Is Klay Thompson The Mavericks’ Missing Piece?

Is Klay Thompson The Mavericks’ Missing Piece?

man this just does not look right after a legendary 13-year stint Klay Thompson’s time in Golden state has officially come to an end and he has chosen the Dallas Mavericks as his next team seemingly with the idea of giving himself the best available chance to compete for another championship before his time is up which makes sense considering that this Mavericks team was just in the NBA finals and in that series it was pretty clear that their lack of consistent offensive Firepower around Kyrie Irving and Luca donic was one of the main factors that led to them losing the series in five games and so they came into the off season with that in mind and their first move would be acquiring Klay Thompson in a signning trade they would also make additional moves such as signing Naji Marshall which was a great signing especially considering the fact that they just lost Derrick Jones Jr and also signing Quinton Grimes two players that were undoubtedly signed with defense in mind and with all that it’s looking like they are going to be one of the biggest threats in the Western Conference once again this season but are these signings going to be enough they very well could be Klay Thompson comes into Dallas having had one of his worst seasons in the NBA so far a season in which he averaged just 18 points his lowest average since his sophomore year and a season where he got benched for a stretch of games about halfway through the season and it was clear that the season had a noticeable impact on his mental health as mentioned by Stephen Curry when talking about their run as teammates coming to an end quote it’s not something that I ever imagin would be a reality but we just want him to be happy and Draymond Green saying this on his podcast like I know how much he loved the game of basketball I don’t think there’s something that he loves the game like that he loves more than like playing basketball and I didn’t see that last year and it’s crazy because I told yall about my year before that like that was me the year before but like I said I do know the joy that basketball brings him in like it brought sadness it brought unhappiness last year for him again if you ever care about someone’s well-be go through the struggle with somebody and you only care yeah your number one goal for that person is to see them happy and enjoying what they do because you care about their well-being then like a part of me wanted Clay to leave and not wanting him to leave in the sense of like want him to leave but want him to leave because you own only want to see him be the guy that you know he is and so he’s clearly looking for a new start and he still does come with some negatives but even with all the potential downside that he comes with the main thing that he’s known for is going to be the key for Dallas last season clay was one of five players in the NBA to attempt nine threes a game and he did so while shooting 38.7% on those attempts which put him second in percentage among that group only behind who else and while he can’t can be a streaky shooter at times the Mavericks will be able to rely on him a lot more than someone like PJ Washington who could have a playoff series shooting 47% from three on eight attempts a game before shooting 25% from three the very next series Once Again OKC Thunder fans I am so sorry that this happened to you and so we all know that clay can be an inconsistent shooter at times but he’s definitely more consistent than that and so I imagine that the Mavericks are going to going to be running a lot more off ball plays for clay rather than just having him Corner sit for a lot of his attempts and that’s where he’s going to be the most dangerous especially within this Maverick’s offense clay last season shot 38% on catch and shoot threes and 39% on contested threes he struggled from the right wing last year shooting just 35% but shot well above League average from the left wing the top of the three-point line and the right corner so I imagine that having this type of shooting threat will not only help the Maverick spacing but will also open up more easy shots for everyone else as it’s pretty much expected that Clay’s presence will reduce the amount of plays where the Mavericks are relying on three-point shot making that’s because contrary to idiots belief he still attracts a lot of attention off ball we saw this a lot last season and in fact he was pretty much the only player other than Steph on Golden State’s entire roster that shifted defenses like this and so with the playmaking ability of Luca and just the defensive attention that him and Kyrie already draw as it is especially when they have the ball in their hands it’s going to be tough for a lot of teams in the NBA to deal with this because now you have guys like Daniel gaffard and Derek Lively rolling to the rim on plays like these I imagine that those guys have this in mind and are focusing a little bit more on playmaking out of these short roll situations during the off season as that’s something that they were visibly struggling with in the playoffs and so that would transform their offense as well but that’s a wh if overall adding clay to this team is going to completely change their offense for the better and I cannot wait to use this Trio in 2K oh explosive crossover how’s that for a move but there are two SIDS of basketball and while a trio of Luca donic Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson is lethal on offense on defense W that is not ideal to say the least especially with how clay looked defensively last year man Luca did have some flashes during the playoffs and it is possible that he could put more energy into it this season now that his scoring responsibility could very well be reduced but that’s not something that I would necessarily count on and so the team knew that they had to go out and get some defensive pieces enter Naji Marshall and Quinton Grimes two players that a lot more people are going to find out about as the season goes on but terms of Naji specifically he’s probably going to end up being their main point of attack Defender throughout the last couple Seasons he’s consistently shown his ability in that role even against some of the best offensive players in the league players last season shot 43% on field goal attempts defended by Naji Marshall which was the best among the Pelicans main rotation and top 10 in the entire NBA among players that played over half the season putting him in the vicinity of players like Draymond Green Jon and Isaac ogan anobi and nille Alexander Walker so needless to say this is a very good pickup and really the only question that I would have is whether or not they’re actually going to start him over Klay Thompson the way I see it Dallas has four guaranteed starters right now in Luca donic Kyrie Irving probably Derek Lively and PJ Washington I’d imagine that they would want to go with defense over clay shot making because it is worth noting that Nai is still a really good offensive player on top of of being a great defender and so I feel like they’re going to lean more towards him but I also Imagine they’re going to experiment with that decision as Nai hasn’t really started a lot of games in his career yet and also even in the situation where clay doesn’t start he’s likely going to be playing close to starter minutes anyway and so it really wouldn’t even be that big of a deal I don’t feel like it would probably just be a matter of lineups but we’ll see but the other piece is for sure on the bench but is still going to provide a lot of value that piece being Quinton Grimes coming in from the New York Knicks I mean the Detroit Pistons my bad I get those mixed up sometimes I’m looking at Grimes he’s looked good he’s also a player that’s going to provide defense as well as shooting and the shooting aspect is going to be particularly interesting considering that he is now on a team with not only Klay Thompson but Kyrie Irving who’s been pretty quietly one of the best volume three-point shooters in the NBA over the last few seasons and so that’s going to be interesting to see what he picks up there he’s probably going to be one of the main Defenders Off the Bench and man the duo of him and one of either Derek Lively or Daniel Gafford together going up against bench units man I think that’s going to be really good for them but even then just the lineups that they could potentially run because no NBA game as ever just five bench players versus five bench players so I imagine at some point we’re going to see lineups featuring all three of these guys in Klay Thompson Quinton Grimes and Naji Marshall I imagine there may be a lineup with Kyrie or Luca at the one Quinton Grimes at the two Klay Thompson at the three Nai at the four and either Daniel Gafford or Derek Lively at the five I feel like that would be a pretty good lineup to throw out there you still keep all of the defense that you acquired in the off season Naji Marshall is a little bit bigger so he can probably be able to guard a lot of the fours that are out there at least in 2024 NBA Quinton Grimes could take the POA assignments in that lineup and of course you just have shooting from one through four Luca donic last season was 38% from three on 9 and 1 12 attempts last season Kyrie Irving was 41% from three on seven attempts Quinton Grimes his shooting kind of fell off after being traded to the Detroit Pistons but that is a very small sample size of only six games before being injured for the remainder of the Season Klay Thompson as we said before was 39% on nine attempts a game and Naji Marshall was 39% on two attempts a game playing about 20 minutes for the Pelicans last season and so I feel like that is going to be one of the lineups that they throw out there at points throughout the season of course I am not Jason kid but it is going to be interesting to see what that lineup actually does cuz I feel like that is a pretty balanced lineup given what they have one through five but that’s enough of that I feel like I’m rambling right now in terms of what their expectations as a team are they won 51 games last season which put them at the fifth seed the Clippers got worse in the off season after losing Paul George OKC got way better and they’re likely going to be the one seed again inota probably going to be around the same win total the nuggets are going to be worse after losing kcp and so I can definitely see Dallas competing with teams like the Timberwolves and potentially the Grizzlies for some of those top spots in the west overall man the Mavericks are coming off of a finals appearance and they are coming into the next season with a better roster Luca’s probably going to get even better in some way how I don’t know but he’s 25 so it’s inevitable Derek Lively is going to be huge in his second season as he already looked like a vet halfway through his first year and we’ve already discussed the new additions and everything that they could be adding to the team and so I don’t really see a lot of weaknesses with this team but then again it is still July teams could always make moves but as of right now they definitely look like one of the teams to beat in the Western Conference once again and also once again best of luck to Klay Thompson in his new situation and thank you for everything that you’ve done for my team over the last decade but with all that being said I hope you guys enjoyed this video subscribe if you’re new hit the Bell to be notified when I upload comment down below what you want to see next and as always I’ll see you guys in the next one

Today we’re going to be talking about the Dallas Mavericks offseason, which included acquiring Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, and Quentin Grimes. More specifically, what these moves could mean for the team in the 2024-25 NBA season. If you guys enjoyed this video, be sure to hit the like button and slap the sub button with your nose (also the bell).

Klay Thompson Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zkamb8Xkoc

Warriors Redemption Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ6IYfW8DX0

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