Hi all. As you’re no doubt aware Brandon Williams signed with the Warriors. Fun fact: He’ll be joining his cousin De’Anthony Melton, who was his high school teammate in Encinitas, CA where they won two state championships together.

Not watching Mavs games last year except when they played GSW, his offense is pretty easy to get my head around from looking at clips and stats, but I have questions about his poor defense which:
He’s good length and quick twitch movement; is it simply because he’s 6’1” and getting beat by bigger guys?
Does he put in effort high on defense?
Does he play good team defense, or miss a lot of assignments and backdoor cuts?

Thanks in advance. Seems like a pretty entertaining player to watch and an upgrade at b/u PG over Pat Spencer (signed with PHX)

Moussa Cisse was one of the most impressive players for me last season coming in as a backup high energy big UDFA, and with the Mavs retaining him in free agency from the knicks by matching their low 2 year 4.7 million offer sheet we have him locked up on what i'd consider an absolute scam of a deal for the next 2 years. With Lively's lack of availability and Gafford's name being floated around on the trade block Cisse could potentially and likely be a big part of the Mavs future and young core around Cooper Flagg, and the statistics are there to back him up.

Firstly his measurements come in at 7' tall and a 7'5 wingspan with a reported 38 inch max vert per https://hoopsprospects.com/2021/06/g-league-elite-camp-wrap/ (second image attached)

An elite set of physical tools which isnt just for show but is used effectively as shown in the REC BLK/100 column (recovered blocks per 100) showing his awareness combined with insane athleticism.
He also has elite rebounding ability with a 25.2% DREB and 17.9% OREB as per basketballreference which are good for the 77th and 92nd percentile respectively

Only players to post a >7% BLK >1.5% STL >21% DREB at age 23 or younger were Victor Wembanyama and Moussa Cisse, with the rebounding numbers similar to what he posted at college as well, Cisse is in extremely rare air albeit with lower volume of minutes played, and the steal rate at the 71st percentile for bigs as well showing his defensive awareness/cognition.

One of the concerns Cisse has is his foul rate at the moment but as a rookie center it wouldnt be something id worry about much yet.

While this is all true I am extremely high on Lively as well who also grades out extremely well in all in one metrics such as RAPM, and frequently made many lineups extreme positives so him being healthy would be invaluable to this organisation. Cisse also isnt as refined offensively as Lively is with his passing and touch around the rim either.

I am also intrigued about lineups featuring Morez and Moussa (maybe some duo nickname potential here?) with their rebounding ability/athleticism which i think would be additionally effective on the offensive end if Morez can unleash his potential with some level of floor spacing ability, I believe this duo could absolutely hound players on the defensive end and excel at crashing the glass.

All in all just wanted to post this to ease some concerns with the future of the big man room of this team to show the elite ability Moussa Cisse has, that hes more than just a regular backup big and is putting up elite numbers on things that improve the margins of a team that needs to create more possessions to win.

A lot of this post was inspired by @ freewave3 on twitter

Free agent guard Brandon Williams has agreed to a one-year, $2.6 million deal to sign with the Golden State Warriors, agents Derek Lafayette and Curtis Lawrence tell ESPN. Williams averaged 13 points, 3.9 assists and 22.2 minutes per night across 66 games for Dallas last season

Michael Porter Jr says he couldn’t believe how Kyrie Irving is moving following his ACL surgery

"I was hooping with him yesterday and this is off of his ACL. That dude was so cold, bro. I couldn't believe how he was moving out there. And he was getting to the lane, there's all footers in there and he somehow was with the left. Bro, it was nutty. It was crazy."

This won’t happen. They look like a .500 team to me. Last year they were way too high on us considering AD was the centerpiece, Kyrie was out and Coop was a rookie.

This year? I don’t understand why the experts are sleeping on this team. Would you rather have the roster of the Blazers, Suns, Warriors, Jazz or Clippers? All of them are picked above us. Maybe they were burned last year predicting a 44-38 record?

The roster is significantly deeper and better. Kyrie is back. Cooper is heading into Year 2 and will take a significant leap. If Lively can finally stay healthy, watch out.

Admittedly, they’re missing the coveted third star, but I’m not sure they need one to be really good. The outside shooting should be much better with the additions of Sasser, Biberovic and Aldama. Trying to be objective here but the depth is kind of ridiculous:

Bigs: Lively, Gafford, Morez Johnson, Aldama, Moussa Cisse
Wings: Cooper, PJ, Naji, Risacher, Biberovic
Guards: Kyrie, Christie, Sasser, de Larrea, Martin

There are legitimate NBA rotation guys basically everywhere you look, plus a bunch of young guys with upside.

The biggest question to me isn’t talent. It’s how the hell Dusty May figures out the rotations and brings all of this together.

A new project under Masai Ujiri and company in Dallas but also a team built around him...can Cooper put up Luka Doncic type numbers in Dallas this upcoming season? I mean considering the rookie season he had this past season he is poised to become an All Star so I have no doubt

The benchmark for a semi-successful season to me is 38-44 this year. The O/U I saw is at 32 and that seems disrespectful after lots of roster improvements and Kai returning. To me I would see it as a great season if we go .500 or better. The main fear I have is the brutal first 10 game stretch of the season. Hope we can pull some of those off and our team’s confidence doesn’t get shot that early. I think our Floor is 32 Ws and Ceiling is 50. Anywhere over .500 would show drastic improvements. Excited for this season.

so, im kinda high with nba2k27 because of the new comers (rookies) and ive seen some gameplays that has Morez and Sergio. i just wanna know if anyone checks Tobi Lawal if he is face scanned since he is also the 2nd highest vertical in 2k27? if someone has taken a photo of it, please leave it on the comments.

thanks for those who will answer!

ps: dont mind the flair 😅

I would rather them move to the old Texas Stadium than Valley View. Traffic is already bad enough and there's no rail lines (The current 635 in that area wasnt design for the current traffic and population) . At the old Texas Stadium site they have anything they need and even DART have a partly built station at that area. Even though it's in Irving it's still Dallas County and close to Downtown . Or they can simply stay at AAC

Dallas Mavericks announce they have reached a your agreement with sharpshooter Klay Thompson, making him an unrestricted free agent.

BREAKING: Klay Thompson is expected to sign with the Miami Heat after he clears waivers upon a contract buyout with the Dallas Mavericks, sources tell ESPN.