After a Western Conference Finals run that saw the team ride Reggie Bullock and Dorian Finney-Smith into the ground, playing them nearly entire games out of defensive necessity, the thought was, “wow, those guys can really play in the postseason, but we can’t rely on them to play that kind of minutes.” Fast forward to this season, the “defensive help” came in the form of JaVale McGee who couldn’t get off the bench, and then moving half of that dup, Finney-Smith, in the Kyrie Irving trade.
After an inaugural season with Jason Kidd at the helm saw Dallas jump to seventh in team defense, the house of cards came crashing down as Dallas landed in the basement as the league’s 25th-rated defense.