Ahead of the last NBA season, many fans believed that the Dallas Mavericks are a team to beat, especially with their acquisition of Kyrie Irving to help out Luka Doncic. The Mavs felt that they needed someone to help the Slovenian and therefore they got Irving but the plan did not work for them as they went from the Western Conference finals to not making the playoffs at all last season.
Many people expected the Mavericks to make a deep playoff run but they did not even make it to the Play-In tournament.
Mark Cuban believes that the players were not clear about their roles in the team and that affected the synergy hence they did not qualify for the playoffs. He believes the team will do well in the upcoming season as they will have more role clarity.
“No one’s happy when you don’t make the playoffs. …We struggled last year with certain guys not knowing their role and playing their role whereas the year before when we went to the conference finals, everybody knew their role,” Mark Cuban said during his interaction on the Free Dawkins podcast.
The Mavs owner feels that the players will now know their roles and will complement Luka and Kyrie in the upcoming season. “Guys will know their role. They know they’re there to complement Luka [Doncic], including Kyrie [Irving]. We’ve built around Luka for that reason,” he added.
There was a lot of hullabaloo surrounding the Mavs relying too much on Luka Doncic and he deserves a better team. There the franchise made it right and secured another superstar in Kyrie Irving with a trade package centred around Dorian Finney-Smith, their best defender and Spencer Dinwiddie and a few more pricks to bring home Brooklyn Nets’ out of favour star Kyrie Irving.
However, the repercussions on court were massive as the Mavs went from fifth in the West to 11th in the West after the trade in two weeks. While Luka and Kyrie made their offense one of the best in the league, their defence fell drastically in the absence of Finney-Smith.
“We got a lot younger, a lot more athletic. We’ll have a whole preseason with Kyrie [Irving] and Luka [Doncic] together. We’ve surrounded him with guys who can defend. Seth [Curry] can shoot,” Mark Cuban highlighted the changes made to the team.
The Mavs have also returned Tim Hardaway and have brought Richaun Holmes to improve in their areas of weaknesses. “We’ve brought Timmy [Hardaway] back. Richaun Holmes is probably going to be the most underrated pickup of the summer. … We’re really excited.”
Apart from that they also secured the former Boston Celtics star Grant Williams who will also play a big role in defence. It will only help their cause as Doncic and Irving would cherish playing alongside a versatile big with plenty of playoff experience.
