On January 4, 2000, Mark Cuban purchased a majority of the Mavericks’ shares. Since then, the new era that began in the city of dallas has always had a structure of very solid pillars and a clear and immovable way of doing things: a project around a single player to be surrounded by a good stewardship, long-term coaching attempts and reverential care for the star of the day. For 21 years, that figure was that of Dirk Nowitzki, who reaped the fruits of his work with the 2011 ring, the only one in the history of the franchise. Two Finals and a title were enough to positively assess the more than two decades of effort to get the biggest prize that can be won in the NBA. And a legendary race for a unique, titanic, enormous playeralready linked forever to the history books of basketball, of North American sports, of the best League in the world.
Nowitzki’s witness was picked up by Luka Doncic. In fact, the last season of the German’s career was the Slovenian’s first in the NBA. It was in 2018, after winning the Euroleague with Real Madrid and reaching the best League in the world like a promise that came to a team in which another European had shone. The best in history? At the height of Giannis Antetokounmpo, it is already difficult to assure it, as well as with Nikola Jokic. Doncic should also pass on that list over the years. In one way or another, the arrival of the young star in Dallas did not change the structure of the franchise one iota: Mark Cuban bet on another long-term project, with another European player, and began to build around himto satisfy him with millionaire extensions as soon as he could and even to fire an essential figure for the recent history of the franchise such as Rick Carlisle in order to satisfy him.
Doncic faces his fifth year in the NBA. He does it with a theoretically better squad than last year, with a Jason Kidd who came as a replacement for Carlisle, just as Carlisle himself replaced Avery Johnson and his tactical limitations at key moments (defending Dwayne Wade in the 2006 Finals, loss to the Warriors we believe one year later…) in 2009. He does so happy, concentrated, after a summer in which he has been one of the protagonists of the Eurobasket and with his eternal smile on his face and a huge desire to continue his path to stardom. His quality is unquestionable. from his season sophomore He is a fixture in the All Star and in the Best Quintets and will oppose the MVP, if all goes well, year after year in the short and medium term. A generational player. An unquestionable star. A man who goes hand in hand with the epic and rides fast and swift towards his definitive place on Olympus. But…
Doncic’s stuff
The point of Doncic’s career is no longer worth doing triple-doubles every night, putting on great performances and making the public fall in love. The Slovenian is already entering a part of his career in which he is going to be asked anything else. The problems with his physique have been a constant at the beginning of the last seasons, in the Olympic Games and the Eurobasket he was very tired, he arrived very tired to the final rounds and the long races are based on almost scientific care of the body, something that Doncic has to change radically (As much as Kidd assures now that he is “mashed”) if you want to spend more than 15 years in the League and be at a high level for many years, something inherent to the great stars of all time. And his attitude on his track also causes some damage to his reputation: the constant protests to the referees, very permissive with the Slovenian (as with any other star), have come to drive a good part of public opinion crazy, that place where the battles that decide wars are won and lost. And that, in the long run, can make a dent in the treatment that rivals and referees have towards the Slovenian.
Doncic can still improve. On defense, well covered by the framework created by Jason Kidd, he can take another leap when it comes to covering a one-on-one, always with the mind set on not wearing out before time and arriving fresh at the end of the match. In attack, improving the triple will be his great mission: the last two seasons he has improved up to 35%, but although in the playoffs a year ago (4-3 against the Clippers in that famous series in which all the games, except the last one, away from home) exceeded 40%, in the last ones it fell to 34.5% and in the Eurobasket, with some exceptional confrontations, his performance from abroad left much to be desired: 7 of 30 in triples in the first 4 games with 13 turnovers. He finished with just 14 points and was sent off in 35 minutes against Polandand in the middle of the continental competition he added an embarrassing 0 of 8 from outside against Dzanan Musa’s Bosnia.
Considering him already at 23 years old a historically good player, Doncic must improve these things to definitively establish himself as a franchise player who can lead his team to the ring.. His fitness early in the season and his protests to the referees are ultimately very much related to the number of turnovers and his abuse of the 3-point attempt is very much related to his attitude. The more it fails more protest. If he is more tired (physical form) or arrives worse at the end of the match, he fails more. And, again, more desperate and more protest. A vicious circle that he avoided with unexpected victories in the last playoffs, to which he arrived exhausted, like the rest of a team that depends too much on his physique, to the series against the Warriors. He, due to fatigue and overexertion; the others, by titanic overexertion. And, even so, we saw performances similar to the one we have mentioned: 1 of 10 in triples was his worst performance, against the Suns, prior to two games that ended in an identical way (2 of 8). In total, 5 of 26 in three games, a very poor figure. He finished the playoffs 6 of 24 in just two games against the Warriors, again throwing a lot out of exhaustion. no longer having the strength to repeat the penetration and with poor shot selection and… 4 turnovers per night in the final phase. Too.
Limited squad, incredible rivals
And now, the million dollar question: how far can the Mavericks go this season? It is difficult to predict. The idea of a project that looks to the long term without giving up anything in the present lies in improving each year, always doing it a little better than the previous time. But if we put the ceiling on the Western Conference finals, it’s hard to imagine that the Mavs are going to get there. The inertia of last year, together with a favorable matchup in the first round against a Jazz in decomposition (but without Doncic the first two games, everything must be said) and the bad dynamics of a Suns that inexplicably exploded in the semifinals, allowed him pass a round and reach the conference finals (both at the same time) for the first time since 2011. But the feeling was that the team was always above expectations, and that the system does not allow an extreme physical level that prevents players arrive fresh where the titles are played. In the end, 4-1 against the Warriors, the difference in real level and an initial 3-0 in a series in which the games were always long and where the only defeat corresponded more to a sovereign relaxation of Steve Kerr’s team, who knows how to measure times and efforts, than to a manifest superiority, not at all palpable and that was always conspicuous by its absence.
For the rest, the team has changed, but we don’t know if it’s for the better. Jalen Brunson is going to the Kniocks and, overpaid or not, he showed a level in Dallas that we do not know if he is going to have a Christian Wood that we do not know if he will start on the bench or not (they do not finish clarifying) and that it is unnecessary at the end of the games: to create his own shots, Doncic is already there and the spaces for the shooters are created by him. Wood’s defensive level is questionable to say the least and his ability to adapt now that he’s not the star of a bad team, an unknown. JaVale McGee arrives and Maxi Klebber follows, Reggie Bullock, Dorian Finney-Smith (these last two essentials) and Spencer Dinwiddie, while the recovery of Tim Hardaway Jr. does not give hope in defense either and the departure of Brunson leaves bases dry: Ntilikina and Campazzo, if their presence is confirmed, will be the two that accompany Doncic and Dinwiddie.
That’s the way things are in Dallas. Jason Kidd had an extraordinary good year, but he needs one more to confirm his position and let’s see if he really has improved enough to become a definitive coach, or last year was a team above his level that went where no one expected. With the Warriors, Suns, Clippers, Nuggets, Grizzlies and company it will be difficult to secure home field advantage, but once in the playoffs everything will be a fight to the death and Doncic’s physique and will will be the ones that mark the future. Because this is so, and let no one read what is not written: Slovenian is a generational star. A unique player, unparalleled in the history of basketball and the NBA. And, as much as he has to polish certain details, it is the main reason and the argument that all Mavericks fans and non-Mavericks fans cling to. Because luck, coincidences or the alignment of stars can intervene in the rings. But what should not be underestimated is something that is always inherent in winning championships. And it is that they are always achieved with one thing that Doncic has above the rest: talent.