After a winning five of six games in a particularly tough stretch of games in early December, the Dallas Mavericks (12-21) have proven that sudden spasm of inspiration was a mere aberration in the team’s last seven, going 2-5, including losses at the Utah Jazz (140-133 in overtime), the New Orleans Pelicans (119-113) and, most recently, the Sacramento Kings (113-107).
The team’s 3-point shooting has regressed to prehistoric levels. Their defensive rating, the last stat that defenders of this roster
clung to like cold death, is sinking like the Titanic in the team’s last 10 games. In the last five, the Mavs have also reverted to their default setting, as one of the worst teams in the league at turning the ball over. So, sure, there are certain things the Mavericks will have to do differently in order to get a win when they continue their West Coast road swing on Monday against the Portland Trail Blazers (12-19) at the Moda Center.
But we’ve talked ad nauseam about those things as the season meanders toward its midpoint. Frankly, they don’t matter. This team is completely unserious — win on Monday or lose on Monday. Why pretend to take them seriously?
Here are three things that matter more than cutting down turnovers, creating open shots for the mediocre 3-point shooters that dot this Mavericks roster or buckling down defensively against another also-ran opponent on a cold Monday in December.
Anthony Davis’ trade value
Will Anthony Davis play on Monday against the Blazers after suffering a groin injury in the Mavericks’ Christmas Day 126-116 loss at the Golden State Warriors? That actually does matter, and for the record, Davis was listed as questionable for the contest at Portland on the NBA’s Sunday 5:45 p.m. NBA injury report. But it matters, at this point, only inasmuch as it buoys his prospective value as the NBA’s Feb. 5 trade deadline looms on the horizon.
When he comes back into the lineup, he’s got to be 100% as healthy as a man made of glass can possibly be, so the Mavericks can’t get ahead of their skis and rush him back, no matter how trivial this adductor soreness is made to sound by public relations types. Thankfully, Nico Harrison, perpetrator of injury-related malpractice that he was, is no longer behind the curtain.
First, it was the Detroit Pistons who were reportedly showing some degree of interest in the big man. Then it was the Chicago Bulls. Now, apparently, it’s the Atlanta Hawks and perhaps even the aforementioned Warriors with some level of interest. Somehow, some way, four different teams have looked at this man’s record over his paltry 27-game on-court tenure with the Mavs and somehow talked themselves into the notion that this guy can help them. Halleluka.
Getting Davis back against the Blazers and seeing him put up numbers (or, hell, even be able to trot up and down the floor with his customary middling degree of gusto) against a depleted frontcourt featuring Donovan Clingan and Sidy Cissoko might go some little distance in assuaging teams like the Hawks, Bulls and/or Pistons that this latest listing on the injury report was just a blip, not indicative of any major underlying issue. If, however, the Mavs PR machine is trying to sweep something larger under the rug here, that will be made clear if Davis’ latest stint in street clothes extends for anything longer than a game or two more.
We’ll be watching Davis’ progress, both on the injury reports, and God willing, on an actual basketball court in the coming days to further flesh out just how many expiring contracts and draft picks the Mavs may be able to get for him. If he looks good in his next few outings, trade him on the spot for whatever anyone in the league is willing to give up. End this charade of middling and deliver us fully into the Age of Cooper Flagg. We beg you.
For that matter, Daniel Gafford’s trade value
We need to see something more from Daniel Gafford in the next month or so. It’s been bad for Gafford as December has dragged on — he’s averaging fewer than five points and five rebounds per game in eight games this month. The Indiana Pacers were reported to have some level of interest in trading for Gafford earlier this month, but his recent stretch isn’t doing much of anything either to affect winning or to enhance his trade value. He’s a lose-lose proposition at this point.
Every time the Mavericks give up a jaw-dropping number of offensive rebounds and second-chance points to an opponent with an underwhelming frontcourt, Gafford’s inability to get in position for the battle for rebounds is part of that equation. Every time he flails toward the basket in an ill-fated attempt to get a foul call, it’s a reminder that he’s a post player with zero post moves.
He was best utilized as a rim-runner when the Mavericks employed the best player in the world at getting his teammates open looks. Now, no one on the Mavs roster is suited for that role, so Gafford’s production is suffering. You could look the other way at Gafford’s suspect rebounding when he was getting easy looks at the rim and hyping the rest of the team up with the tough-guy routine that came with his high-flying dunks.
Now, he’s just a guy — a lob threat with no one throwing him lobs consistently. What a game like Monday’s affords a guy like Gafford is an opportunity to put something meaningful on tape against a forgiving frontline on the other end. Jerami Grant has been out for Portland since Dec. 18, and his injury shifted somewhere along the way from “achilles soreness” to “achilles tendonitis.” He sat out of the Blazers’ game on Sunday against the Boston Celtics. Backup big Robert Williams III also sat out, under the heading of “injury management.”
Plant the Flagg
Flagg’s development as a shooter has taken something of an unexpected step forward in the first half of his rookie campaign. In his last four games, he’s shooting an eye-popping 9-of-14 from 3-point range. He shot just 26.7% from deep in five games in October and followed that up with a paltry 25% shooting percentage from 3-point range in November. It was one of the few glaring weaknesses left in his game, and lately, he’s been much better from the perimeter.
If he develops into any kind of consistent 3-point threat early in his career, he’ll be even more of a behemoth than his most strident supporters could have dreamt. Everything he’s displaying on the offensive end is ahead of schedule.
Flagg’s rapid on-the-job development is making a tough road ahead a little easier for whoever assumes the reins as roster architect for this wayward franchise. We’ve got a basketball super-computer on our hands here. His processing power is the only attribute outpacing his physical prowess at this point. The Blazers will no doubt try to lock Flagg up with versatile defender Toumani Camara, who will provide a nice test for Flagg as he continues to round into peak NBA form much sooner than anyone could have expected.
