Deadseriousness Audit: 2022-23 Dallas Mavericks

Welcome to the Deadseriousness Audit where we break down the season that was and preview the season to come.

The Dallas Mavericks finished 38-44 and the 11th seed in a weak ass Western Conference after trading Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2029 first-round pick, and second-round picks in 2027 and 2029 for Kyrie Irving.

What Went Right

The Mavs finished 6th in offensive rating so that’s good. 6th best offense and they finished 6 games below .500. Sick. Luka Doncic had the best season of his career. Career-highs in free throw attempts, points and steals, shockingly.

None of it mattered though as Luka was surrounded by 10 guys who wouldn’t get a combined 10 minutes on the Milwaukee Bucks or any real championship contender.

Also, while we’re here, can we talk about how Luka gets zero criticism for how mediocre the Mavs are every season? Carmelo Anthony was a punching bag for all those sports debate shows while somehow suddenly everyone can discover the nuance in Luka’s situation.

I wonder what shields Luka from all that bullshit? Perhaps Kendrick Perkins was right..

What Went Wrong

The Mavericks defense was atrocious and oftentimes, it looked like Jason Kidd was just watching the game from courtside seats and not actually, ya know, coaching the team. It didn’t help trading away Dorian Finney-Smith—the team’s best perimeter defender—but Reggie Bullock, Tim Hardway jr and even Luka Doncic are all big strong bodies that should’ve been capable of replacing Finney-Smith’s defense and I blame Kidd for not motivating them enough to do so.

You could potentially blame Luka for the team’s overall lack of defense. It’s difficult to stay motivated defensively when you spend every offensive possession watching Luka dribble the grooves off the ball for the entire shot clock and you only get to touch the ball with like, 2 seconds left so you have to chuck up a wild 3 and then sprint back on D when you inevitably miss because you’re cold from never being able to touch the ball.

But we watched James Harden’s Houston Rockets teams play a very similar style of ball and they were frequently one of the best teams in the league and guys like PJ Tucker and Robert Covington busted their asses on defense for Harden.

This brings the blame to the front office for not surrounding Luka with guys who genuinely like doing that shit. Trading for Kyrie Irving instead of like, Jae Crowder is Exhibit A of the problem. Kyrie is an incredible scorer but none of his points matter. His scoring isn’t impactful. He’s Monta Ellis with a copy of Mein Kampf in his locker.

Free Agency

The Mavs could reach about $20 million in cap space this summer if they rescind some bird rights and let every free agent walk. Those free agents being Kyrie, Christian Wood, Dwight Powell and Justin Holiday.

Dallas has to either re-commit long-term to Kyrie—who very noticeably was on his best behavior when he arrived in Texas in order to steal a max contract before inevitably reverting back to being a ‘free thinking’ dweeb—or completely rebuild this team from scratch.

Maybe there’s some sort of Kyrie/James Harden sign-and-trade possibility but I think the Sixers—having just endured Ben Simmons—won’t rush to light their team chemistry on fire when Kyrie says something wildly racist to Joel Embiid based off a massive historical inaccuracy he found on some alt-right hate group message board for free thinkers.

I think the Mavs need size. The Top 4 seeds in the West have Nikola Jokic, Jaren Jackson, Domantas Sabonis and Deandre Ayton leading their frontcourts. The Mavs have Maxi fucking Kleber.

This team desperately needs a big man after the failed Christian Wood experiment and unfortunately, knowing Mark Cuban’s affinity for white Europeans, Dallas will probably end up with Nikola Vucevic providing some expensive dogshit minutes. They miiiiight be able to steal Brook Lopez but I reckon that option has a lot to do with how the Bucks finish this season.

The Draft

Thanks to the absolute bullshit the Mavericks played going out of their way to tank the final game of the season and intentionally lose a game that could’ve kept them alive for the postseason, the Dallas Mavericks have a Top 10 pick.

I like Taylor Hendricks out of UCF who shot 39% from 3 last season and appears to be a lockdown defender. If the Mavs want to succeed in this league then they need to pair Luka with a wing that can put the clamps on guys like Paul George or Brandon Ingram. Guys who are okay with their limited offensive roles.

At the end of the day, the Mavs have one final year to prove to Luka Doncic that they know how to run an organization. Luka won’t be on this team in 2025 if Kyrie leaves and he’s replaced with like, Russell Westbrook or some other fake flashy signing that will fail on day one.

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