Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavs Ready to Showcase New Defense, 'Emphasized Rebounding'

For a team that was dead last in rebounding last season, it's no surprise that Luka Doncic and the rest of the Dallas Mavericks are putting extra focus on improving on the boards heading into the 2023-24 season.

After missing the playoffs despite having two superstar talents in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving on the roster, the Dallas Mavericks knew that big changes needed to be made over the summer. Out of all the areas the Mavs need to improve, defense and rebounding stand out from the rest, given that Dallas had the 25th-ranked defense and was dead last in rebounding last season.

Ahead of their preseason opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Abu Dhabi, which tips off on Thursday, Doncic and other Mavs, to no one's surprise, named rebounding as the main area the team is focusing on heading into the new season.

“One thing we want to emphasize this year is rebounding. We got to get better on our rebounding," Doncic said.

The Mavs have a great shot of improving in that specific area this year, not only because they made key front court additions including Dereck Lively II, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, Grant Williams and Richaun Holmes, but also because there's quite literally nowhere else to go but up after being the worst rebounding team in the entire NBA.

“I think defensively we were fine,” Tim Hardaway Jr. said, defying the Mavs' bottom-five worst defensive ranking from last season. “It was ending the possession. ... It’s more securing the ball once you get the stops. I think that was one of our big struggles. So I think continue to work on rebounding, ending the possession, gives us a lot more opportunities on the offensive end to do what we love best.”

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic grimaces after pulling down a rebound during the 2022-23 NBA season / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Specifically, the addition of Lively, who is being mentored closely by Mavs legend and player development coach Tyson Chandler, should give Dallas a boost on the boards, as his teammates and coaching staff have done nothing but praise his skill, work ethic and maturity since training camp began. However, personnel isn't the only reason the Mavs believe they'll be better rebounding the ball, as head coach Jason Kidd plans to make several defensive adjustments from what we witnessed last season.

“When you look at being able to rebound the ball, [that's] something we’ve always struggled with. Hopefully, some of these adjustments defensively will put us in a better situation to rebound the ball," Kidd said.

“There will be a lot of things that we have changed to adapt to today’s game. We’ll see how it goes in preseason. As coaches, we have all these great ideas. Until we put them out and see that they don’t work, and then we have to make a change. But hopefully these changes will put us in a better situation defensively.”

We'll get our first look at the new-look Mavs and those defensive changes on Thursday, as both rookies, Livley and Prosper, are expected to join Doncic, Irving and Williams in the starting lineup. Will it be enough to make Dallas significantly better on the boards? What better way to test it out by trying it out against three-time Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert, who has averaged double-digit rebounds for eight consecutive seasons?

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