Dallas
Mavericks ROSTER
41-29 • 6th in WESTERN CONFERENCE
| NAME | POS | AGE | SALARY | HT | WT | COLLEGE | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #51 | Boban Marjanovic | C | 32 | N/A | 7' 4" | 290 lbs | N/A | |
| #10 | Dorian Finney-Smith | F | 28 | N/A | 6' 7" | 220 lbs | FLORIDA | |
| #7 | Dwight Powell | F-C | 29 | N/A | 6' 10" | 240 lbs | STANFORD | |
| #17 | JJ Redick | G | 36 | N/A | 6' 3" | 200 lbs | DUKE | |
| #13 | Jalen Brunson | G | 24 | N/A | 6' 1" | 190 lbs | VILLANOVA | |
| #8 | Josh Green | G | 20 | N/A | 6' 5" | 200 lbs | ARIZONA | |
| #0 | Josh Richardson | G | 27 | N/A | 6' 5" | 200 lbs | TENNESSEE | |
| #6 | Kristaps Porzingis | F-C | 25 | N/A | 7' 3" | 240 lbs | N/A | |
| #77 | Luka Doncic | F-G | 22 | N/A | 6' 7" | 230 lbs | N/A | |
| #42 | Maxi Kleber | F | 29 | N/A | 6' 10" | 240 lbs | N/A | |
| #14 | Nate Hinton | G-F | 21 | N/A | 6' 5" | 210 lbs | HOUSTON | |
| #44 | Nicolo Melli | F | 30 | N/A | 6' 9" | 236 lbs | N/A | |
| #11 | Tim Hardaway | G-F | 29 | N/A | 6' 5" | 205 lbs | MICHIGAN | |
| #3 | Trey Burke | G | 28 | N/A | 6' 0" | 185 lbs | MICHIGAN | |
| #2 | Tyler Bey | F | 23 | N/A | 6' 7" | 215 lbs | COLORADO | |
| #1 | Tyrell Terry | G | 20 | N/A | 6' 2" | 160 lbs | STANFORD | |
| #33 | Willie Cauley-Stein | C | 27 | N/A | 7' 0" | 240 lbs | KENTUCKY |
The Dallas Mavericks enter the 2020-21 season with high hopes. After another breakout campaign from superstar point guard Luka Doncic, a lot will be riding on the capable shoulders of the 21-year-old.
Last season, the Mavs lost Kristaps Porzingis through injury in the first round of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Clippers. This proved to be a huge blow for Dallas, as they eventually fell to the Clippers in six games. The Mavs are hoping that their prized big man is able to avoid serious injury in 2021, as Porzingis is expected to play a pivotal role for the squad alongside Doncic.
The Mavs lost a couple of key guys during the offseason, with perhaps none more central than Seth Curry. Dallas did get a capable replacement in return, though, with the Philadelphia 76ers sending over Josh Richardson as part of the Curry deal. Delon Wright was also traded to the Detroit Pistons, while long-time servant J.J. Barea was released. On the other hand, Dallas brought in veteran forward James Johnson, who adds a lot of toughness to the squad.
Dallas' best lineup should consist of Doncic, Richardson, Tim Hardaway Jr., Porzingis, and Dwight Powell. Jalen Brunson, Trey Burke, and Josh Green will all come off the bench as the squad's backup guards, while Dorian Finney-Smith, Wes Iwundu, Maxi Kleber, and James Johnson will fill the forward spots of the second unit.
dallas mavericks Team Analysis
The 2019-2020 Dallas Mavericks were a special unit, at least offensively. Through the leadership and play of both Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, Dallas climbed their way all the way to the top and tallied a 115.9 offensive rating, which was the league's best. Someway and somehow, the tandem of Doncic and Porzingis was able to outdo other incredible duos like James Harden and Russell Westbrook of the Houston Rockets, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George of the Los Angeles Clippers, and even LeBron James and Anthony Davis of the eventual NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. The incredibly efficient 2019-20 Mavs offense was able to surpass the fiery offense from Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors, who tallied 115 points per 100 possessions in the 2018-2019 season.
Both Doncic and Porzingis had enough room to work thanks to the team's three-point shooting, which was second-best in terms of three-point shooting percentage (45.7%) next to the Rockets. Tim Hardaway Jr. led the team with 204 made threes in the regular season, which ranked seventh in the NBA. The Mavs also enjoyed the hot shooting from Seth Curry and Trey Burke, though Dallas traded Curry to the Philadelphia 76ers this offseason.
Obviously, the Mavs have to ride their fiery offense to win, with Doncic leading the fray. Doncic is on track to be in the MVP conversation again after yet another impressive season as Dallas' floor general. The Slovenian ended the 2019-20 regular season nearly averaging a triple-double with 28.8 points per game, 9.4 rebounds and 8.8 assists. Doncic also spearheaded the way for the Mavs in his first ever playoff appearance, where he constantly etched his name in the history books with quite an incredible debut.
Defense is something that the Mavs need to work on if they want to build on the momentum they gained during the 2019-2020 season. Although their offense has played at an elite level (best in the league last season), they paired it with a lowly defensive rating of 111.2, 18th in the NBA. Although their defense in the paint was decent, the Mavs really struggled staying in front of their opponents and stopping the ball. Dallas ranked second to last in steals (6.1 per game) as well as their opponents’ points in transition (16.4 points off the fast break per game).
The Mavs were able to salvage their defense thanks to Kristaps Porzingis and Maxi Kleber, who did their thing down low to protect the paint. With the likes of Dwight Powell and Willie Cauley-Stein coming back, the front court defense is at the very least decent. What they need is to complement this by increasing their defensive intensity in the backcourt. Luka Doncic has been a beast offensively, but defensively he's been sub-par. If the Mavs want to stand a chance and compete for a title in 2019-20, they need to drastically improve on the defensive end, even if it means sacrificing their offense a little (which could be the aim of the Josh Richardson-Seth Curry trade).
Early in 2020, the Mavs signed Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who has been known as a lockdown defender for most of his career. Although he made most of the minutes he got in his first season with the Mavericks, surely the Mavs front office needs more than just MKG to help aid their defensive woes. Yes, the Mavs' top-rated offense was able to bring them to the postseason, but a defense which ranked second-worst in the playoffs also helped them leave the bubble early.
Head Coach Rick Carlisle has been the lead tactician for the Mavs since 2008. The 61-year-old former Coach of the Year with the Detroit Pistons has successfully brought the Mavs to the playoffs eight out of 12 years and he is arguably one of the best coaches in the league. Carlisle is one of the few people to win a title both as a player (1986) and as a head coach (2011). After 17 seasons in the league, Carlisle has earned a .546 win percentage ahead of the 2020-21 season, racking up 794 wins out of a total of 1,453 games coached, including 513 wins in Dallas. He is 30-34 in the playoffs with the Mavs, which was highlighted by a 16-5 run in the 2011 postseason where they ended up winning it all.
Helping Carlisle in all his coaching duties are four assistant coaches: Darrell Armstrong, Jenny Boucek, Jamahl Mosley and Mike Weinar.
Top dallas mavericks Roster Questions
It's clear that the Mavericks didn't make the splash fans expected them to make during the 2020 offseason. Though they did acquire key pieces like Josh Richardson and James Johnson through a couple of trades, the front office seemingly held back to possibly wait things out until the 2021 offseason where bigger names will be available. They may have struck gold on draft night by snagging promising pick-ups like Josh Green, Tyrell Terry, and Tyler Bey, but obviously, these youngins still need to be tested in the pros.
They were rumored to be in talks with veterans like Marc Gasol, Jae Crowder, Montrezl Harrell, and Serge Ibaka, but these talks all fell through as these vets either wanted more money or an instant chance to win it all. Instead, the Mavs chose to re-sign members from last season like Willie Cauley-Stein and Trey Burke, and they're hoping all of their other additions are enough for them to improve on last season's first-round playoff exit.
The most recent trade the Dallas Mavericks pulled off was shipping out Delon Wright and Justin Jackson in exchange for 12-year vet James Johnson from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Though Wright and Jackson showed promise in their short time in Dallas, the Mavs badly needed to boost their defense and defense is definitely in Johnson's calling card.
The 2010-2011 Dallas Mavericks is still the best Mavericks roster of all-time. It's hard not to be considered the best after bringing home the franchise's first and only NBA title in their 40-year history. Dirk Nowitzki led the pack with Jason Kidd, Caron Butler, DeShawn Stevenson, and Tyson Chandler completing the team's starting lineup. The Mavs also had key members coming off the bench with Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, and JJ Barea all contributing huge minutes for the 2011 champs.
Although this Dallas unit wasn't the best Mavs team in terms of the regular season, the third-seeded Mavericks took care of business when it came to the postseason. After dropping two games against the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round, the Mavs went on to the second round and swept the second-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, who had Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum trying to win a third consecutive title. They then closed out the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, who had a young core of future MVPs in Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, beating them in just five games. In the Finals, the Mavs were able to avenge their 2006 loss against the Miami Heat as they defeated the big three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh in six games.
The total salary cap for the Dallas Mavericks is $126,780,222 (via Spotrac) coming into the 2020-2021 NBA season. They're over the cap by around $17 million.
Depending on their health, the Mavericks tend to use different pieces of their roster as their 6th man. Head coach Rick Carlisle usually opts to use forward Maxi Kleber as the first member off the bench to relieve the big. From time to time, Dorian Finney-Smith might move to the bench from the starting lineup to be Carlisle's 6th man.
When the Mavs are fully healthy, Tim Hardaway Jr. could become the Mavs’ primary 6th man due to the addition of Josh Richardson. Early in the 2020-21 season with Kristaps Porzingis still out, Hardaway has still mostly started in his place alongside Luka Doncic, Finney-Smith, Richardson, and Dwight Powell.
The Mavericks starting five consists of Luka Doncic, Dorian Finney-Smith, Josh Richardson, Kristaps Porzingis, and Dwight Powell.
