Dallas Mavericks: Should fans be worried about the offense?
By Tyler Watts
Dallas Mavericks are still working on their offensive spacing
The Mavs played a five-out offense under Rick Carlisle that left the lane wide open for Luka Doncic to attack. They ran a ton of high pick and rolls and left the 22-year-old superstar to work his magic.
New head coach Jason Kidd is giving the team more freedom on the offensive end of the floor. He is allowing players to post up and not always maximizing the space.
In Kidd’s scheme, the Mavericks often had a player sitting in the dunker spot, which left a defender under the basket to defend when Doncic drove the ball. Fans can see an example below. Willie Cauley-Stein playing where he does makes this an extremely difficult and contest shot for the Mavs star.
The Hawks sold out to defend the paint on Thursday evening, but Dallas had spacing issues that made life easier on the Eastern Conference Finalist. The Mavericks had 48 drives in their season opener and finished just six of 16 from the field off of that play type, according to NBA Stats.
It is not uncommon for teams to struggle out of the gates under a new head coach. The team is still trying to figure out their spacing and who needs to be where at what times. It was a rough start with issues that need to be ironed out, but do not panic quite yet.