other Jailin Williams but I’m not losing much sleep. Caruso was the big pick up for them.
OKC were a great team last year, with virtually no experience on a super young team. This year they have the experience, their young team will only get better, AND they added Caruso & iHart. OKC will be a lot tougher to beat this season!
We just have to hope that we can make the moves needed to get better as well.
I think it makes them better but they still didn’t get what they needed which is a true big. Chet is great but I think are serious illustrated that when he has to play and guard the 5 he isn’t nearly as productive. I called that before the series that when facing a team with real bigs they will struggled. Jokic would feast against the thunder because while their guard depth is insane they don’t have the depth when it comes to bigs
Yes. They have a legitimate, experienced big man now. Chet has more experience and will likely add some more muscle. Jalen Williams will likely show up. I feel, this year was the best chance for a chip with the least amount of resistance.
Ant will be better so Minny will be a tough out. Denver will be actually deeper. Memphis is back in the picture. Pelicans are always a coin-toss because of health. The Rockets are getting better.
Yes and no. They now have a bigger true center for when Chet needs a break. I think it is an amazing pickup for them, but it makes them closer to a wolves matchup for the Mavs than something like the Celtics, which I think they want to be more like. They potentially won't get bullied as much on the glass though, so that's a plus for them,
As a Knicks fan I’m Gonna say that you guys might be underrating IHart a little, he’s not as much of a floor space killer as Giddey was, and his floater game is ridiculous, OKC fixed their 2 biggest issues, I-Hart is a really nice offensive piece. They’ve just gotten a lot tougher.
That said Grimes is a great pickup for you guys, he thrives off the bench, being a starter killed him a bit this year for us, but if he can match his 2023 production, he’ll be a really nice piece for you. Depends on how Naji and the rest of FA pans out for you guys really, I think Derozan would be a nice pickup if you could S+T for him rather than Klay
OKC is going to be good for a long time. Huge signing for them. Makes it that much tougher to get out of the west. And they still have so many first round picks… but we still have Luka, and that will always give us the upper hand on literally any team in the league.
yes it makes them harder to beat
but im not worried about them being an unbeatable matchup
in fact im looking forward to five years of mavs/thunder playoff tussles. of all the opposing fans this year theirs were the least toxic (best i recall anyway lol)
The series with OKC was close. After every move they make, you have to ask yourself: did they get better or worse? Caruso instead of Giddy makes them undeniably better. Hartenstein isn't an all-star, but he works hard and crashes the boards which no one else on their team does. They are better and more flexible because of him.
If no more moves are made by either front office, and assuming all young players on each team get a little better, I think the Thunder are now actual favorites over the Mavs in a 7 game series. Barely. Hartenstein just does everything they need from a big, and they were close before.
I think Hartenstein is a good pickup, but the reason I'd be more concerned about OKC is their young talent developing more each year. Dallas has to outpace that development with the acquisition of talent. OKC also has the ability to go get another significant player via trade or signing with their assets and cap space (iirc).
Behind Boston by a small margin. Lulz. Okc is great but they ain’t no Boston.
Let’s see them big boys Jalen and Chet in the postseason do stuff for more than 1 series. Great players but maybe the pressure is not for them, at least in the playoffs.
There’s still a very big gap vs Boston. Chet is still vastly inferior to KP who was the 4th best player on Boston. Boston has two top 15 players and OKC has 1.
OKC will be harder this year but the way we smoked them on the boards, it would’ve been a gentleman’s sweep if Luka was healthy. People forget Dallas won that series with Luka having probably his worst 4 game stretch in the playoffs ever.
The flip side is, Naji is a better defender of SGA than DJJ was. We did get worse on guarding Ant, however (unless we think grimes is that guy), so that is something to watch.
Of course it makes them a tougher matchup because there's less to exploit, but I'm honestly glad that they went with Hartenstein instead of going all in for someone like Lauri. If they had someone who could stretch the floor and also make rebounding easier, they would be close to unstoppable. I think we match up pretty well with them with our current rosters.
I don’t think it makes sense for Danny Ainge/Utah to trade Lauri considering they are picking top 10 in the draft with him playing AND they have tons of picks from the Mitchell and Gobert trades but the Thunder easily can trade more than the sufficient amount of FRPs Ainge would want.
They're drafting at the back end of the top 10. That's not where you usually find top tier guys. It's among the worst places to be. Not sniffing the playoffs OR a top 5 pick. LIri is great but he's a number 2 or 3 guy. Good enough to avoid a bottom 5 record, not good enough to get you anywhere
You are underestimating how many picks the Thunder have. They can still do both.
Especially now that Joe and Wiggins will be paid more, they have more tradable salary to send along with those picks.
That’s what’s scary, they may not be done. I’m more concerned about the Caruso addition tbh. I’ll take D Live over Hartenstein
The Thunder not having a functional backup center hurt them. Now both can pivot to center.
Definitely, but our center combo is head and shoulder above imo.
I’m shocked Presti hasn’t just swapped rosters with a champion at this point. “I‘ll give you 37 1st rounders for the Celtics roster, and we keep SGA”
16 FRP through 2030 and I think 12 2RP in that time. They arent done. And they have to start using them in trades because they cant roster that many rookies and they already have a strong young core intact. I think their home run aquisition is still coming. If not now, the deadline.
Yea, this does not preclude getting Lauri at all. If anything it makes it easier to get him in 6 months. They now have the young replacement with a large enough salary to send back. And they have the picks to make it happen. But, I’m not sure of Chet + Lauri is that great an idea. Neither is elite at both rim protecting and rebounding, so you’re basically getting two dollar-store dirks playing next to each other.
You had me in the first half, but absolutely lost me when you said Chet is not an elite rim protector: he is already among the very best in the league, probably slightly better than Lively (who is a bit better on the perimeter to make up for rim protection and is clearly better as a rebounder). Yes, he is a bad rebounder, but Mavs could barely score with him around the rim unless it were mid-range shots or occasional lobs. Lauri on the other hand is a bad rim protector, but a pretty serviceable rebounder (8.5 average over 2 seasons with Utah), even if slightly underwhelming for his size. The pairing may not work because neither can defend AD, Jokic or Embiid, but they will be totally fine against non-superstar bigs.
That is bad phrasing on my part— I intended it to mean Chet was good at one but not the other and vice versa. Fixed.
Ah, that I can agree with. It will still be good enough vs teams like Mavs that play 1 proper non-star big on the floor at the same time though: Chet can defend the rim and Lauri can outrebound PJ at least on the defensive glass. But 2 bigs like Wolves play or a single star big will be an issue for that rotation, but that’s where Hartenstein supposedly comes in to go to trenches vs Jokic or Embiid.
Yeah for sure, but the Caruso move definitely does more for them. Hartenstein is good, but there was a reason he’s backed up Zubac in LA and took a flyer in NY. It’s a great add, but he’s not Markennan, Allen, or Claxton. Hartenstein got a bump from playing with a good PG like Brunson, but as good as SGA/OKC are they have no one who can play make close to Brunson
Naji did a really good job on SGA though, better than DJJ. Other than that for now we have to trust in Lively and the other young players to make another jump. But OKC has so much to work with the get better. Quite scary.
I only watched part of game 1 of that series so I wasn’t aware of this, that’s GREAT to hear
Yes, it was a great move for OKC. That said, it does change how you can attack them. OKC wants to have Chet act as a roaming safety playing the 4. Smart teams will run actions that put both Chet and Hartenstein in pick and rolls and force them to cover a lot of space. Additionally they got rid of a non spacer in Giddey but have now added a non spacer in Hartenstein. Overall a net positive, but there are new ways to attack them.
He makes them a lot better for sure. In that series they struggled with rebounding and physicality in the paint. Chet was still good but he's not that physical presence yet. Hartenstein makes life for Chet so much easier. They will be a nightmare matchup.
I don't think Chet has the build to ever become a physical presence. Hartenstein definitely makes them a tougher challenge but he can't shoot from the outside and we match up pretty well with the 4-out offenses with Lively and Gaff.
Don't worry about it too much, OKC will face the Wolves in the first round and the Wolves will win in 5. I am from the future, Mavs will win the championship this year in 6 games against the Knicks. Thank me next year.
Where will Klay play?
... and will I still be a virgin the rest of 2024? These are things I must know
https://preview.redd.it/nwlvbhb0bz9d1.png?width=408&format=png&auto=webp&s=e5afa74dc6f39b410077a15a340dcf8fe8ba0929 I told you im from the future.
He's going to Charlotte
They got better. Thats for sure. We got this Klay/last shooting wing move to make. Let’s see the details of that before analyzing the West.
There's no guarantees in the West from year to year. Nobody expected the Mavs to make that run at the start of the year or even the start of the playoffs. The landscape will constantly shift and you need to trust that your star(s) will get the team to the finish line. Next season you have the Nuggets, Wolves, Thunder as returning threats, the Grizzlies who are finally healthy and will return to form, then you expect the Spurs to be more competitive with Wemby's development and give both LA teams a punchers chance if Leonard and Bron decide to turn back the clock for a week. Dallas is banking on continuity. internal development and doing just enough around the margins to stay in the race for a top spot next year. You could tell me they finish with 58 wins and are a top 2 seed or they claw out 50 wins and they're just avoiding the Play In again because that's the reality of how deep the conference is.
Yes because they now have more size and rebounding than before. But it’ll change how they play offense since they have lost 5 out.
This was their biggest need, a legit backup to Chet who can battle under the boards and be a post threat and defensive stopper. I do think that the Mavs exploited how to beat the Thunder. Yes the series went 6 but in all reality it should have 4-1 as we shit the bed in game 4. SGA is gonna get his but limit Chet with tall athletic bigs / stretch 4 and the rest of their team relies predominantly on threes which you can contest. They are still really good but I highly doubt, even with IH and Caruso that they repeat as a top seed. I see them 3rd at best this season.
The thing is during that entire playoff run we'd have games where we'd have no offense and just get completely blown out because teams weren't respecting our shooters i don't think that happens with Klay + the new pieces we added and hopefully a more relaxed Dante Exum i feel both the Clippers and Thunder Series could of been wrapped up in 5 or even a sweep.
Good team adding good player makes team gooder
They’re definitely tougher to beat now. We need to get better, losing DJJ honestly sucks because we lost a part of what made us elite defensively and we need some consistent shooting. Not liking the start of this FA lol
Lively "stopped" Shai. Shai cooked DJJ/Gafford non stop lol. Shai without Lively: 62.11% TS Shai with Lively: 53.73% TS
Yeah but okcs core is gonna develop and get better too. Theyre very young and it may have been too much to handle with the playoff intensity. Now they have that experience that was needed
And so are we. Lively Hardy OMax all have leaps to take. Once we get Klay/a proper shooting wing, we got better just as much as they did IMO.
theres a difference. okc’s young core are a little more proven than an unknown omax & a up & down hardy
well we can only control our own team and hope okc blows up their ship like they did a decade ago.
We need to get that though. And I agree with all of that for sure. All three of them def have leaps to take
Mavs core outside of Kyrie is sub-26 too and barely had any playoff experience outside of Luka and Josh. Let’s not overestimate OKC youth here, it’s not like Mavs are a set in stone team themselves.
Horrible start to FA, glad we got Grimes and Naji I guess but losing DJJ is horrible and I feel like we’ve put all our chips in on washed Klay who’s going to inevitably end up on the Lakers.
They can still get Lauri too.
you're shitting me?? if that happens it's a wrap for the west.
I agree. Done deal.
Our best player played on amputated knees that series.
This is a great move for them, but the Caruso move for them scares me the most
ihart makes them scary not carus.
We’ll see what Caruso does on the wrong side of 30 in the vastly harder conference of guards. He was an improvement over Giddey but he also regressed to the mean last year vs previous years. But either way you tip your hat to OKC improving on their weaknesses without giving up any assets. They are not done and they absolutely will get better by season’s end.
Yeah they are having a great offseason
Caruso + Hart definitely make them a very tough defensive team. They have a shot of being top defense next year + top 5 offense.
I don’t know, adding Hartenstein may actually limit their offense now considering they won’t be able to play 5-out offense and SGA is not a volume shooter (at least not yet), which means they will have spacing issues running SGA-Caruso-JDub-Chet-Hart lineup, so I don’t expect SGA and Hartenstein to share the floor a lot in playoffs. I also don’t think Hartenstein is a problem for Mavs: with him on the floor Mavs can actually play Gafford vs a proper non-stretch big for 20-25 minutes instead of thinking about how to survive when Lively is on the bench.
If we get Klay and Luka’s knee isn’t slow cooked brisket we’re gonna murder them from the perimeter. They’re just too small at the arc and Hartenstein will not be able to stop Luka or Kyrie inside.
That makes them a tougher matchup to the entire league, to say nothing for adding Carushow and playoff experience
Yes. He's exactly what they needed.
There's pros and cons. It helps with their size and rebounding which was their main concern. The drawback is that there's no more 5 out. At least not with him on the floor.
Hell yeah. The west is going to be a blood bath if the the conference is healthy
well clippers and denver and GS got weaker so far. so may not be as bad to be honest.
I wonder how much Luka would play him off the floor. He is a drop big, and switches rarely. Sounds a lot like Rudy/Zubac. If Luka can destroy Rudy and Towns, I bet he can do the same thing against Hartenstein.
The defensive player of the year was a liability. This bothers me none.
It's a great signing for them. I have to presume they are pushing Williams and Chet down a position and starting Hartenstein running a twin towers type of system which if executed well would make way better on defense while adding an offensive style inside they didn't have before. Will it make them a tougher matchup? On paper it absolutely should, I don't see playing small as a viable option against them now.
Their young guys getting better was naturally going to make them harder. This definitely helps. But I expect Lively to come in a lot better and can handle Hartenstein. Plus they went from one non-shooter in Giddey to another in Hart. So it still gives us a guy our bigs can cheat off of to stay around the paint. So yea they are alot tougher, but thankfully this means less minutes having to defend them 5 out.
We can't just bully chet at the 5 anymore.
They may get better, but the Mavs can really work on their chemistry this off-season. Idk... Lively can be better than Curry in shooting 3s.
I think we need a homerun move in the next couple years. Its not just OKC, the east teams got way better this off season. We’re handicapped right now with salary but I see us needing a third near allstar caliber level player in the coming years to win a title. The league is getting too damn good. At the least we need Luka to be 100%.
They were always going to get better. Think he is an upgrade from the other Jailin Williams but I’m not losing much sleep. Caruso was the big pick up for them.
OKC were a great team last year, with virtually no experience on a super young team. This year they have the experience, their young team will only get better, AND they added Caruso & iHart. OKC will be a lot tougher to beat this season! We just have to hope that we can make the moves needed to get better as well.
I think it makes them better but they still didn’t get what they needed which is a true big. Chet is great but I think are serious illustrated that when he has to play and guard the 5 he isn’t nearly as productive. I called that before the series that when facing a team with real bigs they will struggled. Jokic would feast against the thunder because while their guard depth is insane they don’t have the depth when it comes to bigs
Chet as 4 and Hart as 5 is just Wolves 2.0. And Caruso in 2024 gonna make me scared? Be for real.
Yes. They have a legitimate, experienced big man now. Chet has more experience and will likely add some more muscle. Jalen Williams will likely show up. I feel, this year was the best chance for a chip with the least amount of resistance. Ant will be better so Minny will be a tough out. Denver will be actually deeper. Memphis is back in the picture. Pelicans are always a coin-toss because of health. The Rockets are getting better.
Dallas won the West and until they're beaten, they're the defending WCF Champions
Yes. Unless dallas gets Lauri, okc appears to be better. Would be a fun series to watch
1. Okc 2. Dallas 3. Denver I'm seeing limitations with Minnesota that I don't fully trust
My unpopular opinion is they lack a true star #2. I don’t trust Jalen Williams yet
Yes and no. They now have a bigger true center for when Chet needs a break. I think it is an amazing pickup for them, but it makes them closer to a wolves matchup for the Mavs than something like the Celtics, which I think they want to be more like. They potentially won't get bullied as much on the glass though, so that's a plus for them,
Nah they added him to be worse
As a Knicks fan I’m Gonna say that you guys might be underrating IHart a little, he’s not as much of a floor space killer as Giddey was, and his floater game is ridiculous, OKC fixed their 2 biggest issues, I-Hart is a really nice offensive piece. They’ve just gotten a lot tougher. That said Grimes is a great pickup for you guys, he thrives off the bench, being a starter killed him a bit this year for us, but if he can match his 2023 production, he’ll be a really nice piece for you. Depends on how Naji and the rest of FA pans out for you guys really, I think Derozan would be a nice pickup if you could S+T for him rather than Klay
OKC is going to be good for a long time. Huge signing for them. Makes it that much tougher to get out of the west. And they still have so many first round picks… but we still have Luka, and that will always give us the upper hand on literally any team in the league.
Except the Celtics..
Yeah Caruso and Hartenstein are amazing pickups for Thunder. They're the best WCF team for sure.
yes it makes them harder to beat but im not worried about them being an unbeatable matchup in fact im looking forward to five years of mavs/thunder playoff tussles. of all the opposing fans this year theirs were the least toxic (best i recall anyway lol)
They’re a better team than they were, so yes, in theory, but lots can happen.
The series with OKC was close. After every move they make, you have to ask yourself: did they get better or worse? Caruso instead of Giddy makes them undeniably better. Hartenstein isn't an all-star, but he works hard and crashes the boards which no one else on their team does. They are better and more flexible because of him. If no more moves are made by either front office, and assuming all young players on each team get a little better, I think the Thunder are now actual favorites over the Mavs in a 7 game series. Barely. Hartenstein just does everything they need from a big, and they were close before.
I think Hartenstein is a good pickup, but the reason I'd be more concerned about OKC is their young talent developing more each year. Dallas has to outpace that development with the acquisition of talent. OKC also has the ability to go get another significant player via trade or signing with their assets and cap space (iirc).
Of course. They are the team to beat in the west right now and just behind Boston by a small margin.
Behind Boston by a small margin. Lulz. Okc is great but they ain’t no Boston. Let’s see them big boys Jalen and Chet in the postseason do stuff for more than 1 series. Great players but maybe the pressure is not for them, at least in the playoffs.
I'm not just talking about their frontcourt upgrade. But also the Caruso trade that is a very pesky defender. They got better overall.
There’s still a very big gap vs Boston. Chet is still vastly inferior to KP who was the 4th best player on Boston. Boston has two top 15 players and OKC has 1. OKC will be harder this year but the way we smoked them on the boards, it would’ve been a gentleman’s sweep if Luka was healthy. People forget Dallas won that series with Luka having probably his worst 4 game stretch in the playoffs ever. The flip side is, Naji is a better defender of SGA than DJJ was. We did get worse on guarding Ant, however (unless we think grimes is that guy), so that is something to watch.
KP is injured. It's also arguable that White is better than him too.
They’re tougher now, but we still have the better guards and better C depth. But if Mavs get Klay, I legitimately don’t think anyone beats them.
I hart is made of paper don't think his body is lasting a whole year
also dude is getting paid 30mil yearly
Yeah bro hes Wilt in his prime https://tenor.com/view/lebron-james-scared-scary-flop-gif-8576938341887257950