If the first week-and-change of NBA action is of any indication — the modern era of the league is here to stay. With scoring at an all-time high since the early stages of the game, the Dallas Mavs have seen it happen, scoring 100 or more points in each of their four regular season games, including a 140-136 showdown victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves that gave them their first win of the season.
While the Mavs were at one point, well… Mavericks of the league by revolutionizing the meaning of the power forward position — bringing in a 7-footer with uncanny shooting abilities in Dirk Nowitzki — now it's considered the norm, as teams have begun to prioritize shooting over any other skill for big men.
“I’m sure Dick Harter is turning over in his grave right now. He was a coach on the Knicks in the 90s and I worked with him for many years,” head coach Rick Carlisle said after beating the Timberwolves, according to Doyle Rader of Mavs Money Ball. “This is a new age of basketball. This is where we are. The days of games in the 80s are probably done. Everything is spread out. It’s freedom of movement. There’s four attackers and, often times, five three-point shooters. There are missiles flying everywhere.”
Even without their trailblazing star, the Mavericks have adapted that same style of play, boasting capable 3-point shooters in four of their five positions on the floor.
Carlisle attributes this change to a particular wave of innovation.
“Because the athletes are getting bigger and faster and all that,” said Carlisle, “the only way to make the court bigger is to shoot from further out and open up space with more skill players.”
The Mavs have done that by drafting Luka Doncic, a versatile forward with unique playmaking gifts and a shooting acumen that made him the youngest to win the EuroLeague MVP award before coming to the NBA.
The game now, as Carlisle sees it, “has never been more exciting to watch.”
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