But close is not good enough anymore. Rick Carlisle, who has been the coach of the Mavericks for as long as many can remember, is now with the Indiana Pacers. In his place enters franchise legend, Jason Kidd.
Kidd’s history as a coach is checkered. He’s only had a losing record once during his time in charge, but he always seems to wear out his welcome quickly. We’ll have to see if that’s the case in Dallas.
Regardless, the Mavericks should be able to trot out a playoff-caliber team in 2021-22. As has been the case for each of the last few seasons, the franchise has one of the best players in the world in Luka Doncic. For as long as he’s in Dallas, he’ll be topping the list of the team’s best starters.
Kristaps Porzingis will also be near the top of the list. There are persistent questions about whether or not his tandem with Doncic can work long-term. But Porzingis remains a gifted individual player who can be All-Star caliber when fully healthy.
The rest of the starting lineup could be flexible based on matchups on any given night. Dwight Powell could start at center if healthy. Tim Hardaway Jr. is good enough to start for any team in the league, but can also be a spark off the bench. Dorian Finney-Smith brings some much-needed respectability on defense.
Assuming those players comprise the starting lineup, here’s how they rank.
closer to breaking through</a>. The franchise has now made the playoffs in two consecutive seasons, eliminated by the LA Clippers in the first round each time (though they took LA to seven games this year).</p>
<p>But close is not good enough anymore. Rick Carlisle, who has been the coach of the Mavericks for as long as many can remember, is now with the Indiana Pacers. In his place enters franchise legend, Jason Kidd.</p>
<h2>Everything for the Dallas Mavericks runs through Luka Doncic. How does the rest of his starting supporting cast rank amongst themselves?</h2>
<p>Kidd’s history as a coach is checkered. He’s only had a losing record once during his time in charge, but he always seems to wear out his welcome quickly. We’ll have to see if that’s the case in Dallas.</p>
<p>Regardless, the Mavericks should be able to trot out a playoff-caliber team in 2021-22. As has been the case for each of the last few seasons, the franchise has one of the best players in the world in Luka Doncic. For as long as he’s in Dallas, he’ll be topping the list of the team’s best starters.</p>
<p>Kristaps Porzingis will also be near the top of the list. There are persistent questions about whether or not his tandem with Doncic can work long-term. But Porzingis remains a gifted individual player who can be All-Star caliber when fully healthy.</p>
<p>The rest of the starting lineup could be flexible based on matchups on any given night. Dwight Powell could start at center if healthy. Tim Hardaway Jr. is good enough to start for any team in the league, but can also be a spark off the bench. Dorian Finney-Smith brings some much-needed respectability on defense.</p>
<p>Assuming those players comprise the starting lineup, here’s how they rank.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/20/dallas-mavericks-ranking-5-starters/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 5 </a>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_426740" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
<img class="size-full wp-image-426740" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/20/dallas-mavericks-ranking-5-starters/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2134,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2021%2F04%2F1292995928.jpeg" alt="Dwight Powell" width="3200" height="2134" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2021/04/1292995928.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2021/04/1292995928-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Dallas Mavericks Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images</p>
</div>
</div>
<h2>Dallas Mavericks starters ranked: 5. C Dwight Powell</h2>
<p>Dwight Powell has been a part-time starter in Dallas for each of the past four seasons. It’s possible Kidd deploys him in a similar way once again, but it’s also possible Powell gets one more opportunity to contribute in a significant way.</p>
<p>Powell only started about a third of the games he played in last season. The center averaged 5.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. He hit 61.9 percent of his shots, the second-best mark of his career.</p>
<p>The season was one of the worst in Powell’s career as he was phased out of the game plan. Most of his numbers were at their worst since the 2015-16 season. His 16.7 minutes per game were his least since that season as well.</p>
<p>On one hand, it seems like Powell is a player on a clear downswing. He’s already turned 30 years old and is past his peak, which wasn’t particularly high, to begin with. He also struggled to recover from a devastating Achilles’ injury suffered in January 2020.</p>
<p>But Powell should be fully healthy this season, which should be enough for him to boost his numbers and presence early on. Powell did appear to play more like his old self during the playoffs, an energetic help defender and reliable rim-runner.</p>
<p>At this point, Powell is a known entity and that entity is better than what he showed last year. He should be able to bounce back and carve out a regular role in Kidd’s rotation.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/20/dallas-mavericks-ranking-5-starters/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 4 </a>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_417824" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
<img class="size-full wp-image-417824" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/20/dallas-mavericks-ranking-5-starters/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2026,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1190552673.jpeg" alt="" width="3200" height="2026" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1190552673.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1190552673-768x486.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Dallas Mavericks Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images</p>
</div>
</div>
<h2>Dallas Mavericks starters ranked: 4. SF Dorian Finney-Smith</h2>
<p>Dorian Finney-Smith is not a huge producer of numbers. But the wing has been a do-it-all starter for the past two seasons, serving as a reliable piece in Rick Carlisle’s rotations.</p>
<p>Last season was the first where Finney-Smith started every game he played in. He awarded the team with a career-high 9.8 points per game. His biggest strides came in shooting the rock, where his .472/.394/.756 split all represented career-best shooting percentages.</p>
<p>He was even better in the postseason. Finney-Smith shot 43.2 percent from three during the series with the Clippers, averaging 10.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, each of which would be his best if it was in the regular season.</p>
<p>The improvement in Finney-Smith’s game has given him an identity in Dallas’ core. He’s now a prototypical 3-and-D player, ready to do his part on the defensive end and then catch passes from behind the 3-point arc from Doncic and hit them at a solid clip.</p>
<p>Despite really coming into his own in the last two seasons, Finney-Smith is not a spring chicken. In fact, the 28-year-old is the second-longest tenured player on the roster. The first? Dwight Powell.</p>
<p>Finney-Smith is probably not going to get much better than he is now (although that could’ve been said in the past two seasons as well and he proved that wrong). Still, he’s more than serviceable in his role as a starter for the Mavs.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/20/dallas-mavericks-ranking-5-starters/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 3 </a>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_433092" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
<a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/20/dallas-mavericks-ranking-5-starters/"http://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/imagn-images/2018/08/16207887.jpeg">
expectations for the big man</a> to produce will remain high.</p>
<p>Porzingis played in just 43 games last year, but his numbers weren’t bad. He averaged 20.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. He hit 37.6 percent of his threes and shot his best-ever marks from the field (47.6 percent) and the free-throw line (85.5 percent).</p>
<p>He’s also become one of the better players in the NBA when it comes to protecting the ball. His 6.4 turnover percentage ranked right outside the top five in the league, his second straight year in the top 15.</p>
<p>The postseason was a different story. Porzingis’ minutes increased from the regular season, but his production dropped off in a major way. He averaged just 13.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game during the postseason. He also hit less than 30 percent of his 3-point attempts.</p>
<p>Not helping matters is the reported tension between Doncic and Porzingis. Both are young European stars in a market that has supported such players well in the past. But if the Mavs are faced with a decision, they’re choosing Doncic every time. Porzingis will have to cope with that.</p>
<p>There’s no reason to think he isn’t capable of that. Porzingis is already a star and just turned 26 years old. He has the ideal skills for a big man of this age and can carve out a really unique role in the history of the Mavericks franchise, a la Dirk Nowitzki.</p>
<p>Trade rumors will continue to haunt Porzingis for the time being, though. His play at the beginning of the year may determine whether or not his third season in Dallas will be his last.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/20/dallas-mavericks-ranking-5-starters/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 1 </a>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_436756" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
<img class="size-full wp-image-436756" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/20/dallas-mavericks-ranking-5-starters/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1067,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1321827879.jpeg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1321827879.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1321827879-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Dallas Mavericks Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images</p>
</div>
</div>
<h2>Dallas Mavericks starters ranked: 1. PG Luka Doncic</h2>
<p>Who else? Luka Doncic is not just the top player on the Mavs, but he’s arguably one of the top players in the entire NBA. Dallas will run through him for as long as he’ll have them.</p>
<p>Doncic was an All-NBA First Team player for the second time in 2020-21. He averaged 27.7 points, 8.6 assists and 8.0 rebounds per game. All of those numbers are down from the previous season, but they aren’t anything people should be thumbing their noses at either.</p>
<p>Besides, Doncic showed growth in one of the more beleaguered aspects of his game. He hit 35 percent of his 3-point attempts during the regular season, easily the best of his career. He was even better in the postseason, hitting 40.8 percent of his threes.</p>
<div class="embed embed-video"><iframe width="500" height="281" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/20/dallas-mavericks-ranking-5-starters/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/aJBl7RMDlVo?feature=oembed%22 frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p>In August, Doncic signed a five-year, $207 million rookie extension, the largest in the history of the league. There’s no doubt that he’s worth every penny of that.</p>
<p>The hope for the franchise is that Jason Kidd helps unlock some sort of new element to Doncic’s game. What that will be is hard to say since Doncic already does so much, but it can’t hurt to have the tutelage of one of the game’s great point guards.</p>
<p>There has been some drama around Doncic’s future, but that’s part and parcel with being a star in the modern NBA. The extension makes it clear that the Mavericks are rolling with the Slovenian, for better or worse.</p>
<p>The Mavericks hope to start showing some progress this year and advance past the First Round of the playoffs. Luka Doncic will be the reason they succeed.</p>
<div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="dark" data-text="3 bold predictions for Mavs" data-url="https://hoopshabit.com/2021/09/25/dallas-mavericks-3-bold-predictions/" data-call-to-action="Next"> <div class="story-link-next"> <a class="story-link-next-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-next-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/20/dallas-mavericks-ranking-5-starters/"https://hoopshabit.com/2021/09/25/dallas-mavericks-3-bold-predictions/"> <span class="call_to_action">Next:</span> 3 bold predictions for Mavs </a> </div>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—>">