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It’s Official: Mad Scientist 5-Man Lineup Season Begins

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Photo Credit: Prewitt Scott-Jackson

Hey MMB, been a while! Gee whiz, I haven’t posted in.. let me check.. welp, iCalendar just says LITERALLY FOREVER in all caps. That's strange.

Look, I’m currently drunk af on Mavs Kool-Aid after drafting Luka and finally landing DeAndre so figured now is as good a time as any to reemerge from my cave.

With the heavy-lifting portion of the offseason in the rearview I wanted to take us all on a field trip to Rick’s laboratory where he is most certainly already scheming and tirelessly calculating all of the lineup possibilities for the 2018-2019 NBA season.

Some of the following lineups are purposefully ridiculous, because in Rick’s laboratory, there are no rules!

Anywho, without further ado... Happy Rick "The Warlock" Carlisle 5-Man Lineup SZN y’all!

The Starters

Dennis Smith Jr., Luka Doncic, Harrison Barnes, Dirk Nowitzki, DeAndre Jordan

or

Dennis Smith Jr., Wes Matthews, Luka Doncic, Harrison Barnes, DeAndre Jordan

There seems to be a consensus out there that the starting lineup for the Mavs comes down to a decision between Wes Matthews and Dirk Nowitzki. Another way to frame that decision? Which do you think Luka and the starting squad will benefit from the most: Dirk’s gravity and elite shooting or Wes’ defense and streaky 3pt shooting?

Me, personally??

I want Dirk starting. For one, he’s Dirk. He should start because his name is Dirk Nowitzki. It's that simple. I *need* to hear the Mavs PA announcer herald him onto the court à la Paul Bettany in 2001’s A Knight’s Tale.

Besides, Dirk’ll be the first to come off the floor so they can stagger his minutes with the bench unit(s) and restrict his minutes overall.

Secondly, Harry B’s best position is the 3. I’m fine with him switching onto bigs obviously (that’s a huge part of what made Golden State’s original ‘Death Lineup’ so special) but I believe his best primary position is at the 3 and Harry cannot do that if Wes is the starter.

Lastly, despite being fully aware Dirk is 7yrs older now, I am holding out hope that the Dirk/DeAndre front court pairing brings out the best in our team much like the Dirk/Tyson pairing did in 2011.

As Mavs fans we know better than most that crazy elite vertical spacing + Dirk’s gravity = hella good offensive looks for the entire team. Even if it’s a shell of what Dirk/Tyson was - even just a tiny sliver of what Dirk/Tyson was - I will take it, because that combination unlocks beautiful Mavericks basketball.

So here are my starters for ’18-’19: Dennis Smith Jr., Luka Doncic, Harrison Barnes, Dirk Nowitzki, DeAndre Jordan

Actual Bench Units

For this exercise I’m limiting myself to only having two starters in any given bench lineup. Also, a reminder that in this controlled experiment I have selected Dirk as a starter over Wes.

Here are three bench units plus the garbage-time lineup I could see Tricky Ricky rolling out next season:

Balanced/Experienced Bench Unit

J.J. Barea, Yogi Ferrell, Wes Matthews, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwight Powell

This rather salty bench lineup consists of 4 bench guys alongside the honorary bench guy in Dirk. It’s a proven Mavs lineup that has gobs of positive minutes playing together already. JJ & Powell alone were instant offense last season, leading the Mavs to boasting one of the best benches in the NBA.

As stated, this lineup will provide plenty of offense, but I also think it will provide just enough defense against other teams’ second units between Yogi and Wes’ perimeter hounding and Powell’s (sorta) switchability. This lineup won’t rebound or defend the paint for shit, but whatevs, at any given point you can get buckets running JJ/Dirk or JJ/Powell two-man game with Yogi and Wes waiting on the wings to fire away.

Young Guns Bench Unit

Jalen Brunson, Dennis Smith Jr., Luka Doncic, Dwight Powell, Salah Mejri

This effectively is Rick’s 3-PG lineup of the future with JB, DSJ, and Luka. I’m anxious to see these three on the court together once JB has some minutes under his belt to get his confidence going.

I know Salah’s an older fella but he’s got very few NBA miles on those tires. I mostly slotted Salah here because he’s basically the only paint protector we have off the bench. In this scenario I’d be just as happy with Kleber at the 5 given he at least poses some kind of threat to shoot. Hell, I’d even be down for Spalding here at the 5 if he shows out at training camp and during preseason.

I’m keeping Powell in this lineup as a means to maintain a lob threat being on the court.

Luka Point God Lineup w/ a Healthy Side of Wings

Luka Doncic, Wes Matthews, Ryan Broekoff, Harrison Barnes, Maxi Kleber

I think a "switch-everything" lineup of this sort is what ultimately gets the Mavs back to the promise land one day. Not with these players obviously, but a lineup that features Luka as the primary ball-handler/creator surrounded by interchangeable wings and a "5-out" center.

If you’ve been paying attention to DSJ’s offseason work, it seems like DSJ and the Mavs are already working towards this end. If DSJ’s defense and off-ball movement/shooting improves, Dennis could be your new Wes but with handles and crazy athleticism. You add Barnes to those two with switchable competent shooters at the 4 & 5 and you got yourself something special.

The Garbage Men

Jalen Brunson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Kostas Antetokounmpo, Ray Spalding, Johnathan Motley

I like the name I gave the Mavs garbage-time lineup because you can additionally refer to this lineup as "The G-Men" which sounds hella clandestine and James Bond-like plus all of these dudes have already spent time in the G-League (or will be there soon in the case of the rookies).

Pretty dang fun custodian lineup if you ask me.

The Deep End

Now let’s take a detour into the dark recesses of Rick’s brain, to his computer-like mind’s recycle bin if you will.

And wouldn’t you know it, lucky for us Rick forgot to empty the bin!

[Commences with dumpster diving]

The Shootin’ 5

Yogi Ferrell, Wes Matthews, Ryan Broekoff, Harrison Barnes, Dirk Nowitzki

Shooters, Shooters, Shooters oh my! Harry B could be the weak link here but for a 4 he can shoot from mid-range or from 3pt range at an above-average clip.

Length Squad

Luka Doncic, Harrison Barnes, DFS/Kostas, Ray Spalding, DeAndre Jordan

Luka and Harry B as your starting backcourt with Doe Doe or Kostas at the 3. Barely went with Spalding over Powell at the 4 but alas, it ain’t called Length Squad for nothing! Got DAJ cleaning up at the 5.

GIMME ALL THE LENGTH!

Rick’s Wet Dream 5-PG Lineup

J.J. Barea, Jalen Brunson, Yogi Ferrell, Dennis Smith Jr., Luka Doncic

If Rick rolled out this lineup in real life the 3-PG lineup haters of Mavsdom might quite literally melt away into the void. Honestly, I’m here for it.

Anyways, people keep saying DSJ and Luka are the Mavs backcourt of the future but in Rick’s fantasy world they are the Mavs frontcourt of the future with DSJ at the 4 and Luka at the 5!

Rick’s Nightmare 5-C Lineup

Ray Spalding, Dwight Powell, Maxi Kleber, Salah Mejri, DeAndre Jordan

When Rick wakes up in the middle of the night with "the ‘sweats" this is the lineup giving him nightmares. Spalding has the best handles of the group so he’s your starting point guard lolz.

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Now that you have survived 1200+ words on 5-man lineups I want to know which starting lineup do you prefer? What sensible bench combinations are you most interested in seeing? Got any crazy lineups to add to the likes of ‘Length Squad’? Let me know in the comments.

Reader submitted. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of our editorial staff.