Can Somebody Get Luka Some Help?

see things and I'm like, you did that. Oh well, I mean that makes so little sense that very clearly a wire is loose or there is some sort of flaw in your pattern of thinking that now moving forward, I have to put inside of my brain and how I think about what you're doing insane. Nico Harrison and the Mavericks just signed Kemba Walker as there I don't even know, like as a point guard. I am Shooketh honestly, and I have questions. I like Nico Harrison a lot.

I've met him a few times, been around athletes for twenty years with Nike. We've talked about that. We've talked about that a lot, But there are now questions that must be answered. This doesn't make any fucking sense. There is as an me seen Kemba Walker anytime Kemba Walker. Last time I saw him, he was infuriating Tom Thibodeau with his I think he had the worst defensive rating in the entire NBA. This just defies logic, this move.

It's caused me to now turn the laser beam on you know what I mean, Like someone's been flying under the radar, flying under radar, and then something happens and you're like, all hands on deck, every we need to bring all the books out in and we need to start pouring over every page because I don't trust you anymore. It's like turning a spotlight on a room that has had bad lighting and then you're like, oh my god, Like this place looks like shit, Oh my god, there's

dirt everywhere. Is that a cockroach? But for whatever reason, nobody's talking about it. Nobody's talking about what's going on with the Mavericks. Nobody except for like Reddit Mavericks, Like that's a whole other thing, right, but no national media

is discussing this. So I think we need to do a deep dive into the Mavericks, a team that I've been keeping my eye on and last season as you guys know, they made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals, surprised everyone pretty much a lot of steam heading into this offseason, but then a lot of just to kind of play catch up for people who might not be paying attention all the way Like then, a couple interesting things happened. First, Jalen Brunson did not

come back. He signed with the Knicks, even though Mark Cuban told the world that the MAVs could pay Jalen Brunson more than anyone and that Jalen Brunson wanted to come back, which turned out to be false. Jalen Brunson did not want to come back, and they could not pay Jalen Brunson more than anyone, because they didn't, and that turns out to be probably a bigger loss than anyone could ever have anticipated. This may have sunk this team to levels that we are just yet starting to see.

Brunson was awesome. We know that when Luca was out with the ankle injury, he gave him a secondary scoring option. He could drive into the lane, he could kick, he was a really good decision maker, he could play good defense. And then when he bolted to the Knicks, after basically begging the Mavericks to pay him properly. Underpay me, please, underpay me. Just give me fourteen million dollars a year. That's all I ask. Do it now, please, And they were like nope. So after that move, I thought, I

don't know, maybe they'd get Callin Sexton. Maybe they get Tias Jones, another primary scorer like Malik Monk, who can fill it up from three, who can drive, he can kick, He's like a little microwave. I don't know. Or maybe they just get somebody steady, veteran role player like Mike Conley. But when they didn't do a goddamn thing, I was like, oh, no, Spencer Dinwiddie that this can't be the plan, can it. Spencer Dinwidy can't be the plan. He is not that

You're not that guy. Peal like you're not. So then they did another thing. They went out surprised everyone else by adding another concern center forward, grab Christian Wood from the rockets right underneath the rockets, nose savvy move. I was like, Okay, that's a nice upgrade. We'll see what they do. We'll see, all right, they'll make this move, They'll find another guard they'll fix some things. They were supposed to get Draggis, friend of Lucas from the Slovenian team.

Then he came out. It was like came out that he was going to be a mascot. He was not gonna play any minutes. He's just gonna be Luca's friend on the team. And Dragas was like, no, I'm not, I'm not just somebody's fucking cheerleader. He's serious. So he bolts, he goes to Chicago. He's getting twenty minutes a night, by the way, Chicago eighteen minutes per game or something like that. And so then then they did get a guard, like right when the season started, Facundo Campozo from Denver.

No shade to Camposo. He gave the Blazers some good some good minutes when he was with Denver, like he puts some buckets up on our head. He played twenty minutes for the Nuggets. But like, come on, he was a former teammate of Lucas as well. This is like a friend of Lucas show and great glue guy. So I don't know, maybe it was like we appease Luca for not signing Dragicic. Okay, well, that's something. They didn't do it. They didn't do a lot of things, but

at least you did something. And then Nico Harrison came out and said he was very happy with the way that the roster was constructed. And I said to myself, that's something that's alarming. Either that's a lie or that's alarming. And then Christian Wood comes out and puts up twenty five, twenty five, and twenty three in the first three games, and I'm like, oh, okay, Nico Harrison, Okay, I see

what you're doing. You're gonna acclimate Christian Wood into the team, play him off the bench, acclimate him into a scoring starting player role. Okay, So the secondary score is not gonna be a guard. Secondary Score is gonna be a big man, all right, got it. Luca can throw lobst him, he can create on his own, he can shoot threes. Great, great, great. And that lasted about two weeks. Two weeks before the

chatter got kind of loud. Within MAV's world. There was a starting center who is I think one of the worst in the league, Javal McGee. He's not played well. And if I didn't have friends who I know trained Javal McGee. You're probably listening to this podcast. I would say something mean, but I'm not going to. I will not say Javal McGee is playing like Booty Cheeks. I

will not say it. And when Dwight Powell then gets the start over Javal McGee, when mcguil McGee proved that he doesn't have his legs yet, or he's not conditioned yet, or whatever Nico Harrison says is going on, they wondered what was going on? Hey, when are we gonna see Christian Wood start? We got Dwight Powell, we got Javal McGee, we got all these boom and crickets from Jason Kidd. Then the losses continue to mount up. Triple doubles now become the norm for Luca in El's Big El's and

then all right, what do we do? Then you see some drama. Christian Wood comes in the third quarter, they lose that game. Lucas like, I like that starting that starting group coming in the third quarter. I like Christian Wood. Jason Kidd says, that's when we lost the game. Christian Wood's the reason we lost the game. That that was like, it's because it's defense, the lineups that he is or are the lineups and the times that he is in are pivotal moments when the MAVs fall apart. So that

I started playing little unsolved mysteries. What's going on here deep dive style is what is happening? And I went down a rabbit hole. I ended up with four major questions that I think are in desperate need of answers. First, is there a secret society inside of Dallas? I'm dead serious run by Jason Kidd? Is there a cupball? Shall I say a cup ball ran by Jason Kidd that is secretly black balling Christian Wood because I cannot figure out, for the life of me, why he's being treated this

way in Dallas. A radio station just the other day after the Mavericks barely beat the Warriors, which is just a shame, like they should be smashing the Warriors right now, but it came down in the final second. So they asked him after that win, asked Nico Harrison, what is it gonna take, Niko for Christian Wood to start games and or close out games? His response was, you know, starting games doesn't really matter. Being started doesn't matter at all.

It's really just all a matter of how many minutes you play. And then in terms of like closing out games, it all really just has to do with who's playing well that particular night. So maybe just Christian's not playing well that particular night and so he's not closing. Oh my god, is that not bullshit? Okay, all right, okay, Nico, to stay with you. Let's just bring Luke off the bench.

How about that? What do you think about that? If it doesn't matter, if it doesn't matter how many times people are starting, or let's just bring Luke off the bench,

will give him thirty five minutes. And I started thinking about this about a month ago when my Twitter timeline had a sort of chatter about this cabal, a shadowy organization led by Jason Kidd that has decided to deep six christian Wood for what reason I don't know, but for an example, Jason Kidd decided to take a shot at christian Wood after blowing a sixteen point lead to the Thunder and he said that the only reason that they lost, only reason is that christian Wood couldn't play defense.

Kid went out of his way to say, I left christian Wood in the game, and you see, see this is what happens when I leave him in the game. That's why he can't be in the game and pivot moments. He singled him out directly for the poor play that the team had when he was on the floor, and that's why he's on a milk carton. And there was another game earlier this year. I think I even talked

about it. Christian Wood scored sixteen consecutive points to end the third quarter and to start the fourth quarter against the Suns, gets benched, never returns to the game in a game where the MAVs blew a twenty two point lead to the Suns and lost. I think that might have been Game one. He didn't play the final six minutes and the league was just evaporating, So it's not like he had Jason Kidds trust and then lost it. I think that was Game one of the NBA season.

Things have started to get kind of weird a month ago and they haven't changed since. And then they asked in the postgame presser what it was like watching them piss away a lead from the bench, Christian Wood says this, I'm just happy to be a part of this team. Yeah, it's just a trust thing. I have to build trust with this team. I'm on a new team. Once I do that, I think will be good. I don't think they're gonna be good. I don't. And like, maybe Christian

was not the best defender. That's true, he's not. He's had defensive liability reputation stuff for his entire career. But like, have you seen these guys that are supposed to be putting out buckets next to Luca? Have you seen them? Like Dwight Powell? Who, who, Who's gonna do that? Reggie buck who? This shit is weird? Is super weird, like dude, like that kind of weird. And basically what Jason Kidd has said out loud is like I don't trust Christian

would enough on defense to close out games. I don't trust them enough to start games. And you know what, people on Twitter fans are getting tired of this shit. When the MAVs have Luca, Wood and Green on the floor, they have the best net rating in the NBA, Yes, with those playing together, and then ninety seven point six rating defensively with those three that is absurd. Let me get you the full stat terms of offense ratings and

defense ratings. When they're three on the floor, they have a one hundred and twenty seven point one offensive rating when it's Luca christian Wood and Josh Green, ninety seven point six defensive rating, and a twenty nine point five net rating when they're on the floor. That is the best offensive and defensive and net rating with any of their seventy nine three man combos that have played twenty minutes or more. What is happening in Dallas? Insert those?

What is happening in Dallas leads me into my second question, who's actually running this team? Who is running the MAVs? Is it Nico Harrison? Because if it's Nico Harrison and he's getting Kemba Walker, he can't be there like you're you should sell shoes, you know. And I don't think it's him anymore. I think it might be Mark Cuban. Last year, there was a bunch of think pieces that

came out about the dumpster fire in Dallas. You had Donnie Nelson Junior getting fired, and then another analytics executive, heralbos Vulgaris, he got forced out they can and then Vulgaris compared the franchise's dysfunction to a high school drama. Jason Kidd's first year. As we know he likes water parks, so kind of like a water park or a roller coaster. A lot of dysfunction was buried because winning cures everything

right and the MAVs get hot. But that was last year, and it's clear that maybe Nico doesn't have as much control over things as we thought. Right, things went well last year, and if Cuban still doesn't trust you and he's got his fingers in the pie, that's a problem. Cuban even admitted this, he said, I micro manage you until I trust you. I don't Mark Cuban micromanaging Dick not a thing. He's terrible if he's still calling the shots. How much power does Nico Harrison really have? How much

agency over the roster does Jason Kidd even have? He clearly has power over who plays and who doesn't put. Does he have say over personnel decisions? Is the reason that he's blackballing Christian would because he never really wanted him there in the first place and got forced Christian Wood on him. Third question, probably the thing that most people refuse to talk about the most. This roster is dogshit. They are horrible. This is a horrible roster, barring a trade.

I don't think it just gets better. It is basically Luca and a bunch of role players. That's what they said last year, but they had Jalen Brunson. Jalen Brunson can put up thirty any single night. He's putting up thirty for the Knicks. They if you didn't think Luca had helped last year with Jalen Brunson, what do you think he has now? There is no second option. I'm sorry, Spencer,

You're You're not that. You're not Jalen Brunson. You're a guy that can give you thirty on one night and then like two for the next four games combined, and then like you sit out with a sword thumb for the next six games. Like that's you. You are unreliable

as a scoring option that this team misses Brunson. But even Brunson liked the tweet, stating how important he was as a second option last year in Dallas, where they were like, oh yeah, remember when you guys said Jalen Brunson that Luke didn't have any help and just showed Jalen Brunson's stats. Yeah, Jalen Brunson balling now and Jalen

Brunson liked that tweet. Yeah. I mean, remember Nico and Cuban thought that Campazzo was a reliable replacement to Jalen Brunson, and then when that didn't work, and immediately he never got any playing time. I think he'd played like four minutes a game, like, so that was never gonna be a thing. Now he's got Kemba Walker. Do we actually think Kemba Walker is gonna get any minutes? If you don't like Christian Wood's defense, let me introduce you to

Kemba Walker, the Washed Kemba Walker. It's it's just bad. It's just bad. The team is currently twenty ninth in assist per game, twenty one point two per game, and assist percentage. They are a terrible three point shooting team. They rank nineteenth in the league shooting thirty four point four percent. Luke is a part of that too, by the way, He's only shooting thirty one percent from three right now. Combine with the fact that they don't shoot

free throws well. Also, Luca is a big part of that as well, twenty sixth in the league shooting seventy two point seven percent. Like, this team can't buy a fucking bucket none. They need somebody to help them. I don't know, make a good decision. Shoot, find someone who's open. We talked about Christian Wood, but when you break down how their center play has been without Christian Wood, JaVale McGee started the first couple of weeks of the season.

He was so bad. In fifty one minutes he played with Luca, he was allowing fifty points in the paint per thirty six. That was the worst in the NBA. Then he gets bench for Dwight Powell, who started for center at center ever since. The maps are five and eight. When Powell starts, he's averaging five and three in seventeen minutes. He's probably one of the worst starting players in the NBA right now. No shaded DWIGHTE. Powell. Nice guy, he's a glue guy. He's a hustler, great locker room person.

But like in an eight game stretch where the MAVs went three and five, he was a net negative twelve Christian Wood plus twelve. This is so bad. This roster stinks. McGee and Powell have been terrible. This team is thirtieth right now in rebounds per game with thirty eight Milwaukee is number one with forty nine per game. They're also twenty ninth in blocks, meaning they have no rim protection

the center, center and point guard. I don't know, that's pretty important to have, right, Like, I don't know, just maybe that's just me. Their only consistent play out of the position has been from christian Wood. He doesn't even play more than twenty five minutes a game. Keep in mind, Dallas is plus eight point seven points per one hundred possession when Luca plays with christian Wood and negative point two when Luca plays without christian Wood. Are these stats

available to Jason Kidd? Like? Does he know these things? Is it just me that I just only get access to this? Someone tell him The MAVs, like I said, with Luca, christian Wood and Josh Green have the highest net rating of all their three man combos. The secret cabal is real, folks. But you have a roster full

of role players in glue guys. Let's talk about him, JaVale McGee, Tim Hardaway, Reggie Bullock, Pazzo at one point, Maxi Kleaba, Davis Berton's Frank Nilikina, Like some of these guys wouldn't even sniff a roster on good teams, Like do you think Maxi Klaba is getting time for anyone? He's a good player, he has some good moments. He'd probably probably play on the Lakers. All good role players, all good guys, all very limited, like a lot of spot up shooting. No one can put put the ball

on the ground at all. This is probably the least talented roster of any potential playoff team in the NBA. Like, where is that secondary score when Lucas having an off night? Where is the big man like Draymond Green who can read and react, making the right play, forcing defenders into making a decision so that they can drive and kick. They do not exist. They do not exist when you have Luca and glue guys loss that is horrible. He could put up fifty every night, it wouldn't even matter.

Fourth and finally, pretty much the final point that I will make is that this team obviously can't survive with just Luca. Luca has one of the highest usage rates in the NBA, because you could use His rate is thirty seven point nine, which is in the ninety nine percentile, playing like the most amount of minutes of anyone in the NBA. Right now we're talking about like Steve Nash running KD into the ground type of minutes. He's playing more than thirty eight minutes per game, Like I said,

leads the NBA. Not a recipe for success with the guy who's like kind of always been out of shape, kind of always had some soft tissue, is injury issues? Right? Has hurt his ankle, didn't even play the first two games of the playoffs. Like, what is you can't do this? This is not do you feel what I'm feeling here? This is something is wrong. You guys are failing, Luca,

How is this happening? You can't have this kind of imbalance, putting this much pressure on one guy's shoulders and expect this team to win games and expect him to stay healthy if you even get into the playoffs. All of these questions and no answers. Honestly, I don't know him. I don't know him, and you know who won't give me him? Nico Harrison. He did a fifteen minute interview. They were asked real questions. He's asked them, Hey, what's gonna take for a Christian Wood to start? What's gonna

take for Christian Wood to close? Hey? Do you think Jason Kidd's playing mind games, and like, he didn't say a damn thing in that fifteen minutes. The only thing I got from him is, yeah, shit got fixed last year, so I'm excited that it's gonna get fixed this year. What that was his greatest piece of excitement of this year? They asked him, what are you most excited about about

this team? And he said, well, we were in this exact same spot last year ten and nine and we turned it around, So I'm excited that we're going to turn it around this year. You're the thing you're most excited about hasn't even happened yet. We don't even know if it will happen. If you're not even talking about Luca putting up a triple double, that's not what you're excited about. This is coming from a guy who signed Kemba Walker. You don't have any slack left in your rope.

We need accountability. Forgive me if I'm skeptical of a guy who thought Composo was the answer, who said he was happy with the roster when he got rid of Jalen Brunson and brought in No One, bringing in Composo and Kemba to replace Jalen Brunson is like replacing like a dope ass Triumph motorcycle with a limescooter you found on the side of a fucking sidewalk and you don't even know if it's got a battery in it or

if it's just been left there. And then when that didn't work, you just went and got like an e bike that you can rent per minute. Like Kemba's the kind of thing you rent per minute because you don't know how long it's gonna really give you. Nico's interview generated the following nuggets. I'm really excited. We didn't start well out. We didn't start out well last year either, and we found a way to turn things around. I'm

still waiting for Javail to be Javail. I'm excited. I didn't think Wood would be as much of a scorer as he is. When he was asked, are you aware of the frustration from fans about where Christian Wood is at the end of the game, His response, who ends the game is just who's playing best? When asked, why isn't Christian Wood starting games? Doesn't matter who starts games? And on Kemba, Kema can make shots at a high level.

That's the reason we're bringing him in. Composo is great, but he is not the shot maker that Kemba is. This is a bad interview. As for the MAVs, can this roster be fixed? I don't know, five hundred basketball if that happens, Will Jason Kidd be fired? Is he on a short leash? Is Mark Cuban already feeling the same things we're feeling? Will Cuban ever trust anyone to run this organization? Who's next on the Secret Cabal's list

of players blackballed from Jason Kidd's list? So many questions, And I'm sorry, Mavericks fans, I don't think you're gonna get any solutions anytime soon.