OK, I have a bone to pick with Maverick fans.
When your team is going good, the questions for the Mailbag dry up.
Maybe that’s good. Happy fans have fewer inquiries about a team that, for the first few weeks of the season has done a good job of banking some wins and avoiding major issues.
But I’m pleading with all the faithful (and the bandwagoners, and the fair-weathers), I need some questions for next week because we don’t want any more slim pickings like this week. Time to step up like Jalen Brunson.
Or else, I’ll have to get really desperate and actually talk to my friends and get questions from them.
Or even worse, from my wife.
From PAUL W: To me, wouldn’t Tim Hardaway Jr. be a better sixth man option?
SEFKO: Well, we’ve kind of already been down this road, haven’t we? Rick Carlisle liked the idea of Hardaway as the sixth man and the strategy worked well for long stretches. Hardaway is like most players and would rather start if all things are equal. Plus, there is nothing to suggest that Hardaway is a natural sixth man. His scoring average for his career as a starter is 17.6 points. As a reserve, he’s averaged 10.2 points. Now he gets about 25 percent more playing time as a starter, so those numbers aren’t quite as disparate as they might look. But when things are working with a guy as a starter, why change? By the way, I found an interesting factoid while researching this answer. Hardaway has started 277 games in his NBA career (before Monday). He has come off the bench in 276 games.
From DOUG S.: Why does everybody harp on Kristaps Porzingis? He’s produced some pretty solid numbers when he’s been healthy.
SEFKO: OK, you answered your own question, partly, with “when he’s been healthy.” This is not a knock on Porzingis. Players go through stretches where they can be a little snakebit when it comes to injuries. And there have been monthlong stretches when Porzingis has stuffed the stat sheet. But it’s the time he misses that people like to zero in on. What the Mavericks and their fans need to see is a steady run of games for the 7-3 Porzingis. If he puts together a dozen games without having to sit out for some reason or another, it’s been proven that he will put up numbers. In 2019-20, he had a run of 13 games (in a 17-game stretch of the schedule, when he averaged 27.7 points and 11 rebounds. The only games he missed were because they were the second night of back-to-back situations. Last season, he had a 12-game stretch in which he played 11 of those games and averaged 20.3 points and 10 rebounds. Admittedly, Porzingis has to prove he can get through a season without any extended down time. He’s already missed half of the first 10 games this season. There’s plenty of time to reverse that perception.
From ROB K.: What do you think the Mavericks’ record will be when they get to the 20-game mark?
SEFKO: Interesting that you would ask. The great Dwain Price and I debated that topic on our latest podcast and we came up with different levels of confidence in this team. I confess that I think the upcoming string of road games is going to be very difficult. Two games in Phoenix and two at the Clippers are following up a roadie to Chicago, which if you hadn’t noticed had the same record as the Mavericks going into Monday’s action. So the best I could come up with was 12-8, which is a 49-win pace by the way. As for Dwain? He penciled in the Mavericks for 14-6 at the 20-game mark.
From ERICA T.: What’s the latest on Maxi Kleber? And I’m not asking just because he’s really hot. I’m asking as a serious Mavericks’ fan.
SEFKO: We’re not here to judge your taste in human beings. That’s between you and your inner workings. But what we can tell you is that Kleber did some jogging on Tuesday at practice. He’s still not doing any basketball work, but presumably, that won’t be too far off in his future. And it can’t happen soon enough, really. The Mavericks have great depth among their big men, but those positions have been injury prone with Kristaps Porzingis and Kleber already missing considerable time. It’s a shame, too, because Kleber was off to a really solid start, shooting 47.8 percent from 3-point land and he was the team’s leading rebounder per minute played for those players who have logged at least 100 minutes of court time.
Twitter: @ESefko
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