Monty Williams believes Mavs’ roster is built for the playoffs

Shortly before the Mavericks defeated Detroit, 114-104, in their preseason finale Friday night at American Airlines Center, Pistons coach Monty Williams came to one definitive conclusion about the Mavs’ roster.

He likes it.

“It’s built for the playoffs,” Williams said. “They’ve got two guys that can win games every night and two guys that have won playoffs games.’

Williams was referring to Mavs guards Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

“But they’ve added some toughness,” Williams said. “When they lost (Dorian) Finney-Smith (in a trade to Brooklyn last February) I thought that was a tough blow for them.

“And now they’ve added Grant (Williams) — a tough guy that can also shoot the ball. He’s got playoff thread marks all over his body.”

Monty Williams wasn’t through praising the Mavs, who distributed 30 assists on 39 made field goals against the Pistons.

“The young kid, Jaden (Hardy), he’s driven,” he said. “When that kid wants to score the ball. . .I can go down the list.

“The young center (Dereck Lively II), you can see it. He’s a rim run guy, a roller, a finisher. That tandem in the pick-and-roll is going to cause the West some problems.”

Monty Williams could have added Josh Green to his list. After all, Green poured in 15 points in the first quarter on 5-of-5 shots Friday – he was three-of-three on three-pointers — as the Mavs took a 40-27 lead over Detroit.

“I just wanted to win the game going into the season with a win under our belt and with momentum,” Green said. “I wanted to come and just, when I’m open, shoot the ball – what I’ve been doing the work on.”

Lively, meanwhile, was 6-of-7 from the field and collected 14 points and five boards in 24 minutes and looked very comfortable on the court.

“I just tried to build confidence and just tried to get used to every play and get used to every possession and get used to my teammates,” Lively said. “I think this past couple of weeks we’ve been building chemistry, so it’s been making everything easier.”

The Pistons’ coach believes Irving will cause opponents additional problems because a recent ESPN preseason ranking only placed Irving as the 34^th best player in the entire NBA.

“I always crack up when people disrespect great players,” Monty Williams said. “It’s Russell (Westbrook) and now it’s Kyrie.

“They put out those silly rankings and I just kind of laugh at that. I say they’re going to start that dude up and he’s going to tear some people up this year and prove them wrong.”

Irving, who finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists in 27 minutes, said he noticed the player rankings.

“It’s hard not to see them, because we’re in the business of media and we’re in the business of fandom, and players — deservingly so — gets criticism,” Irving said. “And as a player that’s been in this league for a while, I haven’t always dealt with the criticism in the best way, and I’m not afraid to speak my voice.

“I think at that moment when I saw those rankings, I was just more or less saying to my peers and also to the young guys, this list doesn’t mean anything. We’re here to win basketball games, and that’s going to be the true success and true rankings at the end of the season, and that’s where our focus should be. If I have to step out of my comfort zone a little bit and kind of jab ESPN a little bit, they enjoy it. It’s all good banter back and forth.”

The Mavs started Irving and Green in the backcourt, and Grant Williams, Derrick Jones Jr. and Lively in the frontcourt. Meanwhile, Kidd was happy the Mavs (1-3) were able to get a preseason win under their belt before opening the regular season Wednesday in San Antonio.

“We haven’t been seen by the public for a while, so I thought for the public to see that we can play fast, to have 40 points in that first quarter and then also to come back in that third and have (32 points), it was good to see that starting group play,” Kidd said. “We can get a little bit better with the rebounding, but I thought the effort was there.

“(There were) a lot of good things for us going into San Antonio.”

Monty Williams is predicting the Mavs will be in position to make a lot of noise in the postseason.

“They just seem to continue to build around Luka, and now Kyrie,” he said. “Their team, it’s built to make a deep (playoff) run. That’s how I see it.”

BRIEFLY: Mavs guard Luka Doncic missed Friday’s game with a left calf strain. Coach Jason Kidd said there is no timetable for Doncic’s return. “He’s still being evaluated,” Kidd said, “and we’ll see how he feels next week.”. .Guard Jaden Hardy also sat out the game against Detroit with a sprained ankle. “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow,” Kidd said. “He’s doing the treatments and everything, so we’ll see how he goes going forward.”. .The Mavs waived center Tony Bradley on Friday – one day after signing the 6-10, 248-pounder. . .Kidd said he can’t ask anything more from his team than what they’ve given him. “These guys have done everything we’ve asked them to do — from the (12-day overseas) trip (to Abu Dhabi and Spain), to being professional when we got back, to getting back on your sleeping pattern, and then being able to compete,” he said. “There were a lot of open spots for minutes and these guys have competed and they’ve supported one another, which is kind of cool. This is a different team than here in the first year that I was here (in 2021-22), and then last year. This group really enjoys one another on and off the floor. Maybe that trip has helped with that bonding.”. .Detroit coach Monty Williams admires the “athleticism and toughness” of second-year Pistons guard Jaden Ivey, who was the fifth overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft. “He’s just a good kid,” Williams said. “He’s got unreal remorse. When he knows he’s made a mistake, it just kills hm. He wants to be perfect in everything. I’ve been talking to him about I’d shoot for excellence instead of perfection, because you’re just going to drive yourself crazy. But young people who’s been around pro athletes and big-time programs, they’ve seen it their whole life, so that’s what they strive for. He’s driven, for sure.” Ivey’s grandfather, the late James Hunter, was an all-state basketball and football player at Silsbee High School in Southeast Texas in the 1970s. He also was an All-American cornerback at Grambling State University and the 10^th overall pick of the 1976 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. In addition, Ivey’s mother, Niele Ivey, is currently the head women’s basketball coach at Notre Dame, was an All-American basketball player at Notre Dame, and played five seasons in the WNBA for the Indiana Fever, Phoenix Mercury and Detroit Shock. Also, Ivey’s father, Javin Hunter, played five seasons in the NFL for the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers. . .Detroit coach Monty Williams was raving about Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, who played high school basketball at Arlington Bowie and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. “Everybody can see the skill set,” Williams said. “I knew he was a great dude, a great young man. I heard about that from afar. I had an interaction with him last year when we played in Detroit. I was walking to the bus, he was walking to his car. He came right over to me and we spoke and we talked. It was different. I was like, ‘Man, this guy is a solid dude.’ Being around him, I would imagine it’s just how bad he wants it. A lot of people say it, but you can see the way he prepares and how intentional he is. He’s really good with his teammates. He knows how to talk to people, he knows how to get his message across, and he can take it as well. He’s just a really good player and a great teammate.”

X: @DwainPrice