Luka Doncic's Mavs Seek Needed Identify, Chemistry & Improvement on Defense

After a poor 2022-23 season, Luka Doncic's Mavs aim to establish a winning identity. What changes do they foresee occurring?

DALLAS — After finishing with a 38-44 record, the Dallas Mavericks must get creative with addressing key roster concerns around Luka Doncic. The themes when diagnosing what went into the team's shortcomings include a lack of chemistry, defensive execution, and the need for an identity. 

"I think if you look at the makeup of the roster, it’s not a defensive team," Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. "We have to do it as a group and we were inconsistent with that throughout the season. ... Offensively, we were consistent, but defensively we were not.”

Between an underwhelming team defense, a heavy early-season workload for Doncic, and no shortage of one-dimensional role players, the Mavs failed in how they built the roster. It started with losing Jalen Brunson for nothing, then was exacerbated by waiting until the midseason trade deadline to replace him, while creating new holes to an already unacceptable supporting cast.

Doncic acknowledged the need for the Mavs to undergo changes before the start of the 2023-24 season. He highlighted the sense of chemistry the team felt during their Western Conference Finals run, but acknowledged again, that change is needed.

“Some things got to change you know, for sure,” Doncic said. “Last year, we went to the Western Conference finals. We were having fun. I always talk about the chemistry we had. It was great. But some things got to change, for sure.”

With such a steep decline in results from last season, it's natural for some to question if the Mavs had simply overachieved last season. Was the approach a sustainable one? If not, how can they establish an identity to consistently achieve success?

“I wouldn’t say we overachieved (last season),” Kidd said. “I think we just did things to pay attention to details. But we were, I think, more defensive-oriented last year.

“But that’s across the board. The league was more offensive-minded this year. You had more 40-point games. You got to have a defensive mind. But we were on the offensive side of the ball and we did that well.”

The focus from a roster building standpoint will be to add length and defensive contributors. Without a solution found for rim protection and fewer wing defenders coupled with already having rebounding woes, there's a lot to address.

“This summer we’ve got to get better defensively,” Mavs owner Mark Cuban said. “Length could help, but we’ve got to rebound the ball.

“That was one of the biggest things. I thought even last year we struggled to rebound the ball at times.”

Before any of that can be addressed, the Mavs must do what they can to retain the services of Kyrie Irving and Christian Wood. Losing them for nothing would leave them having burned trade assets and without spending power to replace them. 

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