Mavs Tuesday Donuts: The NBA 'Prototypical' Big Man
Dallas Mavericks Tuesday Donuts as The Bubble Boys get ready in Orlando for tonight's Mavs vs. Sixers scrimmage - the final test before the NBA re-opener ...
DONUT 1: THE 'PROTOTYPE' The Following the Sunday scrimmage loss to Indiana, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle raved about Euless Trinity product Myles Turner, the center who is re-inventing his game - and who had Turner had 15 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks against the Mavericks in Indy's victory.
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“He can play inside, outside, shoot deep, drive it, rebound, defend, protect the rim,'' Carlisle said. "He’s a very special player and he’s certainly no picnic to prepare for because he can do so many things ...
"Wow, what a player. He’s one of the prototypical five men of the future, along with KP.''
Unfortunately ...
DONUT 2: NO KP Kristaps Porzingis - Dallas' "Unicorn Prototype'' - was not available to meet the challenge. The 7-3 center was not allowed to play in the scrimmage against Indiana because he missed a mandatory coronavirus test the day before.
“He broke one of the protocols'' Carlisle said. "Just forgot to get tested.''
Rick called it "a cautionary tale'' and the rest of the Mavs traveling party is now surely moving through the week leading up to Friday's re-boot opener against Houston with a heightened awareness of the rules. Indeed, Carlisle said he nearly missed a test himself earlier in this Training Camp 2.0.
But, said Luka Doncic, "Our trainers remind us of the testing. It’s an everyday thing, so you got to think about it. Sometimes, it happens.”
DONUT 3: A DAY LOST Here's the problem with it, really, and then I promise to let it go: As KP conceded in a Tuesday night video visit ... There is simply no time to waste here, no time to spare here, no time to - as Carlisle put it - "take your eye off the ball'' here.
Three scrimmages. Total. Counting Monday, just four workouts before the opener against the Rockets. Total. The team that marches through these eight seeding games and then to the NBA Playoffs without any COVID-19-related glitches greatly helps itself, in terms of practice time and in-game advantages ...
And Kristaps Porzingis, in a real way, just cost him team a precious day.
And now, assuming it won't happen again, we move on ...
DONUT 4: BY THE NUMBERS Luka Doncic enters tonight’s scrimmage against Philly with a two-game scrimmage total of 34 points, 16 rebounds and 15 assists ... in a total of 41 minutes.
DONUT 5: CURRY COOKING Seth Curry is raving about the marriage between this offense and his particular skills. Read all about the "Curry and Carlisle tasty dish'' here.
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DONUT 6: DEFENSIVE WOES Dallas' goal is to be "top 10'' in terms of statistical defense. Carlisle has emphasized to his team that such an accomplishment is needed "to be one of those teams that’s really in the hunt.”
So far, so ... not good.
It is assumed that was a focus of the Monday workout session, which did include Trey Burke and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist - though they do not share a status for tonight's session. See our Mavs Practice Notebook here for more.
DONUT 7: LUKA NOT MVP CANDIDATE? Doncic's name does not appear on the respected Zack Lowe's list of top-five MVP candidates. For Lowe it goes:
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
2. LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
3. James Harden, Houston Rockets
4. Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers
5. Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers
That's absolutely stunning to me. What Doncic has done - well beyond his magnificent stats - is almost single-handedly turned a lottery team into a contender ... and he's done it, coming off a rookie season, in a year and a half.
I don't know that Doncic will feel slighted if Lowe's ballot is reflective of the way the entire vote will go down. But me? I learned a long time ago, with Dirk Nowitzki as the subject, to not overly concern myself with the world's judgments of the Mavs.
Watching Dirk win games on a regular basis was more fun to me than waiting on someone in Connecticut or California to notice.
So it shall be with Luka.
DONUT 8: LUKA'S BUBBLE BENEFITS Luka, writes our Richie Whitt, might be uniquely qualified to navigate early-career issues on his way to a title even better than Dirk was. Read the reasoning here: Mavs Donuts: Luka Doncic And His Bubble Benefits In Chasing NBA Title
DONUT 9: 'SUPERTEAM' RECRUITING? The open secret inside the bubble? This is fertile recruiting ground for star players who might wish to someday make their move to a new club. Our Dalton Trigg - the eternal optimist - sees the Luka/KP combo as a reason for guys on other clubs to pay attention to Dallas. So, "SuperTeam Recruiting''? Read that here.
RELATED: The Only Real Giannis Edge The Mavs Have
DONUT 10: QUOTABLE "We had a good practice. We went hard. We were physical. Things are moving in a good direction. ... The game Friday is really staring us in the face.'' - Rick Carlisle.
DONUT 11: WHAT'S ON TAP The Mavs will do Zoom media today, we'll post our GAMEDAY preview in the noon hour, and Carlisle will visit with us again in a pre-game chat this evening. DBcom will have full all-night coverage of the Philadelphia 76ers tonight at 7:30 p.m. (with the plan to televise on Fox Sports Southwest and Mavs.com).
Stay tuned to DallasBasketball.com!
DONUT 12: THE FINAL WORD "I don’t think we’ll be 100 percent for the first seeding game since playoffs are more important. But we will be ready.'' - Luka Doncic.
