How Cooper Flagg UNLOCKED the Dallas Mavericks Offense with Dereck Lively, Anthony Davis

How Cooper Flagg UNLOCKED the Dallas Mavericks Offense with Dereck Lively, Anthony Davis

On today’s show, I’ve got eight moments from the Mavs first game that’ll tell you how the Mavs are going to unlock their offense, why Cooper Flag is special, and why this team has a chance to do something good today. It’s locked on Mavs. This is Cooper Flag, and you’re listening to Locked on M. All these changes, you know, I still got my dog Dwight Pal. You are Locked on M. Your daily Mavericks podcast, part of the Locked Onet. I still can’t leave you. Your team everyday. I’m going to get a city right back. And welcome. You’re locked out of the Dallas Mavericks. Your team every day. My name is Nick Angstead. Media member covering the MS for 10 years. Thanks for being every day. Making locked on maps your first listen to Lockdown Sports Podcast Network. The number one sports podcast network out there. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. If your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fanduel.com to get started. Today’s episode, I’ve got eight moments from the first preseason game. Going back and watching some of the film, and I was like, “All right, let’s dig into some of these. Let’s see how they happened. Let’s see what they mean.” And so, we’ll dig into some of those. Cooper Flags passing, Lively’s passing, AD and and D’Angelo Russell had a moment I want to talk about. There’s uh a couple things about the the defense. I think I think we figured out a way the M the Mavs defense is going to be scary. And there’s one specific play that made me think about that. And then the Mavs signed Delano Banton today. Mavs Mavs signed a new player. Uh two-way spot is still open. Delano Band is not eligible for it. What’s going to happen with that spot? And then the Mavs guards, none of them played. None of the third string guards played in the game. What do we Where do we stand with those guys? Let’s let’s talk about that. But let’s start here. The first preseason game, yes, they played against the Oklahoma City Thunder string guys. So, I’m not going to try to take too much of the competitiveness out of it. I’m looking for actions. I’m looking for things that this team is going to be about. Things that they said they were going to do and that they went out and did. Things that I was questioning about the team and if they proved those things or if they made me question them more. I’m looking for those things in a game like this. And it was fun. Good vibes. Feeling good about seeing Cooper Flag out there. Seeing a lot of like social media posts about how, you know, Cooper Flag looked like the star out there. He you showing the threes that he hit, showing the block off the backboard, showing him, you know, with his passing. some great moments across the board for Maverick for for Maverick’s fans to enjoy and for Cooper Flag to just show what he what he can do. But I’ve got eight moments from this this preseason game. And one of them is one of the reasons why this offense is going to be unlocked and it’s simple. Cooper flag dribbled against Kase Wallace. It was a big question that I had going into this game and honestly going into summer league going into the Mavs first like any kind of action at all. Cooper flag zero turnovers. So in everything that I’m about to say, he didn’t turn the ball over. He didn’t have a problem coughing the ball up. He didn’t have a problem like getting getting locked up or anything, you know, anything like that. Cooper Flag is dribbling against Case Wallace. There were some definitely a couple moments. So this is cheating. It’s I I counted this as one moment, but it’s it’s multiple. There’s a specific moment, though. He grabs a rebound on one end. Casey Walls kind of picks him up like kind of picks him up like three quarters court, but definitely at half court. Picks him up. Makes it hard for Cooper Flag to dribble. It’s important for Cooper Flag to be able to dribble against a guy like that. Case a good defender. He’s part of that Thunder defense that was just stifling. He’s gotten a good reputation. Good defender on that team and a small defender. Like what? He’s 6’3, 6’4, like small guy against Case against Cooper Flag. To have a pesky guy like that that’s quick that’s trying to get there playing back in, you know, the hometown where he’s from. And so he’s like, “All right, I’m going to show out.” And Cooper Flag then draws another defender. He He dribbles all the way to the post. It’s not like he just dribbled and he like stopped around the three-point line was like, “All right, I got to chill out here because I got this good defender on on me.” He dribbled and got to a spot. And that’s the thing I think it’s gonna one of the things that’s going to unlock the Mavericks offense is a Cooper flag can get to a spot. And once he gets there, then we can start talking about the counters and how he gets a shot off and how who he gets a shot off against. And there was that moment where he was trying to get a shot off against Case Walls earlier and Anthony Davis like pass the ball back to him. We talked about that play yesterday on the show and he didn’t get a shot off there. But just that he can get to a spot. Just that he can dribble against a really good guard defender in the NBA that is smaller than him that like should pick his pocket, right? If he’s not a good defender, Casey Walls picks his pocket. I’m giving him that much credit. He didn’t make our top 100, but he got a bunch of votes on the locked on top 100 to make it. And so I’m looking at this moment saying this is one of the things going to unlock the Mavericks offense is that Cooper Flag is able to dribble against good defenders. Let’s see it again. Obviously, that’s this whole season is let’s see let Okay, show it to me once. Excellent. Now, show it to me again. Do it do it against better defenders. Do it against a Herb Jones. Do it against Lou Dort. Like, do it against other defenders like that. But if I’ve got to take anything from that one game, I’m taking that moment and saying, “All right, that’s something I wanted to see. We specifically talked about that before the game. I want to see that and we saw it.” But then he takes this moment even farther that his passing is something that takes it to another level. He dribbles, gets to the gets to the the the post, turns around, and all of a sudden he’s facing like a couple defenders and Dwight Pal’s defender is like right there. And Cooper Flag looks around and he’s like all these changes and you know, I still got my dog Dwight Pal. I still got and he’s under the rim and Cooper Flag dumps a pass right off to him right over Wallace. Not as impressive. Case Wallace smaller than Cooper Flag, but the vision to see him to get that pass to him right under the rim gets it to him. great one of Cooper Flag’s assists and it happened because Cooper Flag dribbled the ball. Nobody else touched the ball in that possession except for Cooper Flag. The Mavs are going to need offense like that. If Cooper Flag was not able to do any of that, I would be real concerned about the Mavs being like a competent NBA offense at times, right? Because they’re going to put the ball in Cooper Flag’s hands. The passing though is the thing that takes it to the next level to me. There’s three passing moments from Cooper Flag that I think are that I think are important. There are there’s the dump to there’s a dump to Lively. Lively gets blocked in this moment. Then the ball ends up out on to Anthony Davis in the corner. He swings it over to Klay Thompson. Klay Thompson drives into the lane. Then he kicks back to Cooper Flag. Cooper Flags at the top of the key. He swings it over to D’Angel Russell. D’Angelo Russell waits for a split second, sees that Cooper Flag’s defender Barnheiser like bites on the pass and comes over to try and double D’Angelo Russell for a second or just forgets what he’s supposed to do and like like he tries to come over defend DLo. And so now there’s two defenders pointing their their you know their defensive direction at D’Angelo Russell. Russell realizes that which Russell’s like Russell’s vision was something that was big too in that game. He kicks it back out to to Cooper Flag and then Cooper Flag drives and there are four defenders around him like within four feet of Cooper Flag in this moment and he sees Derrick Lively who patiently is waiting in that dunker spot. Live dumps it off to him or Cooper Flag dumps it off to Derrick Lively and he gets the dunk right there. Vision, ball movement from the Mavericks, the passing passing from everybody. Anthony Davis to swing it over to Clay. Clay to drive and kick. How many times have we looked at the Mavericks offense in the past and have gone, there are like three players on the roster that can drive and kick. You know what I mean? Like there have been times in Mavericks history we just didn’t have that many. Now two of them were like the greatest like some of the greatest of all time, you know, doing it. But they have multiple guys now that can do this. the actions of of multiple players being able to dribble the ball, being able to pass the ball, being able to see guys open and all that is going to unlock their offense in a way because that’s the biggest concern. The defense is not a concern to me. I think they’ll figure that that the defense eventually and it needs to be elite. The Mavs talked about their goals to be top three defensively. That’s what the Mavericks players said. All right, let’s hold them to it. But the offense is the one that I got a big question about. Can they be good enough to be a playoff level team offensively? These passes is some are something that I can look at and say, “All right, I see it. I can see some of the vision.” Explain yourself. Sorry, I won’t explain myself. Clay drive and kick. Anthony Davis swing pass. D’Angel Russell the vision to realize the defender’s coming at me. I’m going to kick it over there. Mistake from OKC’s, you know, inexperienced defense because they had their third string guys. Sure. But he recognizes it. Kicks it back to Flag. Flag being able to drive and then a dump off to Lively who was waiting in the right spot. Excellent. Then the other this the other passing moment, I’m gonna cheat again. I’m gonna use the same one is the full court against Case Walls where he dumped it off to Dwight Powell. All these changes and you know I still got my dog Dwight Pal. And then the third one is the dime pass to PJ Washington where PJ Washington was cutting and he got fouled and one. Cooper flag gets the rebound on the other end. There’s a there’s a trend here. He gets a rebound in two of these. Gets the rebound, dribbles against Case Walls fullourt. Again, another another instance of this. He gets doubled to the three-point line from PJ Washington’s man. Flag then waits for a second for PJ to cut. PJ cuts and then Flag throws an ontarget pass right over the defender. PJ gets a great finish at the rim. Maybe the finish at the rim doesn’t happen. if they have a real shot blocker back there. But the pass, PJ or Cooper Flag dribbling against Case Wallace again, the patience from Cooper Flag to like read that moment and to wait for PJ Washington to actually make his move before making the pass. These are the things that are going to unlock the Mavericks offense. It’s passing that is going to unlock the Mavericks offense this season. They’ve got to move the ball. It cannot be it cannot stick. They’ve got to pass. They’ve got to move. That’s what the Mavericks have said all off seasonason and definitely during training camp is that they’ve got to do those things. We saw them in the beginning of this preseason game when the the guys were out there and we saw it in good moments and we saw it run by Cooper Flag which is awesome. That’s what you want to see. The passing is going to unlock this offense. Coming up, Lively had some passing moments as well. There was another moment that I think will unlock the offense and then I’ve got something on the defense that showed me that this is going to be special defense. We’ll talk about that and more coming up. Lockdown Mabs continues right now. Today’s episode of Lock Mabs brought to you by Monarch Money. Monarch Money is there for you when you have too much going on. How many of you raise your hand if you have too much going on? I love that somebody out there like you may have raised your hand right there. And I I just love that for us. I love that you raised your hand. 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Don’t let financial opportunities slip through the cracks. Use the code locked on NBA at monarch money to get half off your first year at monarchmoney.com with the code locked on NBA. Dogs. All of us. All five. Dog. You got that dog in. It’s low key. Got to be born with it. Shout out to every Thanks for hanging out with us on Locked on Maps, being part of the show. Part of the raccoon squad. That’s what we call our listeners. Listening every single day. We appreciate you for checking out the show. Check the QR code for different ways to follow the show. Like our text line. Love the text line. There’s a bunch of ways that we can get in contact with you. You can text us. We’ll send you rumors. We’ll send you stuff during the game, after the game, all that kind of stuff. Love that. So, check the QR code for ways that you can get in on that. I’m going over moments from the preseason that stood out to me. And I talked about passing from Cooper Flag specifically a lot. Daniel Russell as well. He had five assists in this game and his passing stood out. We talked about him a lot yesterday. We also talked about Max Christiey’s offball movement. I think that is big cuz you can’t just pass to somebody standing there, right? They’ve got to be moving and so the offball movement is definitely big. But I thought Lively had two assists in this game that were were pretty big because you you see what Lively can bring to a team that it’s not just set a screen, roll to the rim, and finish because the big question about Lively besides health has been what is he going to do on offense if not for Luca Donuch type player? If not for an elite pick and roll player, how is he going to be able to do anything on offense? Is it just taking the three this year? We didn’t see him even kind of line up for a three in that first game. I’m interested to see if that happens at all or Jason K is just gassing us up. I don’t always tell you guys the truth about Derrick Lively taking threes at all this season. There’s two passes, two assists that Dererick Lively had. One of them top of the key. He catches the ball at the top of the key and it’s just a easy back door to Max Christie. A great find, a great pass, pinpoint bounce pass right exactly where you want it. But it’s Derrick Lively at the top of the key. What did I talk about yesterday on the show when the Mavericks had mentioned that they’re going to use Anthony Davis as the Sabonis role, like the hub of the offense, that can change the the the geometry of the court for you on offense. Because if you have this big and Derrick Lively and he’s not going to be a threat to shoot, he may be a threat to shoot eventually, but right now he’s not a threat to shoot. Why doesn’t the defender just sag off of that guy, stay back and then like and not guard him and then be another player in the paint so that you can’t get any more like penetration into into the lane. Well, this is the this is one of the reasons why is because if you are if you have the ball on your hands, that defender’s got to be up on you because you can all of a sudden a screen can be set for you, you take one dribble and then you pass back to that guy or you any kind of other offball movement or a dribble handoff. Isaac was talking about DHO’s a lot the other day. The dribble handoffs are going to be big for the Mavericks. And this is how Sabonis gets most of his assists for the Kings. Lively’s got the ball. Somebody comes over set, you know, or sets a screen for him. All of a sudden, Lively passes the ball out to him. He turns and sets the screen. All of a sudden, that player has the ball with momentum going to the lane because Lively set a good screen for him right there. Dribble handoff. Lively takes the one dribble and hands the ball off to the player that comes around. Lively turns and sets a screen for him. then all of a sudden you you as the defender defending Lively cannot just leave that guy because there’s going to be a screen action and you just can’t be left in the lurch right there. And so that was one of the reasons why that back door to Max Christie was big because of the position that Derrick Ladley was on the court. He started at the top of the key. The next pass he started at the top of the key too. Top of the key and he gets inbound at the ball from Anthony Davis. I’ve talked about this a lot ever since the Mavs drafted Lively. That is like an asset for the Mavericks to have a Derek Lively who is now 7 foot three to catch inbound passes because there were times when the Mavericks had Dwight Pal I’m going to do the drop again. I apologize to anybody that’s annoyed by the drop. I’m not. I still think this is one of the funniest things. I’m going to use it again. There are moments when like Dwight Powell was the only center on the Mavericks. All these changes and you know I still got my dog Dwight Pal and the Mavs couldn’t inbound the ball sometimes. It drove me crazy because they just had smaller guys and they couldn’t like they they didn’t have good inbound plays where they’d had to figure out and they had to call like timeouts sometimes because they couldn’t inbound the ball. It seems like such an easy simple thing but to have Derrick Lively quick inbound the ball. Boom. You don’t have to worry about that 5-second call at all because you got Derrick Lively right there. The Mavs inbound it looked like it was on purpose inbounding to to Derrick Lively. And Dererick Ladley’s like five feet behind the three-point line with the ball in his hands. For a center that’s not like a Joic or a Sabonis or a Shangon or like a dribbling playmaking center, that is a dead zone, right? Like if you are, who should I put on blast? A Yonas Valentunis, a Steven Adams, if you are a Clint Capella, some of these centers, that’s a dead zone. You have the ball in your hands. You’re just waiting for a guard to come get it from you. Not for Derek Lively. He takes a couple of dribbles to the right. Uh Cooper Flag fakes an offball screen for Klay and then he cuts to the basket real quick. Klay Thompson then like instead of taking the screen, he goes quick to the three-point line. It’s they’re hoping that the Mavs are hoping in that moment that both defenders go with flag and then Klay Thompson is open for a three. Isaiah Joe, I think it was on the Thunder doesn’t fall for the fake and he goes with Klay Thompson. And so Klay Thompson doubles back and Klay Thompson goes out to the three-point line and then cuts back into the into the lane. He’s wide open. Derrick Lively after the two dribbles is on the move, makes the pass, you know, reads it and and makes the cut right to Clay back door and finds him. A big moment. The passing is going to unlock it. I’m excited. You I’m excited. I hope that you can tell that I’m I’m excited. I have to apologize that you felt that he should have played more. I hope I wish everybody could have played more because I was enjoying that game. One last moment where that unlocked the Mavs offense. I saw this posted a lot. I think it was uh I think it was uh was it Steve Jones? Was it Steve Jones that posted this earlier today? Yeah, I think I think it was Steve Jones that posted this this play. D’Angelo Russell set a screen for Anthony Davis. It was an inverted pick and roll. Inverted in the sense that usually it’s the guard that has the ball and the screen comes from the big. Now Anthony Davis had the ball and D’Angel Russo set a screen for him. This was what happened a lot with like Luca and Kyrie. They would set screens for each other. But this is different. The Mavs have not had a big that can handle the ball like this that a guard could get set a screen for. And this is a thing that I think opens up everything because Anthony Davis gets a rebound, takes the takes it down the floor himself. DLO sets a screen for him. A double team goes to Anthony Davis and Anthony Davis overhead passes back to D’Angel Russell for a wideopen three. passing and guys being able to do a bunch of different things. Cooper flag being able to grab the ball and rebound it and take it all the way. Derrick Lively being able to be inbounded the ball, dribble it a little bit and then and then make a play. Anthony Davis being able to rebound the ball and take it himself. The Mavs have multiple guys that can do this now and that’s what’s going to unlock the offense. I don’t I’m not trying to gas it up and say it’s going to be a top 10 offense. I’m just saying can we get to 15? Can we get to top 20? Right? This was the problem with the Magic for so many years. They had this elite defense and then they couldn’t even crack top 20 offensively. How will the Mavericks do that? They’re going to do it with their passing. They’re going to do it by having multiple guys that can do multiple things. And we got to see it against a good team, maybe even an NBA caliber team, right? But we can see some of these things and I’m excited for it because I I saw some of the the vision of this team. Maybe not the trade, but I see the I see the vision. I see the vision of it coming up. There was one play that showed me exactly why the Mavs defense is going to be scary. I’m going to tell you what that is. Let’s get into that coming up. Locked on Maps continues right now. Today’s episode of Lock Maps brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel sportsbook. All kinds of things that you can use to get in on the action. And right now, if you’re a new customer, you bet $5 and you win, you get $300 in bonus bets. Let’s see if they got any preseason action going right now. They got some preseason action. Nothing for the Mavericks right now. Mavs to make the playoffs right now. Minus 102. Yes. So, you got to bet $102 to win $100. And then no is minus130. So, you got to bet $130 to win $100. So, they think Vegas thinks that more than likely than not the Mavericks will miss the playoffs. But, it’s not that bad. It’s not It’s not like a crazy one because you look at the Nets. The Net The I didn’t look this up before. The Nets don’t even have odds to not make the playoffs. Like, what would it be, right? Like it would be like plus it would be like minus 100,000 for the Nets to not make the playoffs, but it’s plus 4,000 for them to make it. Oh, that made me laugh. If you’re a new customer, go to FanDuel. Put down $5 on anything you think is an absolute lock and you get $300 in bonus bets to use anywhere else. Again, check out FanDuel, download the app, go to fanduel.com. FanDuel, please gamble responsibly. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know. All right, Isaac, we’re getting into the Dallas Mavericks. We talked about what will unlock the Mavs offense. I think it’s their passing. I think it’s their versatility with a bunch of different guys being able to do a bunch of different things. Their defense. I’ve got this. This is my last play. I told you I got eight plays or eight moments. I’ve gone through seven of them. This is the last one. A play that shows me why their defense is going to be scary. So, one of the things that teams struggle with when you have a shot blocking center, a Derrick Lively and Anthony Davis, is they all of a sudden these a lot of centers have started to shoot threes or you start them at the top of the key. I just mentioned Lively dri handoffs at the top of the key. You got Sabonis up there, you got Joic up there, you’ve got Shenun up there. Like you got these guys that all of a sudden are playing at the top of the key. What does that do? It takes the center, the defending center away from the rim, away from the shot blocking spot, and all of a sudden now you’ve got guards and wings trying to guard the rim below, you know, below the basket. And that is not as effective as your 7 foot3 guy trying to defend there. And so this happened to the Mavericks in this game. Jaylen Williams from the from the Thunder was at the three-point line on the right wing. Derrick Lively was guarding him. So he was away from the rim, right? He was out there on the perimeter guarding just like another wing, just like another guard. Anthony Davis, for some reason, was on Kase and Wallace, I believe, on the left wing. And so, he was away from the rim, too. And you’re like, “Oh, there’s the two shot blocking guys away from the rim.” Now, the Thunder should have clear path right to the rim. Maybe it’ll be hard to dribble past those guys because the wingspan right there, but if they get past any of those guys, the low man or the guy defending the that has to come over and defend the rim is a guard or a wing. Dang, that stinks. This is good positioning for the Thunder to go get something. at the rim. So, Brooks Barnheiser gets past D’Angelo Russell after a screen. He’s going wide open to the basket and who swings over and who slides over and blocks his shot off the backboard is Cooper Flag. You cannot overro, you cannot rotate any of the Mav shot blockers out of the play. I don’t think it’s possible. I don’t think a team has enough shooting. I don’t think they have enough players that are necessarily that are necessary to be defended by big guys to rotate any all three of the shot blockers away from the rim. You pull Lively away from the rim. Okay, Anthony Davis, Cooper Flag is still back there. You pull Lively and Anthony Davis back there. Cooper Flag is back there like this play. Cooper Flag is pulled away because he’s defending somebody else and Anthony Davis’s guy is defending the rim. All right, the center is still back there and Derek Lively. There’s three of those guys at all times that can defend the rim at a really high level. it is going to be hard to pull all those guys away. And I think that is something that is interesting for this team because they’re it’s just going to be it’s just gonna be hard to go to the rim at at these guys. So, I was really excited about that play because it’s just you you talk about it all off seasonason. You’re like there’s these three guys that can all defend the rim and then you see it on the you see it on the court and you go, “Oh, that’s why.” When a team tries to pull the center away, there’s two of them still back there, right? It’s like it’s almost like the uh oh my gosh. It’s almost like the the three-headed dog or the three-headed like the what is the Leviathan or something in Hercules where you cut one of the heads off. I guess it’s Hydra, right? You cut one head off and two will replace it. So you cut off Lively by pulling him away from the rim and two will replace an Anthony Davis and Cooper flag. Oh, sick. That’s going to be hard to play offense against. The Mavs defense is going to be big. I got some big questions about this team still lingering. Um, the map signed Delano Banton. What’s his role? What they what did they bring him in to do? He’s not eligible for a two-way spot and so it’s not going to be that. Jason Kid said this about Delano Banson. It was it was very very informative from Jason Kid. I’m not playing. I’m watching. He said Canadian kid big guard who can pass. We’ll see. He practiced a little today on his first day. It’s true. Dylan Bannon 69 guy who has played in the NBA before. He last played for the um he last played for the Blazers. He’s played like 200 games in the NBA. He’s had some moments. He played, you know, for Boston a little bit. He started his career in Toronto and he had he had some moments there. Played 64 games his rookie year. Uh he had a moment in Portland where Portland was just not playing anybody at the end of the season. Not this year, but the year before when the Mavs went to the finals. Donno Banton averaged 29 points a game or 29 minutes a game and almost 17 points a game in 30 games to end the season for the Blazers. He also added three and a three and a half assists there. About five rebounds. Like he’s had some productive moments in the NBA. Not not a great three-point shooter so far. About 30% from from three and only like 46% from two. So not really not super efficient from him, but he’s had some moments. Big guard who can pass. And the Mavs are looking for, you know, big guys that can pass. the passing is going to unlock it. I’m not really sure what his what his role is at this point, but it was interesting that they they they waved Matthew Cleveland, who could have been in line for one of the two-way spots, and they bring in Delano Banton, who is not eligible for two-way spot. He’s been in the league too too long. He’s been in the league four years already. So, that’s interesting. I’m not I’m not fully going for I’m not fully going for it. I’m not doing the winhorse fingers yet. Like, why did they do that? I’m not doing this. But interesting move. That’s interesting. the MABs two-way spot. Jason Kid was asked about the two-way spot, like what are you looking for in the two-way spot? He said, “Can we get past two weeks? Can we get past two weeks in camp?” Which is just always a funny Jason Kidd remark to me. But he said they’re looking for the most skilled player who deserves it right now. Like Dennis Mc Jr. is not eligible for it. Jeremiah Robinson Earl is not eligible for it. Delano Banton is not eligible for it. I don’t believe Brandon Williams is eligible for it anymore. and he’s got a contract anyway. I guess he’s got a I guess he’s got a contract. So that’s why he’s not he’s not he wouldn’t be eligible. I think the only player on the roster that’s eligible is Musa Cisi right now, the the center that had that really good block the other day. I think he’s the only one that is that is eligible for this spot. So unless they’re bringing in somebody that’s not on the roster, like the Mavs don’t have the M one of the things that the Mavs did was they bring in all these guys that have NBA experience. Dano Bandon, Jeremiah Robinson Earl, Dennis Smith Jr. have all played like over 200 games in the NBA. Got Jay Hardy who’s played Brandon Williams now who has played. Maybe they’re going to wave Brandon Brandon Williams and put him at the two-way. Can they do that? I I think he’s only played three full years. One he sat out one year. So maybe they count that as like a red shirt year or maybe it starts the your first rookie year. I I don’t know on that. That Allen’s an interesting one to me. But I think the Musi is the only one eligible for this other two-way spot. So, it makes me wonder like what are what are they doing? What is the plan here? I think I think we’ve seen this. I think we’ve seen Nico in the past. I can’t remember the exact player. I think we’ve seen Nico in the past just pull somebody out of nowhere and put him put him on the roster and put him as a two-way. I’d have to go back and look, but I don’t know. It was interesting to me. And then the Mavs three guards, Dennis Jr., Dante X, and Brandon Williams did not play in that preseason game. And those three between those three guys, I think two of them makes the roster. One of them can’t. There’s just not enough spots. So, what do they do? Dennis Jr. half practiced on Tuesday. So, that’s good. That’s that’s interesting that he at least was participating in some way. Uh, didn’t we didn’t hear on Brandon Williams. I’m assuming that he did, but we’ll see. He didn’t play in the game. And then Jason Kid said Dante Exom is just out and he didn’t give a reason. So, maybe it’s something personal. He’s been like around the team here and there. So, I’m not sure what’s going on with that situation, but man, like Dante XM not being not being ready to not being healthy. Maybe it’s just because the Mavs have so many health question marks on this team, but man, just give me somebody that’s going to play, you know? Like, just give me somebody in that last spot that’s going to play. Give me Dennis. Give me Dennis over ex him in that last spot. And I know he didn’t play in that game either. And so now we’re just like, all right, but I know Dennis is gonna I know Dennis is going to play. He’s less injuryprone than Exom is. I’m kind of at that spot right now with this last spot. And maybe it’s just because we we love Dennis. He gives us good moments. All these changes and you know, I still got my dog Dwight Pal. I still got, you know what I mean? I do know what you mean, Dennis. But man, I don’t Maybe it’s just the fatigue of like always having guys out in the end of last season and some one of the things with Exom is like, “All right, you’re feeling you’re feeling good. He’s part of the rotation. Oh, he’s out with an injury. Oh, we could really use a guard right now. Oh, he’s out with an injury. He’s just been injuryprone his career. That’s been frustrating.” So to see him out again, I don’t know what it is. Jason Kidd didn’t say what it was. We don’t know if it is even an injury. Could be something different. And if it’s something different and he’s going to come back and and be ready to go, like, all right, I’ll eat my words on that. But just give me Dennis at this point. If if this is if he’s out because of some kind of injury, ju let’s just let’s just move on. Give me Dennis in that spot. Give me Dennis and Brandon Williams. I got two guards that give me completely different things in that that uh that guard spot. You roll with Jaden Hardy, Max Christie, and then eventually Kyrie will come in and Daniel Russell will probably come off the bench at that point. But those are your guards off the bench. Let’s roll with that. Caleb Martin also half practice today. He mentioned that Dennis Jr. and Caleb Martin half practice. So that’s good to hear from Caleb Martin, too. There you go. That’s my thoughts on the Mavericks. Uh check back in. We’ll be back tomorrow with more breaking down the Mavericks. And then fan jam on Friday. We’ll be breaking down that too. Slightly and I have an episode on that. Isaac will not be in attendance. That is not a thing Isaac. Isaac likes to do, but we’ll have stuff on that. Uh we’ll be here for you guys. Thanks so much for listening to Locked on Mavs. Peace out. Boom.

The Dallas Mavericks showcased their offensive potential in their first preseason game, with Cooper Flagg and Anthony Davis leading the charge. Kyrie Irving’s absence didn’t stop the Mavs from demonstrating their improved passing and versatility, hinting at an exciting NBA season ahead.

Nick Angstadt breaks down eight key moments from the Mavericks’ preseason opener, analyzing how Cooper Flagg, Anthony Davis, and Dereck Lively II’s passing abilities could unlock the team’s offense. He also discusses Klay Thompson’s off-ball movement, D’Angelo Russell’s vision, and the potential of the Mavs’ defense with multiple shot-blockers.

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