With the arrival of Luka Doncic and the emergence of Dennis Smith Jr, Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle will have a bevy of savvy playmakers this season. But Carlisle is not planning to ârest' the ball on the hands of their point guards. The Mavericks are limiting dribbles in their offensive system as an integral part of their new ball movement philosophy.
Tim Cato of The Athletic wrote an outstanding story on why Carlisle is leaning on ball movement as an important piece of their offensive scheme.
That specific approach is a dribble limit, a couple of team staffers tell me, with players only being allowed three or four dribbles before they must pass the ball.
The Mavs are making it a point to lessen the dribbles of each player and create more off-ball scoring opportunities. Excessive dribbling was the team's sickness the past couple of seasons.




âWe need to get away from an ugly brand of non-winning basketball the past two years,â Carlisle said Thursday. âHigh usage rates and low efficiency is a ticket to death in this league, and weâre not going there.â
âWe have something that weâre doing so far thatâs been great so far,â Carlisle said earlier this week. âSuffice to say that if it doesnât happen, itâs going to be a turnover.â
Indeed, isolation schemes are more prone to turnovers and more inclined to difficult and heavily-contested shots. The Mavericks are primed to have a more potent offense this season. DeAndre Jordan will definitely pull defenses inside because of his knack to catch lobs, while Mavs fans will see more movements from Harrison Barnes and Wesley Matthews on the wing for wide-open perimeter shots.
Dirk Nowitzki, the team's longest-tenured star, will arguably have the most talented supporting cast since the Mavs' championship run in 2011.