What Can The Dallas Mavericks Do With This Roster? | DLLS Mavs Podcast

What Can The Dallas Mavericks Do With This Roster? | DLLS Mavs Podcast

Coming up on today’s episode of the DLSS Maz podcast, we jump in to the Maz multiverse. What would the Mavericks look like if they rebuild or compete right now? Plus, Tim Leggler will join us on the show today. All that more coming up next on the DLS Mavs podcast. Hey, what’s up DLSS Mavs Nation? It’s your man Kevin Gray alongside Mavericks beat writer Tim Ko, Mavericks analyst Bobby Krella. We of course are DLLS MAS. Appreciate you joining us here on this wonderful Wednesday episode of DLLS Maz. We jump into the MAZ multiverse today. What could the Mavericks look like if they compete now or if they decide to rebuild around presumptive number one overall pick Cooper Flag? Plus, we’ll be joined next segment by NBA AllNBA podcast host along with Adam Mahrez, Tim Leggler, the GOAT. He’ll be joining us here in our next segment on this Wednesday. Gentlemen, KO, what’s going on? Uh, nothing much. How are you guys back in the studio? Doing well. Tomorrow is my daughter’s last day of school. So, it’s almost officially summertime for the kiddos. So, Oh, nice. Getting ready for uh summer planning and vacationing, that type of thing. Summer camp and all that good stuff. You guys will get there one day when it comes to uh future kids that I don’t think I will, but maybe. We’ll see. What about you? How are you feeling? You good? Uh I’m not very far along in my family planning journey, but I am doing pretty well. Well, maybe you could move a step closer uh this year. Maybe. Who knows? We’ll see. What does that mean? No, I don’t know. You said you’re Was roasting me the other night. He was like, “Bobby, why are you here? Why aren’t you uh at home with your wife or something?” And I’m like, “Well, Leds, I’m not married.” And he’s like, “Well, why aren’t you at the bar?” I’m like, “Well, L, should I go alone?” And then after the postgame, I’m sticking around for their postgame show after the Stars clinched to go to the Western Conference Finals. And uh Led is like, I was leaving. Led’s like, “Bobby, where are you going? You got nothing going on. Like, what are you going home to?” And I’m like, “Damn, man. I’m not even clocking your social life. You’re telling me that I don’t have kids? is like, “All right, I get it. I get it. I get it.” All right. I just don’t get why having a kid would stop you from going to the bar. Kids love bars. Take my kid to the bar. There you go. Exactly. You’re on to something. Uh, by the way, shout out to the Stars tonight. Game one at the American Airlines Center as the Stars take on the Edmonton Oilers looking to advance to the Stanley Cup final. Of course, the Stars back in the Western Conference Final. So, go Stars. Check out the best stars podcast in the game. are DLS stars. Cruz Bobby Mench Owen Newkerk Quick Luckwick Sean Shapiarel and Sam Nestle. They’re going to have you covered all night tonight. Game one for the Edmonton Oilers taking on your Dallas Stars for the right to go to the Stanley Cup final in the best of seven series. Speaking of best of seven series, the Western Conference finals began last night. Eastern Conference finals begin tonight. Last night though, Shay Gildis Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder take out the Minnesota Timberwolves 114- 88. The Thunder outscoring the Wolves 32 to 18 in a decisive third quarter uh where the Oklahoma City Thunder were able to handle business in game number one. and gentlemen, as we watched the game last night, your thoughts on what we saw last night as the Timberwolves uh go down 01 to begin the NBA or excuse me, Western Conference Finals, much like they did last year uh against the Dallas Mavericks in the West Finals. SGA’s taking American free throws. It should be Americans taking those free throws. Wow. Absolutely unbelievable. It was um Look, I I think the Thunder obviously are the better team. I think Minnesota’s going to adjust to this. I’m not ruling them out based off uh that game. Obviously, you can take out every single SGA free throw and it’s still like a 25 point blowout. So, uh Minnesota is going to have to figure out some offensive stuff. I think they I think they can figure out more offensive stuff. Um I don’t know. Do you have any big takeaways from that game? I mean, the big conversation obviously is the free throw stuff. Um, I’ve gone on record multiple times throughout my, uh, very mediocre career how I feel about Shay and generally Lou Dort, uh, kind of their whole thing. Um, I think that’s a great team and I think it’s an extremely annoying team to watch at times. Um, Shay is one of the most talented players I’ve ever seen in my life and he’s also sometimes unbearable to watch. Lou Dort is a great defender and I cannot stand watching him play basketball sometimes. I mean, We’re Mavs people here. It’s all right to be haters. I’m a hater. I I hope that they lose. I don’t want to see them win. Um, it is just how I feel. I recognize they’re great. OKC fans, I know that you got a lot going on and your team is awesome and you love them very much. Please just leave me and my non-existent family alone. Uh, this is just my opinion. I don’t like watching your team succeed and I I wish the Wolves all of the health and success in the world. I think the way to draw free throws in the NBA, the the the number one thing that you have to do is is you have to be very hard to guard off the dribble. And I think that is a majority, a high percentage of of why Shay gets a lot of free throws is because he’s very hard to guard off the dribble. But yeah, when he gets an advantage and uses it just to run into the defender who he has a step on. Yes. But you are now using the defender as something, you know, other than an attempt to score and you’re not playing the game. Yeah. It’s not that’s it’s a very frustrating thing to to do. There have been players in Dallas who have done that as well. Um dude, Luka used to do that. Now, I think Luca did like sometimes Luca would go out of his way to try and draw a foul, but for the most part he was getting fouled because he’s not fast enough to just burn someone, whereas Shay is like snaking his way through guys. He is avoiding all of that contact until the moment of truth when he’s not, you know. Um, there have been other guys that would try and do it, but like I think, you know, one of Let’s let’s put on our Mavs capes here. Kyrie does not ever do that. You know, he plays through the contact and he gets a horrible whistle. he gets the whistle of a backup. Um, I mean the the obviously the slow motion one of no one touching him and then he just falls down. There’s the still frame where he’s screaming like the that painting and uh you know no one is touching him and everyone’s like what is going on, you know, like I just I don’t want to see that stuff. That’s bad for everyone. That’s bad for my spirit. It doesn’t sit right with my soul. And then at the other end of the floor, Caruso is basically like pulling down Nicole Yokic’s pants uh for a 100 possessions a game and he’s not getting a single whistle. So, it’s just kind of it’s just really annoying. That’s all. There’s something a little bit more frustrating to me. And and both of both of them I think it’s very frustrating the the the very cynical pump fake and then just jump into the guy. I I think that’s frustrating. I don’t enjoy watching that. But there’s something even more cynical about having an advantage, creating an advantage and then using that advantage not to try to score, but just to create contact, just to just to run into the guy. I I thought the one, you know, the and one layup that he that Shay kind of throws up that that one was really frustrating because it’s like, dude, you have a step there. You have the chance to make a layup here. You have a chance to score. And the reaction from Shay was to, you know, just it wasn’t, you know, he had a half stub, but he just went right into I think that was McDaniels. It’s just this is lame. That’s what it is. It’s lame. You’re very good. He’s a very good player. He’s a great player. He’s one of the best scorers in the league. He’s one of the best players of the last five or so years, however long he’s been doing his thing in OKC. Um, could be named MVP tonight. Yeah. And rightfully so. He’s an awesome player. Uh, he’s also It’s very lame. That kind of stuff is very lame. I I don’t know that I could ever do that and take myself seriously if that’s the choice that I made. Just cop out and be lame like that. Um, and if you want to love the guy, love him. But, uh, you know, you can also admit it’s lame. Just don’t be lame. Be cool. Don’t be lame. And as 214s cited in the comments says, absolutely part of this is that it’s incentivized by the officials, by the refs, by the way the NBA is refereed. So I do think that is is worth noting that that is where a lot of this conversation starts but at some point you know as you said there’s an example Kyrie of a player who probably should do it more because it because you are incentivized to do it to some level playing this this sport but he chooses not to. You shouldn’t be trying to dupe three old guys. That’s basically what this comes down. You’re trying to trick three old guys with bad vision and bad hearing. You’re screaming, “Hey,” and doing that over and over again, trying to deceive them into making a mistake. Yeah. Like, you’re not playing against the five guys in the same color jersey. You’re playing against the three guys in the same color jersey. And that is unbearable. No one wants to watch that ever. No one. And yes, I was watching the ‘ 06 finals, so I am disturbed by this. And it brings back very bad memories. But you triggered a little bit for asking. Yeah, I triggered a little bit. Uh, by the way, SGA uh had 31 points uh just on 10 of 27 from the field. He went 11 of 14 from the free throw line in the in the 38 minutes uh that he played. On the other side, Julius Randle was great for Minnesota. He had 28. Anthony Edwards not great last night. Just five of 13 from the field. Terrible in the fourth quarter uh as he finished with 18 points in 37 minutes last night. It was this third quarter though that really turned things for the uh Oklahoma City Thunder, outscoring them 32 to 18 uh in that third period. and they were able to maintain that lead for the rest uh of the game. Chad Homegrrim was much better in the second half uh for Oklahoma City as well as they take a one game to none lead in their best of seven series. Game two will be on Friday. And Jayen Williams came alive too, excuse me, Thursday, I’m sorry. His like whenever he plays well, they’re unbeatable. Whenever he plays poor like he played poorly for much of the series against the Mavs last year and he had some stinkers against the Nuggets, too, but whenever he’s on his game, like that you’re not beating them, especially in that building. Yeah. Game one tonight in the Eastern Conference Finals will get underway. The New York Knicks taking on the Indiana Pacers in an old school throwback 90s Eastern Conference Finals. The two leading men in that series. Tyresese Hallebertton for the Indiana Pacers taking on Jaylen Brunson and the New York Knicks. The Knicks of course having won their last NBA championship back in 1973. The Indiana Pacers have never won an NBA championship. What are you guys looking forward to uh as game one of the Eastern Conference Finals begins tonight in Madison Square Garden? Uh oh man, I mean defensive matchups is is a is a big question I think both ways. uh Nimh hard on on Brunson is something that hasn’t gone well in the past. But then you start looking at how Indiana would, you know, move their move their matchups around and all of a sudden it’s something like Tyrese Hallebertton, you know, maybe maybe you’re going to have to guard an OG or a male. uh you know, if you move the matchups around like that because you’re just running out of players to guard every single body, you know, everybody on on the uh on the on the Knicks roster because, you know, especially when Mitchell Robinson is out there, you know, Seakum is ideally the player you want on Cat. You always want to play your, you know, mobile fours on someone like Cat, a stretch big. Uh, and and that just, you know, at that point when you start doing the trickle down math, if if Nimhard isn’t somebody who can uh take Brunson from the jump, I I think that’s interesting. But I don’t know. I guess I’m I guess I’m looking for uh looking for, you know, just how how the Knicks look, you know, how New York responds to this moment. Uh, but looking forward to that series for sure. Yeah, Nemhar and McConnell are both too small to guard Brunson. N Smith is like definitely the right kind of size, but he feel like he’s probably going to get in a lot of foul trouble if he’s on uh Brunson because he plays pretty physically. Mathan and Shepard I don’t think are up to the task. Maybe you know Rick is the coach for the 21 Mavs whenever Brunson got played out of that series due to length. Like you think Rick is cool just switching Seakam on to Brunson and saying just let make him step back. Don’t let him go forward. like that might be maybe possibly something like I’m okay with losing to uh Anunni and Male Bridges post up mid-range operating against like Hallebertton and Nimhard like cool do that score two points at a time eight times a game um I’m I’m curious to see if that happens interested to see how Kanthony Towns uh responds in this series wasn’t necessarily great at times in the Boston series but they did he was doing what they were asking him to do and I’m interested to see that match up between him uh and Miles Turner that should be a lot of fun. Of course, a lot of Mavericks through lines in that series, particularly Rick Carino and the Pacers back in the conference finals for the second time in as many years. And of course, Jaylen Brunson turning into superstar status with New York City trying to help the Knicks get back to the NBA finals. First time they are in the conference finals uh in 25 years for the New York Knicks. So, Obby Toppin revenge. Obby the Obi Toppin revenge game. Uh story line. Exactly. So, a lot of interesting storylines when it comes to the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks. That series will tip off tonight at 700 p.m. uh in Madison Square Garden. So, looking forward to seeing what happens between both the Knicks and the Indiana Pacers again. Timberwolves down one game to none to the Oklahoma City Thunder in their best of seven series. Uh when we come back here on the DLLS Mavs podcast, we will be joined by all NBA podcast host and ESPN in studio and game analyst Tim Leggler is going to be joining us right here coming up next on the DLS mass podcast. But first, help you win some money when it comes to Sleeper, the best fantasy platform out there. helps you put your ball now is to the test by picking whether your favorite or least favorite players will have more or less than their projected stats each week. Stars play game one tonight at home against the Edmonton Oilers. I’m going to take Miko Rant in to have a goal and a half tonight. I guess it’ll be more than a goal against the Edmonton Oilers as we got the match up between him and Conor McDavid. Looking forward to that matchup. If you want to make sure you combine your picks, the more picks you combine, the more you can win with Sleeper all the way up to 100 times your money. Sleeper keeps you in loop with instant alerts and breaking news for major injuries and you can stay ahead of the game and be ready to in be informed and outsmart your friends when it comes to sleeper. If you think you have what it takes, new users can download the sleeper app and use code DLS maps to get $55 in free entries when you place a $5 contest. You can apply it to any contest. It doesn’t have to be your first. Terms and conditions apply. See sleeper terms used for details. Currently operational in over 25 states. So make sure you check out sleeper today. Folks, it’s sunny outside and that can only mean one thing. You need some sunglasses. Sunglasses make you look good. They make you feel good. And when you look good and feel good, you play good. I was actually horrified the other day because I thought that I had lost my trusty pair of Shady Rays. These things have been with me through thick and thin. Luckily, they had just slipped between uh my car seat and the console and on my passenger side. Very tough location to find. But had I lost them, no sweat, because they have the best, most insane eyewear protection. Every single pair that you buy is backed by lost and stolen uh replacements or lost and broken. If you don’t love them, you can also return them within 30 days, but I promise you will. I love these bad boys. Take them with me everywhere I go. Sometimes even underneath my uh passenger seat in my car. Exclusively for our listener, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to shadyrays.com and use code DLSS for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated five stars by over 300,000 people including me. Let’s welcome in our guest here on the DLS Mavs podcast. He is a former threepoint contest shootout winner. Led the NBA in three-point percentage back in the 9596 season, shooting 52.2% from the three-point line. and he’s our teammate here at the All City Network. You can catch him not only covering games on ESPN, but also in studio as well. He is, of course, former Dallas Maverick Tim Leggler. Tim, what’s going on? What’s up, gentlemen? How’s it going, man? You guys got to be feeling pretty good about what happened with that lottery, huh? We are feeling pretty good about it. We’re gonna get into Best week of our lives, Tim. That’s right. As as it should be. That’s justified description. Okay, so let’s get into it since we’re there already. When it comes to Cooper Flag, if you could describe the Mavericks season in one word throughout all of the changes, the trade, the injuries, and then culminating with them winning the number one overall pick. Uh, what would that word be to describe the Maverick season? Oh, man. I guess it would be u rejuvenation, right? Because they were everything that happened, man, with with it when that trade went down and what a gut punch it was to the fan base, to the city. Um, and then you know, you you think, well, at least let’s take a look at some point at what Anthony Davis looks like with Kyrie. And you know, we we can maybe get over it if we start winning with those two guys and Anthony Davis gets hurt immediately. Time he comes back, Kyrie is done for the year and a good majority of next year most likely. That never came to fruition. We don’t know. So, the trade itself I I you know, everybody pretty much knows how I felt about the trade at the time. I haven’t really changed my opinion despite what happened with the Lakers. Um I I you know I think though if you’re being fair, you can’t judge a trade until you’re a few years removed from it. That’s the only fair way to do it because I think teams involved in trades look at much more than just this. Unless you’re getting a guy that’s like expiring contract that’s a star and you’re trying to win a title like that year and then the guy leaves. Yeah, then you could judge it immediately. But that’s not what this was. This is more about what it’s going to be in the future. You can’t judge it. We never got a chance to see what it looks like for Dallas. Uh small sample size for the Lakers. I don’t think that was really necessarily that telling. So, it comes down to this the lottery and shocking the world by getting the number one pick in a draft. It that is as clear-cut number one pick as any you’re going to find. and they have a a generational talent coming in if they keep the pick and and draft Cooper Flag, which I would be to me insane not to. Um, I could go on for, you know, a entire hourong show about Cooper Flag and how long I’ve been watching him and what it is he’s going to bring. He’s a can’t miss star and he’s going to be immediately a guy that helps like from day one, he will be on the court and he will be helping the Dallas Mavericks win. Yeah. And it’s it’s the you know it’s the best thing that could have happened to the Dallas franchise. Obviously no way to plan it, no way to to have any idea that this is how it was going to go down. But what we’ve been debating on the show for two weeks now, 3 weeks now, how however long ago it was, is just how do you go forward? Uh what is what is the right way? What is the right path? What does the roster look like? Uh, you know, Anthony Davis was not traded for thinking that Dallas had Cooper Flag, who I who I think, you know, can play three, can play two, kind of can play five, can play four, though, like like if you look at the modern NBA, most players like Cooper Flag usually play the four. Uh, and Anthony Davis, who has always been best throughout his career at the five, is somebody who also wants to play the four. They’re both kind of these these really highlevel uh helpside defenders, roaming defenders, uh you know, who want those roles. They want to be helping off. They want to be, you know, the the base of the defense, not the not the top of the defense. Um so, so you know, just initial reactions with PJ Washington, Cooper Flag, uh Anthony Davis, Derek Lively, and Daniel Gaffer. That’s a big big front court. Might be too many names. What’s what’s your gut uh you know first reaction of how if you were in charge of this team you would go around building for the future? Well, I look at it like this. If you’re if you’re first of all completely married to the idea that Anthony Davis for whatever reason does not want to play five, like it matters to him to have a more traditional center on the court with him so he can be, you know, called a four. Like that matters that much to him and it’s been made a big deal about that throughout his career. If that’s the case and you believe you need to to make sure that that happens. So let’s just assume you’re gonna have to have a five on the court with him. Not the entire game. I think he’s comfortable playing x amount of minutes per half at the five. But at the start of each game, it s and and probably the majority of his minutes he wants a five next to him. If that’s the case and you’re going to proceed with that mentality, then Cooper flag needs to be your starting three. And I, you know, whether that’s from day one or not remains to be seen, I guess, once he gets into camp and how comfortable he gets and how quickly. Um, I personally think day one you could drop him down on an NBA floor and he’s going to be a very productive player because of his motor, his defensive prowess, his versatility defensively, his passing, um, and just athleticism. Like he can hang now. And so if you got him at the three and AD at the four, Gaffer Lively at the five, that is elite level front line defense. Now offensively, Cooper Flag, you’d love the three to be more alongside Anthony Davis and a rim running center. You would love to have a three that can be comfortable out to 24 feet going on catch and shoots and also get his own shot out to 24 feet off the dribble. right now he’s got, I think, some mechanical issues that he’s got to iron out to get to that level. He can make three-point college shots and he did enough. That wasn’t really his strength and I don’t think the percentage was nearly good enough um for how good I think it can be, but he it’s not going to fix itself. I think he needs to work on some of his mechanics with his release. His handle is good enough, his athleticism is good enough to get that shot. Um, and you’re going to need that guy in that spot to be able to make threes if you got AD and a big on the court with him. It’s that simple. So, I think he’s your start. He’s a starting player for you. That means that he’s going to have to real work really hard this summer to improve his long-term efficiency because I don’t think it’s going to be there right away and that could create some offensive spacing problems for the Mavericks. legs. We’ve been told many, many, many countless times by Nico Harrison that defense wins championships. Now, Cooper Flag is only 18. He’s got a very, very, very long career ahead of him. But we’re all of the opinion right now that you can drop him onto a court and he can defend at least three positions, if not four, if not all five. Long-term, what kind of upside does he have as a defender? Is this like an alldefense kind of guy? Is this like a defensive player of the year kind of guy? or are we getting carried away by even thinking about that at this point? No, no, I don’t think you are at all. And I think I think let’s start with I think you know I think you got to see a little bit of a sample size to start talking defensive player a year down the road. You know, like I’ve looked at Amen Thompson enough to know now after two years. He’s he’s that’s what his future looks like. He’s going to be a perennial all league defender and he’s going to eventually be a defensive player of the year. You got to wait and see it at the NBA level. I think right off the bat, not maybe not his rookie year, but starting like year two, I think he can be in that same category Thompson in terms of a guy that’s potentially an all league defender. Like pretty quickly he’ll get there. Defensive player of the year. That’s another tier, another level to get to down the road. But I think clearly that’s the vein with which I see him. And the reason is because number one, he’s got about as much want to for a wing that’s a high-profile wing as anybody I’ve seen coming into the league as far as want to defender. He loves it. And if that’s the first thing that stood out to me when I started hearing about him in the AAOU circuit, he started to become like mythical, like the Cooper flag name. I start hearing, you know, I’m really tied into guys in that community. So, I would hear the name at a young age. And I saw him at 15 and I was like, I could take this guy tomorrow, put him on the court as as a starter in a power five conference in college and the dude is going to hold his own at 15 because of how hard he plays, how much he wants it, the edge he’s got. He’s tough. He doesn’t back down from anybody. And then the skill was there, the the bounce, the athleticism, you know, running the floor, handling it. His passing is very underrated. I think people started to appreciate it more as his as the their tournament run went on at Duke. The guy’s a hell of a playmaker. Uh the shooting is probably of all the things right now, it’s probably the weak point of his game. I think the perimeter shot and that’s got to improve. The rest of it’s there. The intangibles are there. I think it’s a can’t miss. Um and I think most coaches in the NBA feel the same way. That’s why it was frustrating for a lot of guys in the West to see him go to the West. like, you know, you’re thinking if you’re one of those teams in the Western Conference, you’re thinking, well, if we don’t get him, at least, you know, let him end up in Washington or Charlotte or Toronto or one of those teams, and instead he’s he’s right in the mix with a team that I think is going to be very relevant next year in the Western Conference. So, the West just got better. Well, now I feel even better. Exactly. No, we feel Let’s go. Yeah. really good about the upside for Cooper Flag. When you look at not just the skill set that he presents, your time in the league and playing against a lot of tremendous defenders and offensive players, what would be your best comp when it comes to Cooper Flag given the height, the weight, the skill set that he presents that you look at and say his game is comparable to this particular player uh that you look at? A little bit of France Vagner I think in him. You know, a guy that’s 6’10 that’s got a phys similar physical profile that’s good athleticism and have really high motor doesn’t quit on plays. He might be quicker laterally than France Vagner right now to switch out onto guards and highle ball handlers that can change direction. Like that’s a different level of of you know defensive prowess. The one thing I’ll say and you had mentioned you think he can guard three possessions three four five. The reason I think he can guard a lot of twos is because the nature of the position has changed to such an extent that most of those guys are three-point shot hunters and they’re not as creative in breaking you down off the dribble by, you know, shifting weight and get getting you off balance and going by you. They’re they’re looking to hunt step back threes. They’re looking at catch and shoot threes. Like that’s the nature of the position now. That’s going to be easier for Cooper Flag to guard even that position. you know, point guards, it’s a it’s a little different because of the number of ball screens they get. It’s a lot of ball screen action. You’ve got a guard and and most of those are switched. So, I don’t even know how much, you know, all of that ball screen is going to matter that Cooper flags on somebody that’s a highle player because of one ball screen and he hands them off to somebody else. Where it comes into play, his impact is the number of guys he can switch on to in a given possession and the amount of ground he covers as a weak side defender. like that backside defense and that weak side coverage, the amount of ground those guys can cover as a help defender, but also close out length. That is where you’re going to notice a tangible difference. And when you put him on the court at the same time with Anthony Davis, you know, those are two guys that check that box, man. They can provide help as a rim deterrent, but they also have the length and want to to get out and contest three-point shots. It could be really special. Yeah, that part is that part’s really important. part. Yeah. And Dererick Lively is another one of those guys. I mean, he he he just plays right into that. Yeah, it’s super important too, Legs, because the Mavs right now, like we all kind of agree offensively, they need some more playmaking, but defensively they need a lot of help at the point of attack. And I don’t know if Flag is just that guy right now. And anyway, there’s so many switches and so many mismatch hunting in the NBA going on that it’s hard to even have just one of those guys and be okay. But having AD and Flag who can both kind of swoop in and then also close out and help should help kind of cover up that weakness. But do you agree if if the Mavs have enough ammo to make, let’s say, one big swing this summer to try and cover up for Kyrie’s absence and and make a run at it next year? Is that the thing they should be targeting? And and if not, what is the thing that the Mavs should be looking to improve at? Yeah, I mean I do I do think, you know, as an insurance policy for now, I mean, everybody expects Kyrie to come back from this. Um, you know, the time frame I’ve heard was kind of surprising. I thought it was a little bit short uh time frame for a guy of that caliber. You know, that’s on the shorter end of what I’ve heard, you know, for injury like that. I And I got experience. I I got a matching set of um ACL reconstruction. So, I you know, I’m I’m kind of It’s different though. Obviously, the the the surgery itself procedure is less invasive. The rehab is much better from it. I get all of that stuff. It still seems kind of short for me to think about him coming back like, you know, February. I It seems like maybe later. So, you’re talking about, you know, most of next season, not getting a lot of time under his belt, and then getting ready for the most intense part of the year. And we all know typically ACL’s Achilles, those are typically the following season when you start to see guys look normal again. So yeah, as an insurance policy, another ball handling scoring type of guard. Yeah, I mean those guys don’t fall off trees. I mean, if you have one that’s that’s good, as long as he’s not a narcissist, you usually you want to keep those guys. So I’m not sure, you know, who that could possibly be. I haven’t started thinking about teams yet, how they’re going to rebuild because I’m still working finishing this season with these final four teams. Um, but yeah, I think as an insurance policy for next year and beyond, getting some help there uh would be good for them because they are a little bit thin in that regard. Tim, this was tremendous stuff. We have enjoyed your work throughout the course of the year. Obviously covering the games and calling the games throughout the NBA playoffs as well and of course doing your thing with Adam Mars on the AllNBA podcast. We appreciate you taking out some time with us here on the DLSS Mavs podcast, sir. And we’ll talk to you next time. We appreciate it. Anytime, guys. Thanks for having me. Talk to you soon. There it goes. Tim Leggler, of course, co-host on the AllNBA podcast with Adam Mahrez, Mavericks legend. Appreciate him hanging out with us here on Great First Name. Yeah, we’re have to get to a question a little bit later. Best Tim that’s ever been on this show as a guest. Wow. Shots fired at McMahon. Oh boy. Okay, here we go. Um, coming up next here on the DLS Mavs podcast, let’s jump into the Mavericks multiverse a little bit. What happens if the Mavericks continue to compete with Cooper Flag right now? We’ll jump into that next on the DLS Mavs podcast. Man, we did our show yesterday remote. It’s so good to be back in the studio with Empire Today. Flooring just feels so much more stable, you know? It feels my my legs feel springier. Feels like my vertical leap is is somewhere it’s closer to Cooper Flags than it was yesterday. Wow. That’s for sure. Not much closer. Yeah. You know, it’s it’s it’s 5 in to 10. Does it help that we’re on the fourth floor of a building or Yeah, maybe. Maybe. That’s that’s about how high he can uh he can he can leap. Um why is Empire Today your best bet for a new floor? Because Empire Today lives and breathes flooring and they’re going to be with you every step of the way. It’s a whole different ballgame with them. Their flooring experts can bring their showroom right to your home. You can pick out the right flooring and the right colors for your space. You can see how it looks on your furniture in your house. Schedule a free inhome estimate today because some things are just better at home. DLS listeners can receive a $350 discount when using promo code DLS. Yes, you heard that right. A $350 discount with code DLS. Restrictions apply. Visit empire today/dls for full details. The Western Conference final is about to start in the NHL. It is Stars Oilers. Stars fans, join me in celebrating and join us in celebrating and join the game tonight should be easy, so don’t overthink it. What to wear? Just toss on your lucky jersey. Craig Lewick for game seven against the Avalanche wore one of his own game used jerseys and that delivered the stars to the second round. I can only imagine what he’s going to wear to get the the stars to the cup final. Don’t know what to serve your friend as you’re watching the game? Easy. Pick up some pizza from your go-to spot and grab some Bud Light to stock your fridge. It is that easy. Just like Bud Light, which is always brewed with four simple ingredients for a clean, crisp taste. We’re drinking it all throughout the Stars Playoff run. And I hope you do as well, but responsibly. Bud Light, it’s easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Enjoy responsibly. 21 plus Annheiser Bush Bud Light beer, St. Louis, Missouri. Appreciate you joining us here on the DSM podcast. Make sure you like, comment, and subscribe to DLLS Sports as we are inching that much closer to 25,000 subscribers. So, you can download our podcast wherever you get your podcast for free. Just search DLLS Mavs. Let’s get into it. Let’s hop into the Mavs multiverse a little bit. What will the Mavericks look like if they compete right now knowing they’ve got the number one pick in the NBA draft? Presumptively going to be Cooper Flag, of course, from Duke University. Tanner, let’s look at the 2025 uh offseason roster. when it comes to the Dallas Mavericks, particularly uh when it comes to what they have right now. Now, an addendum to this, of course, uh as this courtesy of Bobby Marks putting together what is the starting five reserves projected salary free agents uh and exceptions. Now, we got to make an exception of course because now they do have the number one overall pick. So, don’t worry about what bringing Clay off the bench. Huh. Yeah, exactly. Uh interesting. Yes. Yes. Kyrie Irving, Naji, Marshall, PJ Washington, Anthony Davis, and Derek Lively. Well, yes, as Bobby points out, uh, he has Klay Thompson coming off the bench, but we know Klay Thompson was a starter, uh, for the Dallas Mavericks, but you can see that lineup plays zero minutes together next season. Kyrie Irving, Naji Marshall, PJ Wash, Anthony Davis, and Dererick Lively. They will not play a single minute together. Okay. All right. We’ll mark that down, Tanner, and we’ll come back to that uh at the end of next season. Um, the projected salary for the Dallas Mavericks, $200 million. their tax threshold at 187 a little over $187 million with the first apron uh being at $195.9 million. The second apron $27.8 million. It includes free agents. Spencer Dewy, Dante Exm. Kyrie Irving has a player option. So does Dwight Pal and Kesler Edwards is a restricted free agent. Kai Jones an unrestricted free agent. Uh they do have a tax level exception and three trade exceptions as well u to go along with some of the things that they have. available to them this summer. So, that kind of gives you a lay of what is to come in terms of the available resources for the Dallas Mavericks. So, if the Mavericks do compete right now with Cooper Flag, what does that begin to look like as the roster is currently constructed or if they make a move or two going forward here? I mean, you you think they’re probably going to try to get under the first apron, but you know, maybe not. Not necessarily. They don’t they don’t have to, but but it’s certainly every team is incentivized to. team is is is looking to do that if at all possible. Uh they’re a little bit deeper into the first apron uh thanks to the the Cooper and and just the the first round uh salary slot. Uh so the problem is that even the guys that make sense to be moved, which is PJ and and Gaffford, and we’ve debated how much that makes sense and which one makes more sense and what it might look like, uh they don’t make that much money relatively. You’re not you’re not getting huge relief. you know, most of the salary is going to be Anthony Davis and then Kyrie Irving and Kyrie Irving may well resign at a higher price tag. Uh it could be a situation where you add Cooper and you move on from PJ and you move on from Jayen Hardy and you’re still right there, you know, like like if if Kyrie Irving makes five or six million more. Um, in fact, it could be a situation, and Dallas has done this before, where Kyrie is opts out and then is the last person to sign and he signs basically up to the first apron threshold. But that also, you know, limits what you can do uh in the season. You know, it limits your ability as as we just saw, you know, it limit if you don’t have any flexibility before the the salary cap. It limits later in the season your your flexibility on the buyout market. It just it just limits stuff. It’s it’s a it’s a limiting thing. Uh so, you know, maybe it is a scenario where it’d be best for you know, it’s it’s certainly not best for Dallas to go over. So, this is all getting up to the point of like Dallas isn’t just going to trade PJ just to trade him. They’re trying to get back a creator. They’re trying to get back somebody who could help. Um it’s it’s a there’s a lot of gymnastics that are that are going to be going on. It becomes tougher, too. that that graphic was made right at the end of the math season whenever they were projected to have at that point they hadn’t even won the coin toss to move up to 11th. So they were projected to have the 12th pick. Cooper Flag makes a lot more than that. And so their projected salary in that is actually significantly lower than it would be just by adding him. Um and why that matters is right now if nothing changes and all the Mavs players opt in that can and they stay and they don’t make any moves or whatever right now the Mavs would be beyond the second apron. Um, and that means you can’t like you you can’t do anything. You can’t take back more money. You can’t aggregate players in trades. Uh, you can only sign players to the minimum. And that’s a problem because if you’re trying to win, like if you if you were trying to compete, we just saw last year minimum players can only take you so far. The Mavs had a minimum salary back court. Spencer Denwy and Brandon Williams down the stretch last season and they lost a lot. Now granted, AD was out. Hopefully AD plays a lot this year. You can’t guarantee that obviously, but if if he does, that gives you a chance. But, you know, you need quality players in your back court. You need quality playmakers in order to win. Um, which might require you to make a trade unless you can open up some money in other places, you know, which is certainly possible. But, um, the financial aspect is just really, but we’re going to keep harping on that all summer because that makes it significantly tougher to add good players to help you win now u if you can’t clean that up. Now, the Mavs have a pretty talented and famous uh dude running their cap. This guy named Andrew Baker. Uh he’s been around the league for a while. Pretty smart dude. I’m sure that they have some plans uh to create some flexibility. And Kyrie taking a bit of a pay cut would be massive. Massive. But because they won the lottery, even that wouldn’t be enough. Like that’s the thing that complicates it. had they stayed at 11 or even moved down to 12 and Kyrie takes a pay cut, they get the full mid level. They can go do all sorts of stuff and it’s going to be great and awesome. Uh now it’s not even that simple. And so they are going to have to get pretty creative. But um you know, as Legs just said last segment, if Kyrie misses till January, that’s one thing, but if he misses until March, that’s a whole another beast. That’s 60 65 games that he’s missing. That is really really tough to make up for with guys on the minimum minimum. Uh and we haven’t even talked about losing Exom and potentially losing some other guys including Denwy. Yeah. And and Dallas can’t go into the season even even on the inside even knowing what they know about Kyrie’s rehab. They don’t know, you know, they don’t they there’s no way that that in July when you are planning for the season ahead when you are potentially, you know, when you are acquiring that that creator, that person who can help make up for his absence, there’s no way to know that he’s going to be back in January or March. Uh because Kyrie’s not going to go not going to know, you know, he’s not going to be someone who gets back on the court until he feels like he’s ready to be back on the court. and and even if he’s optimistic, the team’s optimistic, everybody’s optimistic that it’s going to be on the the shorter side, there is no way to know. So, you have to plan this season as if he’s only going to come back in March. Because if you don’t, then it’s a lost season. You know, if you just plan for a half season fill-in replacement, oh, you know, like we’re we’re not going to be as good of a team as as we would like to be, but we’ll catch up we’re going to catch up a lot of ground when Kyrie comes back in January. You don’t know he’s coming back in January. You know, Kyrie could tell you that he’s aiming to come back in January, that that’s the hope. Uh, and then it just doesn’t happen like that. So, it’s it’s setbacks happen all the I mean, sure. Jesus, man. Clay tore his knee in the finals and then missed the whole next year cuz he injured his Achilles during rehab. Like, it’s Well, I don’t even mean setbacks though, you know? It’s it’s Yeah, but I mean, you just you have to plan for the worst case scenario, even if you’re hoping for the best case, right? Like, you have Well, I don’t think they can plan for a setback that causes them to miss the entire year, I guess. Well, obviously. Yeah. I mean, that’s like I’m just saying you have to I hope that they and I’ve said this before, I hope they operate with the expectation and urgency of a team that could be without him all year cuz then if you get him back, that’s a good problem to have. But like what you don’t want to do is bank on him missing 40 and then he misses 60 and you’re boned. Yeah. And one of the important things and Leg mentioned it during the last segment too is even in the ideal scenario that Kyrie Irving comes back and let’s say he comes back right after the All-Star break. We’re talking about late February potentially uh at the early as a best case scenario potentially. It’s going to take him a while to get himself not only reaclimated in terms of the play game and play speed, but also physically getting back to the kind of player that he was prior to the ACL. And usually that occurs for a player a year after they have had that kind of injury, whether it’s an Achilles or an ACL. So, we may not see Kyrie Irving fully back to the kind of player that he was prior to the torn ACL. I think one of the things for me if they’re going to continue to compete now is making sure that the commitment I’m talking about the center position here is committing to Derek Lively I being your starting five going forward to allow him to play alongside Anthony Davis and Cooper Flag to give you what I think is the rangiest most lengthy most athletic portion badass front court of your front court that you can get. Like I understand how well Gaffford played, especially leading up to the NBA finals, but Daniel or excuse me, Derek Lively is your best center on this roster. If AD’s committed to playing uh the four given the roster construction that they have in AD’s desire to play the four, Derrick Lively needs to be the starting center from day one and establish that chemistry with him, Flag, and Davis. And then you go forward with figuring out the rest. But to me, that’s got to be the number one thing in terms of the front court of them competing. Derek Lively has to be the starting five going forward from from now on. It’s it’s way easier for me to see next season essentially looking like a gap year than one that Dallas wins anything more than a playoff series. It’s just just logistically not I’m I’m not this is not a statement about the high-end ceiling of this team when fully healthy. It’s just literally it’s so difficult to see, you know, basically they have to build a team that’s a playoff team uh without Kyrie for the entire season. I agree that Lively is the best center on their team, but where we saw Gaffford really shine last year is the times whenever Luca and Kyrie or one of them or both of them unfortunately were out where he can at least create some offense. And I I wouldn’t necessarily This sounds condescending. I promise I don’t mean it this way. I wouldn’t mistake that for being better. Like he’s a he is a better shot creator for himself than Lively. He can do more with the ball than Lively. And I would I would argue that Gaffford being on the floor makes bad point guards jobs easier because they can just dump it down to him and he can go to work. But if they are able to at least somewhat replace Kyrie’s playmaking, then Lively has to be the guy because the defensive upside of a flag AD Lively front court is like it’s monstrous. Cannot compute. You know, there’s a lot of switchability. That is a lot of length, a lot of shot blocking, a lot of rebounding, a lot of mean nasty boys. Yeah. And I’m just thinking about it from if they operate under the assumption with defense winning championships from Nico Harrison. I mean, Derek Live’s ability not only to play in the paint, but I think he’s a little bit better in terms of yarding out in space a little bit better, uh, as well when you start thinking about what the Mavericks are trying to do defensively. Um, that would be where I would start. But obviously, there are a lot of things that have to go well for this team to compete right now and even with the injury situation that they’re dealing with and what their roster could look like going forward. Let’s take our final break here on the DLLS Mavs podcast. When we come back, let’s flip it on the other side of the Maz multiverse. What if the Mavericks decide to rebuild now now that they have the number one pick presumptively with Cooper Flag? We’ll dive into that coming up next here on the DLS Mavs podcast. But I want to help you become a die member three days in a row. How about that? Folks, he’s doing it again. We want to help you become a diehard member here and join our DLLS sports family. Visit allls.com to become a diehard member for just seven bucks a month right now. You get access to all of our tremendous benefits. 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Uh we’ll get to your super chats here uh in just a moment. In fact, let’s just jump into it and get to it real quick. Uh from Kevin H with the $1.99 super chat. Thoughts on Walter Clayton uh and taking him at the end of the first round? I like him. That’d be cool. I don’t know how Dallas would go about doing that, but you know, obviously they’ve traded into the first round before. And Clayton probably is going to go like 22 to 28. That’s about where Dallas traded in to to get Omax. So, it’s it’s plausible. And I think I think he is one of the more ready and you know, a little bit older. So, a little bit more of a a ready now guy. Uh, you know, would bring shooting. Um, not a two-way guy, but I think it’s plausible. Sheldon Finn with the 499 super chat. Appreciate it. What point guards can play with Kyrie Irving? I’m thinking Anthony Black, Dyson Daniels, Lonzo Ball. Thoughts on asking prices for those players? I Anthony Black and Dyson Daniels. I mean, Dyson Daniels is really good. You probably you’d probably have to overpay to get him. Anthony Black, good playmaker, good defender. Shooting leaves some to be desired. And I that would be a big issue on this team specifically. I think Lonzo Ball though, it’s funny you mentioned that because we’re going to get into the Moz multiverse of what if they decide to rebuild with Cooper Flag and move forward with him as the centerpiece right now when it comes to this team. Lot to get into when it comes to that cuz you start looking at the ages for some of these players, particularly Anthony Davis will be 33 next March. Kyrie Irving will be 34 in March when he comes back from his torn ACL. Klay Thompson will be 36 in February. So, you’re getting a little bit older pretty quickly when it comes to this roster. And with the lottery ticket that they’ve been given, is it feasible? Is it prudent for the Mavericks to be begin rebuilding now with Cooper Flag given this roster? We got some trades to go over. I mean, they’re not going to do it. We know that, right? We know that. Yes. Yeah. But what what I what I’d say is this. I think there’s a lot of ways that you would not have to if I’m running the Dallas Mavericks, you were not tearing it down. Cooper flag is too good right now. You’d run into the same problem that Dallas had with Luca. You know, Luca was so good so quickly that the team wasn’t bad enough to go get some more picks and and then they made the big move for for Chrisaps. But it was already pretty obvious at that point, you know, even if even if Luca, you know, if Dallas had gone in the next season, even without making that Kursts move, they were going to be too good to go get more players to play next to him. Um, and so really the question is, is there a way to align the timeline without, you know, you’re not moving on from Kyrie, uh, but you’re also understanding that Kyrie might take some time, um, you know, so so you’re just realigning the timeline around Cooper while still trying to win. Now, I don’t know. I think that there’s a there’s a way to be pretty bad this year. Um I don’t think I don’t think Flag is that kind of player yet, but maybe he is. I guess we’ll find out. But but that’s why you have a gap year built in. Sure. Yeah. It’s a it’s a forced gap year because of Kyrie. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so if you are going to try and reposition, right, if you’re going to try and clean up your books a little bit, create some flexibility, give yourself the chance to not only get younger, a little younger now, add picks in the future and open up a lot of salary cap options in the next year or two. Here are three ways you could do it. They all involve trading one guy. Obviously, Anthony Davis isn’t going anywhere, but he does make the most money on the team, so it makes sense to start with him. We’re not spending too much time on any of these. Maybe these trade ideas suck, but there’s only one way to find out. Tanner, let’s go to the screenshots. Option number one, let’s trade him to the Eastern Conference to the Miami Heat. Let’s get back Andrew Wiggins and Terry Rosier on an expiring $26 million contract. Wow. And then the Heat send a bunch of picks, including the number 20 pick in this year’s draft, which maybe they could use that to get Walter Clayton. Who knows? Um, the Mavs also get a 291, a 31-11, and then the rights to swap in 2028. You’re not very good if you make this trade. You’re not having a good season, but you’re getting a lot of picks. You’re getting a lot younger, and uh you’re also uh opening up a lot of salary options very, very soon. Um, next option, send an and that’s Miami would want Anthony Davis because they want to get good now. And I think AD and BAM actually kind of fits decently. matches their mentality, their star mentality. Even even if it doesn’t like turn them into contenders, they always want to get stars because it reinforces the idea that stars go to Miami, which is good for business. And they’re desperate. Miami is desperate right now. Um, next one, send Anthony Davis home to the Eastern Conference to the Chicago Bulls get back a bunch of dudes on expiring contracts. And Lonzo Ball, uh, who Mark Stein has said teams could potentially be interested in Lonzo Ball, uh, to come in and play point. Obviously, he’s had a ton of injury issues in recent seasons. It’s been really unfortunate to see. One of my favorite players in the league whenever uh you know, he’s healthy and able to go. The Bulls also send a 27-1, a 29-1, and the right to swap in 2031. So, the Mavs get a couple picks that could be pretty good. And then, like I said, a bunch of expirings to clean up their books. You duck the apron. You uh potentially open up cap space as soon as next season by doing that. Uh, but again with that trade, you’re not very good. You’re not very good. I kind of like that one, though. If we’re talking about in the rebuilding phase of this, I think that gives you a lot of flexibility to do some different things there that can also help you recoup uh some picks that you’re not going to have control of in 27 through 30. If you want maximum flexibility and also a young player, you could trade AD in conference to the Portland Trailblazers. Um, you get back DeAndre Aton on a huge expiring contract which you could maybe move around. Matis Thyel huge expiring not huge $11 million expiring which you could potentially package and move around. You also get Scoot Henderson. Maybe the Blazers are like let’s keep Anthony Simons, let’s keep Shaden Sharp. Scoot is the excess. Uh and you also get a couple ones that might be a little rich honestly um for AD but uh Aton pretty undesirable contract situation. They get back Jaden Hardy to make up some of that playmaking off the bench. I’m not sure that the Blazers would actually do this. Uh, but I think Portland is not far away from being pretty good and AD could honestly with that team uh could potentially put them with Klingan too by the way that fits really well on offense that could put them in the top six. I I agree with you. I think I think there’s some reason to think that that Portland wouldn’t hang up the phone that they would think about something like that. uh that that that they would look to accelerate the timeline slightly uh because they they feel specifically because they feel like their young players are in place, you know, whereas Dallas would be in the situation where they feel like they need a few more young players to to join and to meet the timeline that that Cooper now presents them. Uh I think that’s my favorite. You know, it’s the one idea of the three that that appeals to me as well a little bit. uh you’re getting a rotation player in in in Tyel uh and you’re taking a swing on on someone like Scoot Henderson and you’re taking a swing on someone who isn’t instantly like you’re the star of this team, you know, even if he’s filling in a lot for for Kyrie’s absence. I’m not super high on Scoot Henderson, but I do think that taking swings on lottery talents or former lottery talents is is worthwhile. That said, I I just I I don’t I I think next year is going to be a a gap year. And so addressing a gap year in some ways, uh I think there’s merit for that, but I don’t know. In all those trades, you’re getting you’re getting significantly worse in all of those trades. I mean, I know that we’re we were branded a 80 AD hater show. Now we’re a Luca hater show, right? I’m a Shay hater. We just hate everybody on the show. Hate everybody on the show. Good. Uh, but let’s not lose sight of the fact Anthony Davis is really, really freaking good. Um, and you know, the Mavs lack of playmaking is going to hurt them this year to a degree that I don’t think that many people are ready to, you know, imagine and can understand at this point. But, uh, in the meantime, you know, sticking it out with this group is perfectly justifiable if you have all the faith in the world. Kyrie’s healthy for 26-27. The Mavs though do have their own pick in 2026. If you get way worse this year, you could get a really good player in 2026 and then you’re off to the races for the next, you know, however long it takes for you to trade them for the next aging superstar. But, you know, they they have options. They could be they could be really good this year if Kyrie comes back quickly and they’re able to swing a trade. They could be really good next year if they hang on and everyone comes back well. Like, they this team has a chance to be very, very damn good. Um, if they want to take a step back though, they can do that. And and one more way to look at it is if you make a trade like that, if you if you look at next season, you go through every single option of who you can bring as a creator, uh you get very real and serious about having to look at Kyrie’s injury as something you have to plan around for an entire season. That even when he gets back, he is going to be kind of on the side as a get back to Kyrie journey. And that is a different type of journey than uh make up ground and get into the postseason journey. Um if you look at all those things and think and can you imagine a rehabing Kyrie trying to shake Caruso with like right that’s impossible. That’s not ideal. You know I was going to say he didn’t do it last year. They mostly doubled him. But but still, you know, it’s that’s going to happen. Even if Kyrie comes back, if he’s the only creator that you’ve got on the team, only lead creator, only point creator, then you’re in a situation where teams are going to send a bunch of double. they’re they’re going to make his life hell. Uh that’s a really tricky situation to be in. So you look at all of that, you get really honest about it and then you remember first round picks are cash. That is the currency of the NBA. And so what you’re doing is not resetting the timeline of the sense of okay, Dallas is going to be bad for like five years, uh three years, whatever, two, even two years. What you’re saying is the stakes or the the reality of next season is so difficult to overcome and requires so many things going right that actually Anthony Davis trading him at the peak of his value and then resetting your your bank, you know, your bank account to make sure that you can go make another swing here in a little bit. That’s why getting all those expirings is good too. that and that reasoning there is why I again they’re not going to do this but this is the reason you as you started to state uh is why I would go down this road now because you have a chance to not only reset with a franchise cornerstone with Cooper flag today’s NBA requires you to have young cheap talent allows you to have maximum flexibility and have a highlevel guy at the top to be able to build around going forward and you have the gift now if we were to believe Cooper flag is what he’s going to be in the future here. You have a chance to start that timeline right now. And if you can do that, I think to me a young core, if you’re going to keep PJ Washington, for example, a young core of PJ Washington, Derek Lively the second, Cooper Flag, um, and take your pick. I think that’s a great way to start with Flag, Lively, and PJ Washington and go forward from there. as far as a young core is concerned, especially if you’re on the defense wins now train. Uh you have a chance to I think reset that clock and begin to do so. But again, this team is in win now mode and they’re going to continue to go down the road. And they have the talent to win now. But again, they need Kyrie to be Kyrie Irving. And until he is Kyrie Irving, I’m going to believe that it’s going to be a long time before that is the case, which is really unfortunate. So they if they want to win, they have to act with urgency. Not desperation, but with urgency because these guys are getting older by the second. And if if the GOAT if the GOAT Tim Leggler believes that they need some quality in here. Yeah. They need some quality in here. It’s not just coming from us. It’s not just coming from the three guys that hate your favorite team. Your your least favorite guys that hate your favorite team. No, it is coming from the legend himself, Tim Leggler. Appreciate our guy, Tanner, making us look good and sound good as always. Thank you, sir. Thank you to Tim Leggler for joining us during our show. If you miss anything, make sure you go back and watch or listen on our podcast at DLLS Mavs. That is our Mavericks analyst, Bobby Cur. That is our Mavericks beat writer, Tim Ko. I’m your host, Kevin Gray. We are DLLs MS. We’ll talk to you tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. right here on DLLs Sports. Y’all be good. Enjoy the rest of your day. Peace.

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The Dallas Mavericks have some big choices to make this summer. One easy one is drafting Cooper Flagg first overall in the NBA Draft. But there are some hard ones, including the extension conversations with P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, and whether the team wants to commit to trying to win now with Anthony Davis despite Kyrie Irving’s ACL injury. The DLLS Mavs crew breaks down the two paths forward for the Mavs, and the pros and cons of each route. Also, ALL NBA and ESPN’s Tim Legler joins the show to analyze Cooper Flagg’s game and fit with the Mavericks!

#cooperflagg #anthonydavis #kyrieirving #derecklively #pjwashington #dallasmavs #nba #danielgafford #klaythompson #najimarshall #jasonkidd

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