By james art When the Mavericks finish their 45th season Thursday night against San Antonio, it will have been just 129 days since they walked off the Boston floor amid floating green Celtics confetti as the NBA runner-up.
Dallas’ core remains largely intact, including four of last season’s starters and second-team All-NBA rookie Derek Lively II. But along with the excitement and anticipation among the Mavericks, there’s an even more palpable feeling.
a mystery.
Just how good could this Dallas team potentially be? Where and how well will prize Klay Thompson fit into a likely three-guard starting lineup alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving?
With Doncic missing all four of Dallas’ preseason games, Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. clash against rival Spurs and Victor Wembanyama will be the organized debut of the Mavericks’ new Big Three.
“We met last week when I was working out,” Doncic said of four-time NBA champion Thompson. “It’s going to be fun over there.”
If nothing else, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd has fueled the mystery by refusing to name the starting lineup, but a seemingly strong clue has emerged since Doncic’s return last week from a left calf injury.
In practice, the predominant starting lineup was Doncic, Irving and Thompson on the perimeter, PJ Washington at forward and Daniel Gafford at center.
More than the personnel, the biggest takeaway from those who watched the Mavericks scrimmage was the attitude — a collective strong mindset and disposition that made practices highly competitive.
Kidd said before the start of training camp Oct. 1 in Las Vegas that he wants to see competition at every position. By all accounts, the players have done well.
“It’s not personal; it’s about making us better,” Kidd said. “And that’s what I love about this band. So far a lot of nonsense has been said; we push each other a lot and in a positive way.
“It’s ‘How do we make each other better?’ And it’s been great.”
The Spurs and 75-year-old, 29-year coach Gregg Popovich will enter Thursday’s game with much the same perspective as Mavericks fans: Little for this Dallas team can get out of the preseason without Doncic.
Sure, there were flashes in plays, split-post offensive sets, increased weak-side screens and off-ball movement, fewer isolation plays, but none of that was with Doncic on the court. His infusion into battles overwhelmed everything.
“I think we can show you better than we can explain it,” Irving said. “I can look at all the pieces and things like that that we have. But in practice it was fun just to feel the distance there.
“Since Luka came back here, he started doing all his Luka Magic stuff. Guys have to be ready to play from that.”
In short, we can expect to see a hybrid of the Mavericks’ offense from last season and the near-constant movement Thompson experienced in Golden State under coach Steve Kerr.
Naturally, Dallas will continue to use Gafford and Lively to apply vertical pressure to the rim. The Mavericks still want to create corner threes after leading the NBA last season, but they hope they won’t be as one- or two-dimensional as they were when they fell to the Celtics in the Finals.
“I think you’re going to look at similar things that we’ve had success with with Luca and Kai,” Kidd said. “And we’re going to look at some different wrinkles with Clay as we go forward — understanding the gravity of Clay being able to move. We want to use that as a strength.”
Defense is another matter. Doncic and Irving aren’t known as defenders, and Thompson, 34, is five years removed from his last appearance on an all-defensive NBA team.
The Mavericks’ hopes are that Lively, Gafford, Washington, Maxi Kleber and newcomers Naji Marshall and Quentin Grimes will provide enough of a defensive presence to prevent opponents from matching Dallas’ high-powered offense.
“We connected with the concepts on defense,” Irving said. “And then, offensively, we have talent from all over the world. We don’t necessarily have to worry about each other there. We just have to give each other space and be patient.”
It’s unrealistic to think the offense will be on full display in Thursday’s Big Three debut, but if the past week of practice is any barometer, fans will at least get a strong sense of the Mavericks’ potential.
As do the Spurs.
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