Mark Followill, Mavericks TV Voice on Mavs as Threats In West, Luka/Kyrie Duo, Doncic MVP Chances

Mark Followill, Mavericks TV Voice on Mavs as Threats In West, Luka/Kyrie Duo, Doncic MVP Chances

Deeper than just being embraced by the Dallas Community um you know I it’s for me it’s just getting adjusted here and getting established um as one of the community leaders um while also um you know not trying to do too much uh you know I have my own beliefs and Views

And I think being here in Dallas I’ve been accepted um you know Way Beyond just my talent on the court uh I think it’s for what I represent uh in the broader world and how I try to make impact and try to help a lot of different walks of life and stand on

Things that a lot of people wouldn’t stand on uh so I think that’s the genuine connection I have here and I think the fans relishing that just being able to uh sometimes get to touch me when I’m going out there uh just to warm up or um you know during my shoe launch

Or or just different things that we do within the Maverick’s uh you know philanthropic arm to I think we do a good job of just making sure that uh the community feels us they know that we’re here and um you know they also know what

We’re doing off the court so I try to have a balance of all those things and uh when I see people in public I make sure that they know that I’m a human being first and please don’t approach me with all the the you know the extra

Fandom and stuff like that cuz that could make me feel uncomfortable if I’m just trying to pump gas you know so you guys know exactly what I’m saying just uh I don’t mind the phandom It’s just sometimes I just want to be treated like a regular human being I don’t say

Sometime I want to be treated like a human being and just how are you how you doing and a handshake in a picture goes a long way I try to to remember everybody’s names I introduce myself and the little things like that make a lasting impact so that’s what I try to

Do here welcome to inside the Mavs the official Mavericks podcast of 971 the freak presented by Aura my name is Kevin gray Maverick pre and post game host on the Dallas maveri radio network appreciate you joining if you’re listening to the podcast on iHeart radio Apple podcast and Spotify make sure give

It a festar rating and write a review for it while you’re there and if you’re watching this on my YouTube channel at Kevin gry Sports like and comment on the video as well and follow me on Twitter at Kevin gray Sports so excited for this episode of inside the Mavs as the Mavs

Are rolling right now and I’m so excited to bring in my guest today he is the television voice of the Dallas Mavericks sitting at the head of the table when it comes to Mavs media the follow the man I like to call uh the phenomenal Mark followwell joining me here on inside the

Mass mark what’s going on Kevin thank you so much for the uh lovely intro uh you had you hit a couple of good ones there so I I appreciate that I got it some people listening got it uh others may not but that’s okay I appreciate it

Thank you uh we will definitely sprinkle those in and for those who will catch them I hope they’ll Point them out as uh we go on throughout the course of the show but thank you so much for hanging out with me here today as the Mavericks

Are right now having won seven of eight games they’re right now a season High 12 games above 500 uh Mark give me a Vibe check when it comes to these Mavericks right now and how they are playing and for you what you have been seeing from this team so far Vibes are extraordinary

Right now Vibes are at a best of the Season high right now so I I I think the vibe check is really good um so what I really like Kevin about what’s happening with this team right now is on the Fly and I think this is a hard thing to do

But the characteristics and the DNA of the team have changed significantly uh post trade deadline the MS as you recall won three games in a row right before the deadline so you tack on those three wins with the 15- six record uh that they have or they’re 15- six in their

Last 20 games I guess it’s 12- six now since the deadline so uh 12- six since the trades three wins before that uh this is a quarter of the Season where the MS have played basketball that is on par with basically having a top five record in the league over that time

Frame are just right on the cusp of a top five record so uh the vibe is really good in that regard uh the fact that they have been able to again reinvent the way they play um you know prior to the trade deadline this was a team that

Was very very reliant on making threes and that was the barometer for whether or not they stood a good chance of winning a game and you know I do think they need to get their three-point shooting sorted out and we can talk about that a little bit more here in a

Minute but I think on the positive side of things now they can lean into def defense they can lean into paint points they can lean into Second Chance points because that was a key factor in the Denver win for example and so the Mavs have if may use the golf analogy a few

More clubs in their bag right now they have multiple ways to win games and in a long 82 Game season I think that’s really important a lot of games call for different ways and no game is the same and you’re going to have to win games different ways over the course of a

Season if you want to be a really upper echelon team and the Mavs are demonstrating that they can win games in a variety of different ways right now so that’s uh the that’s the entry point for our conversation I The Vibes are really really good because it’s it’s fun

Watching the team when they win and it’s especially fun watching the way this team is winning right now yeah speaking to some of that it was looking at just some of the numbers before we got on this team in the last 21 games 15 and six they’re number three in the NBA in

Offensive rating number 11 in defensive rating they’ve got a net rating now of a plus 6.4 over their last 21 and it’s funny because and I’m sure you felt the same we had talked about the idea collectively that if the Mavericks offensively they’re going to be spectacular Luca and Kyrie are going to

Do what they do night in and night out but if they could find a way to just be averag defensively this could be a team that could win maybe 45 to 50 games and what they’ve been doing over the last 21 they’re exceeding those expectations from a defensive standpoint and watching

This team a close as you do it feels like there’s at least recently here a new level in sense of physicality in the way that they go about beating teams and to your point when shots aren’t falling these days they’re still finding ways to win ball games which I think is a sign

Of hopefully a maturing team as this season is G on physicality was one of the things that Jay kid pointed out in his pregame uh press conference last night because I was asking him a couple of follow-up questions about their performance against wanyama in the Spurs

Game the other night and uh you know he shouted out PJ Washington because I do think Washington continues to defend well even though a shot isn’t falling uh he is doing very very good work defensively and his physicality and the way he plays good scores is something

That Jason pointed out last night but uh in addition to PJ’s physicality obviously you’ve got the physicality of The Gafford Lively combo at Center um and those guys block shots they rebound they protect the paint and they just provide an imposing presence inside on both ends of the floor for the Mavs and

Then I think Maxi has helped uh on the defensive side of the floor uh you know he had a good game was part of the the group of guys that played well against Wendy and San Antonio the other night and I think that he’s added something

And and uh Derrik Jones Jr gives you point of attack defense in the starting lineup uh he had a play last night where he did get beat but he can recover uh when that happens and he I think it was maybe uh maybe it was was sensah who got

Around him Bryce sensah I think and then he recovered and blocked a shot out of bounds and so uh you know I think Jones gives you good point of attack defense so I like this the starting lineup changes uh and the way the rotation sets

Up now I think have a lot to do with how well the MS are playing defensively and and the physicality that’s associated with that yeah they inserted Daniel Gafford in the starting lineup and there’re seven and one since he’s been in the starting lineup and a guy who

Leads the NBA and field goal percentage is also a guy that’s averaging over two blocks per game this year so he providing it on both ends of the floor not to mention my man had what 33 straight M field goals at one point for the Mavericks he has been really good

For them and I think what we’re watching now is are is a team that it feels like can not only win different ways but now when things aren’t going well one of the things that we’ve talked about also is you know this team hangs their heads a little bit when shots aren’t necessarily

Falling that may affect them what they’re doing on the defensive end is this a maturing team is this a team that’s showing a little bit more Poise and dealing with adversity but now finding ways to be better despite when things aren’t necessarily going well yeah I know I think that’s that’s a fair

Characterization and I’ll I’ll follow up because I I kind of felt the same thing that you’re feeling Kevin and so uh last night I brought up to Jason and our and the pregame presser uh you know you stood here uh sat here whenever things weren’t going well a couple of weeks ago

And pointed out again that our defense our offense is our defense and by that meaning a thing that that has been a familiar refrain over his two and a half years here for the most part is that uh the Mavs with an offensive oriented team tended to get down whenever their shots

Didn’t get in which translated to poor defense and that isn’t like a universal truth about things that’s a generality uh but that is how they played by in large part over the course of the last two and a half years and they put that to bed for a little while

And I think that’s why they made the run that they made by the way in the second half of the 2021-22 season and what they did in the playoffs that year and so I brought this up to Jason last night and I said is it safe to say that you have

Changed that that nature of your team have you have you evolved from being that kind of team or are you in the process of evolving from being that kind of team that gets down and doesn’t play good defense if you’re having a bad night on offense and he said we’re

Definitely pivoting so I think uh you know there’s there’s some really good signs of maturity and recognizing again that different games over the course of a long season call for different ways to win and you know yeah you just you just have to be able to find a way I mean the

Whole point that he was making when this was coming up and coming up in a time when they weren’t playing well is we have to learn to be a team that can find a way to win games when our shot isn’t falling now they clearly have pivoted to

A way to make their offense still play and perform at a very high efficient level without a lot of three-point shots going in lately but even without the three-point shots going in and without the consistency uh in that regard they’re still playing good defense and not getting down whenever outside shots

Don’t fall and I think for examp example Washington’s a great uh is a great example of that uh you know PJ has not shot the ball well here uh the three-point percentage and those statistics are pretty obvious out there for anybody who wants to go look at it

But the other thing that’s obvious is night in night out and that’s this includes against Lowry marinan you know we’re recording on Friday this includes against Lowry Markin in the last night’s game against wimy in the San Antonio game and on down the line of recent matchups where PJ is often drawing the

Toughest defensive assignment and then if you go look at the matchup box score on nba.com afterwards uh he’s holding his own and in many cases performing you know more than just holding his own but very very well defensively against those those high quality offensive players that he’s having to match up

Against let’s take a quick break here on inside the mass Mo with Mark followell next here on inside the mass but before that let’s hear from today’s sponsor of our video and our podcast let’s hear from AA today’s video is brought to you by Aura do a Google search on your name

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Our podcast in Aura with Mark followwell television play-by-play voice of your Dallas Mavericks joining me here on the podcast today before we went to break talking about this team and what they’ve been doing really over the last 21 games and Mark when you look at this team and

What they’ve got going forward here they’ve got a couple of big games of course against Sacramento you know next week as they get ready for their five game Road Trip against Utah but I want to focus in on a couple of folks because you mentioned him a little bit already

And something that I think for Mavericks fans looking at the way that he’s performed he’s been taking as you mentioned the toughest defensive assignments but the three-point shooting which hasn’t necessarily been great for this team over the last you know seven eight games or so is it concerning that

Washington PJ Washington I’m talking about is it necessarily knocking down threes at that rate or is it more so finding a defined role that allows him to get more comfortable within this offense that hopefully will allow his shot to start to fall a little bit more

Down the stretch um I would lean towards more the latter um and and this is something that I brought up in some other opportunities to talk about it in a more of a long form situation uh and this is just a theory and and by no means is this 100% fullprof just a

Thought I have about it uh PJ played you know in the situation was what it was in Charlotte uh for the last four and a half years of his career uh they didn’t make the playoffs they played in the play in tournament one time uh I do think that there’s an adjustment from

The kind of shots that you can take and an offense on a team that doesn’t have anything to speak of in the way of expectations and the kind of shots that are going to come your way when first of all you’re playing off two extraordinary offensive players in Luc and Kyrie and

Also within a system where there’s expectation and people holding each other accountable and you’re trying to win games and move up in the standings and position yourselves for success in the playoffs so I I think there’s an adjustment to that and how that manifests itself I don’t necessarily

Know that uh you know there’s a way to to quantify that very easily but I do think that’s a thing how much that’s influencing what’s going on with him shooting the ball right now I don’t know but I do think there’s an adjustment from when you go from the kind of

Scenario and situation that he was in in Charlotte to the one that I’m talking about here in Dallas I do think there’s an adjustment for him there so um you know I I I said we talk about three-point shooting and I did want to jump in on that a little bit Kevin uh

Because I love that they do have new ways to win that’s really important and that’s a wonderful thing uh over the last eight games the Mavs are shooting around 33% on their threes that’s a number that over the course of a season would be worst in the league so this is

Something to have to get sorted out I mentioned this in a in a radio visit that I had earlier this week the top 15 teams in the league in three-point percentage this year all have a winning record if you looked on Friday morning March the 22nd uh at the bottom 10 teams

In the league there’s only one of them in the bottom 10 right now that has a winning record and three-point percentage and that’s the Orlando Magic uh making threes at a good clip is something that is a barometer of success on the floor can you have a small sample

Size like the Mavs are right now and exploit weaknesses in other teams and you know win your home games and Gafford and and Lively can go crazy inside and you can shoot over 50% from the floor as a team because you’re getting so many high percentage shots inside yeah you

Can absolutely do what the MS are doing right now but for Success at the highest level or higher levels uh as we get towards the end of the regular season and ultimately the playoffs that’s going to have to sort itself out and get better and it doesn’t have to be best in

The league uh you just need to be an average you know average to slightly above average three-point shooting team uh you know so they need to get back to that uh and Washington’s obviously one part of the equation there it’s funny how you describe that because before the

Season we looked at this team that was going to be able to knock down a bunch of Threes And for a while this team was knocking down a ton of Threes in fact you know top five in the NBA Luca dones only Stephen Curry has made more three-pointers than Luca donic this

Season in the league and now what we’ve seen you know with the additions of you know Daniel Gafford to PJ Washington a team that’s been dominating inside with points in the paint but also being a much better rebounding team and now the three-point shooting has kind of Gone

Away here recently it’s now about trying to find that balance down the stretch that allows him to be able to knock down shots a little bit more better from the outside but also not get away from the thing that’s really kind of giv them a little a little bit more of a different

Identity based on what they’ve been doing over these last 20 or so games here yeah balance is a good word for it and you know they’re still taking threes and they don’t have to take you know early in the year they were taking 40 threes a game and that number has gone

Way down and there isn’t necessarily a barometer between taking a lot of Threes And winning although Boston is number one but you can look at the bottom uh at the bottom of the standings in terms of three-point attempts per game and there’s a lot of good teams Denver New

Orleans Minnesota uh for example Phoenix you know however you feel about them I mean that team is you know right up there with the Mavs 11 games over 500 uh so there’s plenty of teams who are in the bottom six or seven of three-point attempts per game it isn’t about that

You necessarily have to take a lot I know that Boston’s making it work with their five out offense and taking 42 a game but there’s a lot of teams who aren’t taking a lot of Threes And still very very successful but when you do take them you got to hit them at a

Better percentage so that’s something to look for moving forward you know I always like to say Kevin and I thought this was really important to reinforce when the Mavs won seven in a row and then really had to lean into it when they lost five of six and I need to come

Back around to it here when they won seven out of eight things feel really good and we should celebrate and have fun and talk about all the great dunks last night and that’s all cool but you’re not as good or bad as your last game uh you know you just can’t analyze

A team over the course of an 82 Game season like that so there’s wonderful things happening right now but if you’re in it to win it the highest level and I remember Rick saying Rick Carlile saying this you always have to be striving to work in your weakness es to not accept

Mediocrity in portions of the game and if you’re in it to win it in the highest levels you’ll be doing those things to constantly be making yourselves better so great things are happening right now but it’s also okay to discuss hey there’s some things that they do need to

Clean up as we move forward here and get ready for the for hopefully what is going to be a fun spring around here yeah it quote uh doesn’t matter if you will how you start it’s about how you finish based off of what you’re trying

To do as this season goes on and for folks who watch this team you know the Mavericks fans the ml’s passionate fan base when it comes to this team and they look and dissect at a lot of different stuff when it comes to how this team

Operates on a night toight basis and one of the talking points that has been discussed recently you know defensively in terms of some of their closing lineups whether it be Maxi kba closing you know with small ball five lineups with PJ Washington out there and what

Has been taking place with him he went two of three against you know Utah in terms of knocking down you know a couple of Threes so hopefully he’s starting to break out a little bit but as you’ve watched this team up where are you in terms of how this team

Closes night in and night out from a defensive standpoint and is it the best way to go about it given some of the size that they do have with Gafford and Lively how they may be able to mix some of that in well of course it’s on a game

To game basis in that regard but what I want to see night in Night Out is Gafford and Lively playing 40 plus minutes and I’d have to look at the box score from last night’s game I I’ll have it committed to memory let’s see here I

Can I had had easy access to that so what did they have last night so G played 27 Lively played 15 so those two guys played when you add in the seconds they played almost 43 minutes so uh they keep they’re keeping up with what I

Wanted to see Kevin and I talked about this in my own podcast with Brian a couple of weeks ago uh and that is start Gafford and play Gafford in Lively 40 plus minutes a game as your five uh I do understand that there’s a place for a

Five out offense and playing a little bit smaller and so what I think that gives you late and in in late game defensive situations and late game closing situations is that that group of PJ and Maxi playing with Luca and Kyrie and whatever your fifth individual is

The numbers are really good on that right now uh very good net rating very good defensive rating a lot of success in terms of how that lineup has performed uh you can for example uh against San Antonio the other night you can mitigate a little bit of wiim yama’s devastatingly effective defensive

Presence in the paint when you play a center that he has to come out and guard uh you do at least uh he’s still so he’s such a crazy good Defender already and still can play you know so much free safety for lack of a better term and can

Roam and can play off people and help off people but uh you know that’s one of the things that you do at that point um you know look and they played ultra big by the way against Denver the other day they played what Gafford PJ and Maxi uh

And they needed that size by the way against joic and Gordon so that’s another thing to look at as well so I I think You’ got to look at it on a game- to game basis but um the closing lineup and playing kba in spot minutes with PJ

At the end of games has had quite a bit of success so far and you know the numbers indicate that that it’s a positive it’s an overall net positive when you pair those two guys with Luc and Kyrie and then you know whatever your fifth individual is going to be in

A closing lineup like that whether it’s exm whether it’s Jones whomever it is and you’re leading me perfectly to you know the next part of our disc discussion because I mean luuka and Kyrie we mentioned a little bit earlier and you heard the clip and saw the clip

With Kyrie you know talking about how comfortable you know he is here in Dallas and what has struck me is particularly with Kyrie since coming back from you know injury where he missed 12 games came back on New Year’s night ironically against Utah but really since then has played at an extremely

High level but the comfortability between him and Luca and what they do offensively together but more importantly for me Kyrie Irving as veteran leader guy at this point in his stage in his career it feels like embracing that role and understanding look obviously this is Luca’s team but

At the same time how to play off of him and what that means for leading other guys it’s been fascinating to watch over these last you know what two and a half months what he’s been able to do and how he’s put it together for this team you

Know I’m not surprised and this was an observation that I had about Kyrie before he ever set foot on the floor here with the Mavericks and that is if you watched and you watch interactions during or after games or before games for that matter there is no question

That uh along the lines of number one game recognizes game and number two is guys know what kind of person Kyrie is and you know as he said in that St and that sound bite that you played at the beginning of the podcast you know he stands for something and he stands on

Things that not necessarily everybody wants to stand on he is and this was very evident before he ever set foot in Dallas immensely respected in the NBA Community amongst players and coaches and so I’m not the least bit surprised that Kyrie at a couple of days away his

Birthday is uh his birthday’s tomorrow right is that his birthday tomorrow I have to check yeah I think March 2D is ky’s birthday so do I have that right now now I’ve got to look that up while we’re talking but here you check that out Kevin take it out yeah at this stage

Of his life and his career and what he’s been through I’m not the least bit surprised that Kyrie has taken on this role of Veteran leader Mentor for young guys and there’s so much there’s so many examples I see of that being around the team there’s examples that individuals

On the team talk about you know Kyrie loves I think being in that situation of helping people grow not only as basketball players but as people and he’s won at the highest level won a championship in Cleveland as we know obviously he still wants to be part of a

Winner at this stage of his career and sees a great opportunity to do so here with Luca so I think you have a situation where last year they tried to make it work it looked to me like two talented individuals doing the best that they could but now it’s gone beyond two

Talented individuals and now there’s a cohesion between Luca and Kyrie playing off each other an innate sense of it’s my time to go because you’re not feeling it it’s your time to go because you are feeling it and you’re on a heater right now there’s just uh I I love what I’ve

Seen from the Kyrie leadership angle the Kyrie Luca chemistry angle I mean everything that’s happening in that regard is is a great thing and and Luke is a guy who’s maturing too I mean he’s uh on the uh the upper side of 25 now after his birthday a few weeks ago

Himself and so uh yeah I look there’s a there’s a whole lot more I could say about it I I don’t want to like go on and on but if you if there’s any follow-ups you want to ask about it we can get into it but I think the yeah the

Kyrie leadership Kyrie chemistry with the team with the organization with the community it’s it’s a wonderful thing man yeah and he’ll be 32 on March 23rd you’re right yeah so Kyrie um maturing and continuing to grow as he gets a little bit older and his I mean he’s

He’s been in the league for so long it’s hard to believe that it’s what about 13 years that he’s been in the NBA but yet and still he’s hit some of the you know biggest shots in the history of this league obviously the one that he hit against you know the Golden State

Warriors but before I move on I do want to ask you though the shot that he hit against the Denver Nuggets the running 20 foot you know kemes Lefty sky hook if you will however you want to describe it I tell people I said one hell of a shot

That’s I mean yeah that’s a great way to put it that’s true I told people like The Audacity Of even taking that shot or even thinking of taking a shot like that is insane to me and even the fact that it went down that was the part that

Struck me most was like how in the world are you thinking of something like that in that moment and then obviously being able to take the make the shot when you’re a great offensive player and you have complete control and command and knowledge of your own game like I don’t

Think Kyrie is catching the inbounds pass and thinking I’m gonna have to go to a lefty hook shot it’s in the blink of an eye because his basketball IQ and his knowledge of his own game is it just such the highest level possible the comprehension that he has of his own

Game I think he just realizes in that situation okay I’ve got a switch I don’t have much time uh joic is guarding this pretty well because I think that one thing that hasn’t been talked about a whole lot is Nia joic guarded that damn thing pretty well man he got switched on

To him which is what they wanted but then he completely took away any thought of going right and so jic defends him in such a way where it’s like okay I can’t go back to my right hand so it’s gonna have to be the left and where I am on

The floor and the amount of time remaining this is the shot that I’ve got to take and I think all of that uh you know there’s audacity to it but I think all of that happens in the blink of an eye because you’re trying to get shot

Off before the the buzzer sounds before the time runs out and the whole thing happens in what 2.8 seconds I think was the time when they threw the ball in bounds and so it’s just it’s all in the blink of an eye and like I said I think

The reason that a guy like Kyrie Irving is able to do that is because as I said on the broadcast last night I saw him in a sweatshirt the other day that said mastering your craft is a journey and he is still on the journey I think he’d be

The first to say he’s still mastering his craft from the perspective of the rest of us mere mortals he seems to me like he’s mastered his craft and so you have that just incredible depth of knowledge about your own game and your own strengths and your own body and what

You can do in those 2.8 seconds then it’s I don’t you know I don’t know how much it is audacity or it’s just this is what I can do and this is what I’ve got to do and the time that I have to work with and and he’s able to make it happen

Yeah one of the best buzzer beaters you’ll ever see in the history of this league just incredible incredible man incredible and and a lot of great body control on that because yeah you know the the feet were awful awfully close to going out of bounds and I saw Shawn

Elliot in San Antonio on Tuesday and I tell Sean this you know sea and I are good friends and I tell him that you know I I have just so much respect for Shawn and you know what he’s gone through in his life and his NBA career

And things he stands for and he said uh and I’d always like to tell him anytime I see a player who has a situation where his feet his toes are inbounds but his heel is are getting close to hovering over the line you know I always always

Reference that because that’s one of the most amazing examples of a guy with his toes inbounds and his heels up off the ground and over the sideline and for people that don’t know what I’m talking about go check out the Memorial Day miracle when sea hit a game-winning

Three in game two of the Western Conference finals against Portland back in 1999 uh and and Kyrie was he wasn’t quite in Shawn Elliot territory but one of those feet got really close to the heel maybe almost hovering over the sideline but uh that’s just one more element of what amazing extraordinary

Buzzer beater that was the other day sad I didn’t get to call it but happy as hell man I got to watch it it was a bombass shot man every now and then you deserve a day off as hard as you work every now you deserve a day off just

Like uh like uh you know bombass hemp beat and uh bombass shot that’s what that was the other day yeah for sure last couple things before we get out of here today obviously as we wind down the stretch of the Season Luca dones has played at an MVP like Lev he’s going to

Be first team all NBA for an absurd fifth year in a row I’m I’m safe to say I think that’s going to happen um and at the same time folks are looking around like man maybe walk with me for a quick second if they don’t lose five of six I

Think we’re legitimately having him top two and maybe not two as far as the MVP of this league where are you in terms of not just the season that he’s had but the MVP credentials that he has that could maybe get him to that point the

Season because I I feel like I’m not going to lie to you I feel like Nicole Yas right now is the leader in the clubhouse for the league MVP once again but Luca has had just a phenomenal season for the Mavericks this year he’s he’s having one of the best individual

Seasons in NBA history and there are numbers to back that up um and and I wasn’t you know I don’t have all my numbers researched in in front of me right now but generally speaking in the play-by-play era since 1996 when you look at points scored and the points you

Create off off assist he’s going to set the the modern record for points created per game in a season um and the modern you know points rebounds and assists combined in a season he’s going to have more than Westbrook or at least probably is going to have more than what

Westbrook had in his first season averaging a triple double and winning the MVP back in 201617 with the thunder so just from a statistical standpoint Luca is having an extraordinary season poised to be the first Maverick to win the scoring title uh over 34 points a

Game we’ll see if he keeps that 34 point average it did take a little bit of a hit the other night and it’s down to 34.1 now but you know what’s the difference between two or three tents of whether it’s 338 or 341 or whatever um the president has been set and shown

That you can win an MVP when uh you are a high 40s win team and in the case of Westbrook with the Thunder and joic winning when he won his second MVP with the the Nuggets back in I guess it was 2021-22 they were a six seed um you know

The Mavs are at 41 wins right now Kevin they got 12 games to play 47 is is I mean at this point I think we’d say we’d be a little bit disappointed if they only win 47 games if you’re at 41 with 12 games to play so you’re going to have

A chance to be at 48 4950 uh I think what joic won 48 the Thunder won 47 and and the Nuggets won 48 those years that Westbrook and yic won the MVP so um you know I think that there’s precedent there for a player winning MVP having an extremely historic individual season and

That level of Team success going along it doesn’t have to be the best team in the league or one of the two or three best teams in the league um you know so I hope people see it that way before before it’s all said and done I I think

You know I do believe that we have to look at individual success but also have a good happy medium of taking into account what your individual performance means for winning and uh I believe that in the games that Luca has played this year I think that uh let’s see how many

Games looking at my not so 61 games I think they’re 38 and 23 I believe they’re 38 and 23 whenever Luca plays this year so those numbers give you a little bit more perspective on how much he influences winning and you take away you know the games he’s missed the games

That Kyrie has missed and I think it’s hard to have nuanced discussions in this world that we live in but I think that if you really take the time to look at the numbers and what the Mavericks have played like and how much they’ve won whenever Luca has played I think there’s

A really really strong argument for MVP and obviously Shay’s had a great year and joic is having a great year but to me when you look at the historic nature of the statistics and then Deep dive and really have a true understanding of how much of an impact he is having on WI

Winning and team success in the games he’s played and team success by the way in the games that Luca and Kyrie have played together I believe they’re 27 and 15 now and those particular situations so you know he’s he’s an MVP guy to me uh yeah you know what I’m worried about

Kevin is this and I mention this you know on one of my own podcasts recently as well um you know I used to vote and Broad team broadcasters used to have a vote in these Awards uh the league went away from that because they don’t like the fact that a

Team broadcaster might vote for his own guy because now Awards impact the percentage of the cap that you can make as a Max salary guy for contract extensions uh I do understand that I took my votes more seriously than that it wasn’t just going to vote for

Somebody to help them make more Bank uh even if they were somebody that were on the Mavericks or whatever whatever team and I think most of my fellow play-by-play guys take that way as well so it’s a little frustrating not to be involved in the process anymore because

One of the things I always did is you get these reminders when you vote you know you getting reminders a week ahead of time that you know your your your vote your ballots are due the day after the season at 3:00 Eastern time and I think you know there’s almost like this

Encouragement of hey don’t put it off until the last minute make sure you get your votes done and get them in on time and something doesn’t happen the last day and you all of a sudden can’t get your vote in however I do think it’s really important to wait and see how

These things play out I mean you’ve got you can’t like bake in your thoughts and your narratives too early on this stuff and here we are at 70 games and look at how much the narrative has changed with the Mavs yeah and the team performance and they bumped up another spot in the

Standings last night and they’ve got you know I mean by no means is six I mean they’re going to have to work their asses off to get sixth place but even fifth is maybe a long shot possibility we’ll see what happened to the Pelicans and the Brandon Ingram situation so

That’s that’s one of the things man I hope that that’s just not where we are and that is that everybody’s opinions are just baked in and not malleable at this point about where we are with Luca and the Mavs and I mean there’s still three important weeks left in the season

Um you know I think about that year joic won the MV or that Westbrook won the MVP he had some huge games down the stretch and that was supposedly swaying voters um I think about uh Joel embiid last year and I think he had 54 points in a

Final week of the season game against Boston that everybody thought okay man this is the thing that now now he’s over the line he’s got the MVP so I hope that everybody is realizing that hey man this this season is it’s not over there’s a lot more games to play and there’s still

A chance to to take in information and you know make the right decisions about votes based on that so I hope that uh those that vote are going to approach it that way but I’m out of that I’m out of that thing right now so I don’t know no

That’s tremendous perspective and like you said the nuance and looking at it with a little bit deeper dive just shows you just the impact that he’s had on this team when it comes to winning and for me that’s always been one of the biggest criteria how do you impact

Winning whether you’re on the floor and what’s the impact when you’re not on the floor based on what your team does from a team success standpoint and Luca’s case is a strong if not the strongest in the league based off of what his team has done with him and when he’s not been

On the floor and it’s funny I just tweeted out the Mavericks are Luca donic missed hamstring game away from being on an eight game run because I think they beat Oklahoma City if he’s on the floor the way that the Mavs competed that particular night so I mean that again

That’s just tremendous perspective on how this thing goes in do we air on the freak Kevin the podcast or is it just on audio or audio and video it’s not actually on the freak right right it’s just audio and video okay okay so I can say I take I took my seriously when

It came to I didn’t want to say that on the freak they have to dump it or something like that but no no you’re good to go you’re good to go no when it came to the voting thing I just you know maybe maybe I sound a little a little

Petty and a little bitter about it not being involved in it but I took my seriously with that regard and it was an honor to be part of it and I do think that you have to have the right mindset and approach not to say that my mindset

And approach is the only right way but I do think that there’s value in making sure you you know you don’t bake in your thoughts and your narratives too early on on how you feel about this or anything but I mean it’s not just it’s

Not just uh this award not just MVP but I’ve had discussions you know arguments with dearis and I feel like that he’s dismissing Chad holen too much as rookie of the year because of Chad’s impacts on winning with the Thunder and Victor’s got great numbers but I mean the Spurs

Are not even going to win 20 games probably and I do think we have to look at that a little bit but wm’s numbers have just continued to get so much better and better and his you know his defensive prowess already is so next level that it’s like hey I’ll admit I’m

Kind of changing my mind on that as we as we evolve here towards the end of the year so I think you know it’s just important to have an open mind about these things yeah he’s legitimately in the defensive player of the year discussion which I mean he’s he’s gonna

Be a problem for the next 15 years I’m trying not to think about it but wom be gonna be a problem for the next 15 years in this league based on what he’s doing last question for him proba let you go where is this team going 13 games left

In the regular season season High 12 games above 500 I should say 12 games yeah 41 to 29 game number 70 last night yeah that’s right so 12 games and a big stretch coming up five game Road Trip longest you know post All-Star break and two massive ones against Sacramento what

Does this team have to do to get in position to make sure that they secure their spot in the top six by the time it gets to The Season’s end oh man this is going to be a hard road trip dude this is a tough trip Utah is going to be a

Pain in the ass game to play two at Sacramento obviously going to be tough Sacramento man I don’t know what to make out of them they are so Jael and Hy they they run sabonis I mean sabonis has been fantastic for them he’s been a triple double machine for them this season

They’ve been yeah he’s great and their highs running Milwaukee off the floor blowing out beating the Lakers pretty handily last week uh they’ve had a lot of other really impressive wins uh Denver Phoenix Clippers they’ve had a lot of good wins in the second half of

The season and then they’ve also blown a 22-point lead at home to Chicago and lost to Detroit and lost to Washington I mean they are a weird team man I don’t so I don’t know what to make of that but I do know that it’s really hard to go

Into somebody else’s barn and beat him twice in a row uh if you just split next week the good news is they don’t gain any grounds Rel to you but of course the problem is one you don’t gain any ground relative to them either and then you

Lose the tiebreaker you would lose the season series three games to one but I’m trying to be realistic and so I’m kind of just hoping for a split next week uh obviously if you won both and gain two games and then put yourself in position to have the tiebreaker because their

Conference record they’d be tied on head-to-head and their conference record would be uh you know too close to call for the end of the season at this point you just have to let the other two weeks of the Season play out but I think um you know if you can get through there

With the split next week I think that would be good and and the Mavs have based on strength of schedule an easier run in to the end of the season than Sacramento does but then you’re counting on help from other people and what Sacramento team is going to show up from

Night to night so um the Houston game is going to be tough they’re on a seven game winning streak right now that might have snuck up on people but they’re almost back to 500 they’re 34 35 yeah um the Golden State game is going to be

Tough when they go out there and then you’re going to come home and have to play The Warriors again a few days later on the second night of a back toback you still have to go play at Miami before the year is over with you got to go play

At Oklahoma City on the last game of the year maybe they won’t need it maybe they’re going to be playing for the number one seed who knows man um I feel like 48 wins would get you to seventh I think 48 which bananas by the way that 48 wins would get you to

Seventh and you still be able to play in that’s crazy but the Mavericks won 49 in 20134 um and played San Antonio in the first round as the e seed and by the way played San Antonio better than anybody else did that year in the playoffs but

The MS were 49 win team that were the eighth seed and there have been years in the past in my time with the Mavs and watching the Western Conference where 50 wins got you the eighth seed in the west I mean that has happened on a couple of

Occasions it’s crazy but that has happened so um you know I I think look the schedule analysis is for me to do the guys on the floor have to go out and you know obvious man analysis here they’re not worrying about all those other games and all the scoreboard

Watching go out and and continue to play your best game and get better in the areas you need to get better and continue to show this ability to win games different ways and hopefully it will all sort itself out um but this is a really tough road trip and some of the

Home games afterwards are difficult and hopefully if this thing reaches 48 49 wins at the end of the year at a minimum they would be uh in the most advantageous playing spot but hopefully you know 48 49 is six and if you get to 49 or 50 maybe five is in the equation

Uh depends on the games you win of course because division tie division records the tiebreaker for the Pelicans and Mavs because they split two two and that’s still up in the air with the Mavericks having two games to play against the Houston Rockets so those games take on you know added importance

Because of that um you know so it’s a lot to be sorted out man a a lot still hanging in the balance and that makes every game important which is why everybody needs to either listen to you and Coupe on the freak or if you’re in

Front of the TV watch me and harp and Devin and skin and Dana and Leslie and the whole gang on and Brian on uh on either on Valley Sports Southwest or on WFAA channeling well like any Brian Danielson match this was an absolute Banger absolutely fantastic stuff Mark tell the

Folks where they can find you what you got going on man uh well number one thanks for the comparison to the American Dragon much love in that regard uh people watching see my my uh my Blackpool combat Club sweatshirt on today mollow on the Twitter uh follow.

Mark mark. followell I’m sorry is my Instagram uh so that’s my that’s my road food running pictures and social life pictures and things like that so uh no man we we’re just we’re looking forward to getting to do I think we have 10 of the last 12 games on on our broadcast uh

Of those 10 four on Valle six on WFA and the Statewide Dallas Mavericks broadcast network and we’ll do the first round of the playoffs and uh then of course there’s no more local broadcast and that’s what I encourage everyone to definitely listen to you and Coupe on

The Mavs radio broadcast so I’m I’m trying to manifest the Mavs getting out of the first round and on to the second round well I appreciate you putting your boy over and uh it’s been a tremendous you know ride so far this year and hopefully there’s more to come as the

Rest of the uh of the season goes on so I appre that in there put your boy over so that’s yeah that’s right people know what we’re talking about that’s right that’s right they’ll pick it up they’ll pick it up for sure mark thank you so much for the time man I really

Appreciate it yeah you got it kg take care that’ll do it for this episode of inside the masss again thank you to Mark followell television play byplay voice for your Dallas man for joining me on this episode today make sure you download And subscribe to inside the

Mask wherever you get your podcast for free give it a festar rating and write a review for it while you’re there you can like and comment on the video and subscribe to Kevin Grace Sports on YouTube I’ll be back on Monday recapping uh a week of Mavericks news if there is

Any and of course the Mavericks get ready to take on the Utah Jazz on Monday until then I’ll talk to you later peace

#dallasmavericks #lukadoncic #kyrieirving #jasonkidd

On this episode of ‘Inside The Mavs’ I am joined by the television voice of the Dallas Mavericks for Bally Sports Southwest & WFAA, the great Mark Followill! We have an amazing discussion on the current state of the Mavericks after their 7th win in the last 8 games and where they fall in the hierarchy of the current landscape of the Western Conference. We discuss the new found identity of the Mavericks and if it sustainable as they work through their shooting struggles from the three-point line. Plus we dive into the last 21 games as the Mavericks have climbed to 6th in the West and what their ceiling can be this season. We also take a look at the Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic dynamic partnership and what has made it so devastating. Finally we get into Luka Doncic’s MVP chances as Followill provides a compelling case for Luka to be the league’s MVP and so much more!

Follow Mark on Twitter @MFollowill and catch him on Mavericks television as the play-by-play voice of the team!

Be sure to like and comment on the video and subscribe to my channel here @KevinGraySports and follow me on Twitter @KevinGraySports

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