Yahoo Sports Senior NBA Reporter Jake Fischer and NBA Writer Dan Devine discuss the Mavericks’ outlook for next season and the team’s potential construction behind a trio of Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and Dereck Lively . Listen to the full conversation on “No Cap Room” — part of the “Ball Don’t Lie” podcast — and subscribe at , or wherever you listen.
Video transcript
For Dallas to get back to this stage.
They have a difficult task, simply because the West is really difficult.
Their offseason is not that interesting.
I will say they also have almost everyone on the books for next year except Derek Jones, as Derek, the excited 20-year-old rookie Jason Kidd said this after game four when he hit corner three, we’re super impressed with this boy.
This is the next step in your progression.
There’s someone in Dallas who told me in Dallas before the fourth game that they expect his growth to be so rapid that they would look at him as a free agency signing every year going forward because they expect him to make such huge leaps.
Then it’s the Luca thing we talk about and maybe Luca is fully rested, fully healed.
Take a little more responsibility on the defensive side of things, sign a super max extension and they’ll be back in the thick of things in the West, which is no wonder it’s not the worst plan I’ve heard of if Kyrie continues on the path like, I know I’m the second banana here and I know how to get to where I fit in and how to elevate and keep encouraging that.
That’s a recipe for a top-78 offense.
Right.
And so the question is always: what can you do on the other side of the room?
The future goes on as Luca Kyrie Derek moves into this season when they had those, those three guys on the floor, scored 100 and 22.1 points per 100 possessions, which would have been the number one offense in the league.
The defense was below league average.
But I think we’ve seen enough already to be really encouraged by what animated can be as an anchor in that sense.
Lively just creates new possibilities for what you can be defensively.
They have something on those drums.
