An article about Kobe Bryant will come out at some point in the next two weeks. Thoughts go out to the families of all the victims.
Throughout this winter, OFD will be looking at some of the positive surprises and disappointments among teams this NBA season. Stay tuned for the five disappointments over the next couple weeks.
Luka Doncic is already my third-favorite basketball player ever, so I’m not going to pretend that I can be completely unbiased when talking about his team and their season. That being said, I think most NBA watchers would agree that they are not only one of the league’s pleasant surprises but also one of the most fun watches this season.
It all starts with MVP candidate Doncic, who is putting up numbers that no one his age ever has. He ranks 4th in the NBA in points and assists per game, and checks in at 16th in rebounds per game. He’s in spitting distance of a 30-10-9 season average, and his numbers per game for the season so far have been matched by two players in NBA history, MVPs Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson. Have I mentioned he still can’t have a beer until his 21st birthday in a month?
While you can see Luka’s prodigious talent at play, it’s worth looking at how his teammates are perfectly complementary and help make the NBA’s best offense ever (by offensive rating) hum. Kristaps Porzingis has not put up the gaudy offensive numbers he did as a member of the Knicks, he ranks fifth in the league in blocks per game and the spacing he’s provided on the offensive end has allowed Doncic the room to drive the Mavericks attack. Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber had provided good minutes at center, but with Powell going down for the year with an Achilles tear, recent pick-up Willie Cauley-Stein will look to fill Powell’s role. Combined with wings Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dorian Finney-Smith shooting well and playing solid defense, the starting lineup has blitzed opponents to start games. With a bevy of backcourt depth in Delon Wright, Jalen Brunson, and JJ Barea, this Mavs team stresses opposing defenses from every position.
The team counts on taskmaster Rick Carlisle to keep the trains running on time, and he has done a great job, He’s an NBA title coach known for getting the most out of his role players. In addition, the continuity of Carlisle alongside general manager Donnie Nelson and team owner Mark Cuban allows players to be comfortable in the organization, especially after seeing how they treated Dirk his whole career.
So where do they stand? Currently, they are tied for 5th in the West, and are pretty much a lock to make the playoffs in the Western Conference. The bigger question is whether they can climb into the top 4 and into home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Powell injury certainly hurts, and they aren’t in the upper echelon of title contenders this year. But the fact that they have a chance to make the conference semifinals have them ahead of schedule, and with a future MVP at the reins, the Mavericks are set up extremely well for the decade to come.
