- Byron Scott doesn’t believe the Mavericks will be a force in the West
- The Lakers legend thinks they have talent but has questions about the fit
- Scott thinks it’ll be difficult for head coach Jason Kidd to use Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving together
The Dallas Mavericks have a long list of doubters, and Los Angeles Lakers legend Bryon Scott has added his name to it. While speaking on Scoop B Selects, Scott stated he doesn’t expect Dallas to make a lot of noise as he has questions about Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving fitting well together.
“I think Dallas has got a really good team but I still think it’s going to be hard for J-Kidd to kind of figure out how to use Kyrie and Luka together,” Scott said. “Both guys are very dominant with the ball, so it’s going to be really hard for him to figure out how to play those guys together, as a team, but they got some talent.”
Scott also thinks there are just way too many great teams in the West.
“Dallas is going to be a good team this year,” Scott continued. “I don’t think they’re going to be a force in the West, it’s just too many great teams. But Kyrie Irving is one of the most talented players I’ve ever seen.”
(starts at 1:32 mark):
You’d have the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, and Golden State Warriors as clearly better teams than the Mavericks at the moment.
The likes of the Memphis Grizzlies and the Sacramento Kings would also be fancied over Dallas and teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder are on the ascendancy as well.
The Mavericks also gave us no reason to believe in them with how their season ended. There were some concerns when they traded for Irving in February, but no one could have foreseen just how bad things were going to be.
The Mavericks had a 28-26 record when they made that move and Irving proceeded to average 27.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in 20 games for them.
Those were pretty good numbers from the 31-year-old, but the team would go on to finish the season with a woeful 38-44 record. They even missed the play-in tournament and it was an absolute disaster.
It’s true that Doncic and Irving missing some games due to injuries was a factor, but in the 16 games they did get to play together, Dallas was just 5-11.
This is why the Mavericks don’t have many believers and Charles Barkley also feels the Doncic-Irving pairing won’t work.
The Problem With The Mavericks
A lot of the focus when it comes to the Mavericks has been on the offense. Scott brought it up too, about Doncic and Irving being ball-dominant, but their issue really was on defense.
Over the last 30 games of the season, the Mavericks had a defensive rating of 118.1, as per the NBA, which ranked 25th. A backcourt of Luka and Kyrie was always going to struggle defensively and losing Dorian Finney-Smith in that Irving trade made matters worse.
To address that issue, the Mavericks did acquire Grant Williams and they also landed Dereck Lively II on draft night. A solid role-player and a rookie are only going to help so much, though.
You’d expect the Mavericks to be better than last season, but they won’t be posing a serious threat to the big boys in the Western Conference.
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