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The Dallas Mavericks have been one of the most disappointing teams at the start of this NBA season. After giving the Los Angeles Clippers a legitimate run for their money in the 2020 NBA playoffs, hopes were high that Dallas would take another leap forward. This team, led by Luka Doncic, is pretty much the same as the squad as last year with the most noticeable difference being the replacement of sharpshooter Seth Curry for 3-and-D specialist Josh Richardson.
However, the Mavs currently have nine wins and 14 losses heading into a second straight Golden State Warriors matchup on Saturday. They have dropped seven of their last eight contests. Dallas is in 14th place in the Western Conference. Since Doncic was drafted by Dallas in 2018, the spotlight has been on him. With the way the team has been playing, that spotlight is shining brighter.
So, just how much of Dallas's woes are attributable to Doncic?
Honestly, not that much. The Slovenian sensation is averaging 27.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 9.4 assists, a steal, and four turnovers per outing. Compared to last year, his scoring and rebounding are slightly lower, while his assists and turnovers have improved. One area that needs improvement is his outside shooting. Doncic takes a considerable amount of 3-point attempts. Last season, the NBA average for outside shooting was 35.8 percent. That year, Doncic shot 31.6 percent on 8.9 attempts per game. That number has gone down to 29.6 percent, although he is only taking 6.9 attempts per contest. Luka Doncic may just be in a shooting slump or he needs to be more selective in his shot attempts. Speaking of 3-point shooting, the Mavs have the lowest mark in the league at 33.2 percent.
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The biggest reason for the Mavs' struggles has been the players' missed games. Their No. 2 option, Kristaps Porzingis, has missed time due to injury. Richardson, who has not been performing as expected and several key players, such as Dorian Finney-Smith, were unavailable due to the league's health and safety protocols. Once all Dallas players are available consistently and they can practice and gel with one another, their performances should improve.
To be fair to the Mavs, they also had the second-most difficult strength of schedule in the league just behind the Detroit Pistons. The strength of the schedule is the current average ranking of each opponent that a particular team has gone up against so far. Dallas' schedule will get lighter. The combination of strong opponents and a depleted roster contributed to the Mavs' rough start.
Lastly, a proponent of Dallas' historic offense last season is gone. Then lead assistant coach Stephen Silas has left the Mavs to be the new head coach of the Houston Rockets. While a coach can only do so much to affect the outcome of games, the Rockets have an 11-10 record, which is good for 10th in the West. This is admirable considering they just lost James Harden in a trade and have had injuries to John Wall and Christian Wood.
With Luka Doncic's high-usage play style, it is only natural that blame has been pinned on him. However, for the reasons stated above the team's losses cannot be solely put on his shoulders.
