Naji Marshall

Well, I'll say this, Ole.

Again, everybody seems to, to be all in, okay? I'm seeing more defense out of this team than I've seen since Naji and the gang left, right?

Mm-hmm.

I mean, that's when you know this team was a defensive team.

That 49-win team is what you're referencing, and you're right.

Mm-hmm.

That team had all these role players that really played great defense, right? Besides Herb Jones, you had Dyson Daniels, you had Naji Marshall, Larry Nance, right? Long list.

Jose Alvarado.

[laughs] Uh, all right.

Naji Marshall, they're using him as a point guard.

In this game against the Pelicans, the Mavs did not play Kyrie Irving, they did not play Cooper Flagg.

Anybody that's basically thought of having an injury over this training camp and preseason, they didn't play them in this game.

[laughs] Like, just, just weird.

I don't know how else to say it.

Uh, Max Christie, Naji Marshall, Zachary Eche, P.J. Washington, and Moussa Cissé.

The Pelicans did their own weird starting thing where they basically brought their starters off the bench and started their be- It was a very strange thing.

But that there will be a, a gap there when, when there's back to backs and the Mavs are the most back to backs in the NBA this season.

After Kyrie, Marcus Sasser, Sergio, Naji Marshall has been used as the ball handler as one of the other, like, primary ball handlers.

Dusty May has played him as, like, the one ball handler in a group with a bunch of other wings and bigs so far in the couple games in preseason.

And so I, I, I assume he's going to be one.

Kyrie Irving looks great.

There's no injury concerns about him at all.

But having not seen Marcus Sasser yet, Kyrie Irving coming back from an ACL and being 34 years old, Naji Marshall being the only other ball handler besides Cooper Flagg, that to me looks like a prime role for Sergio de la Rea.

What do we expect in his role? That's next on Mavs Hit.

And while I have some overall concerns about that, the scoring is definitely there, right? So imagine the Pelicans starters sub out down seven.

For a group that features Jordan Poole, Benedict Mathurin, Derek Queen, Jeremiah Fears, Sadiq Bey, seven points, w- especially with how they've played in preseason, doesn't seem like something that they can't necessarily overcome and potentially do that in a flash, right? Compare that to Jose Alvaraz, uh, Alvarado, I'm off today, Naji Marshall, Larry Nance Jr., Dyson Daniels.

Look at that group and the scoring punch that they have.

And through preseason so far, when you look at bench units, um, in terms of scoring, the Pelicans are averaging 72 points per game off the bench through these first preseason games in just 30 minutes per game is basically what the average is for, like, those bench guys.

So th- there is definitely a dearth of shot creation.

I think Naji Marshall, honestly, is probably third in usage on this team-

Mm.

Yeah