Why Moussa Cisse Impressed in the Dallas Mavericks vs New Orleans Pelicans Game

Just got done watching Mavs versus Pelicans in the preseason, and this was a wild, weird game.

If you listen to the Locked On Mavs, Slightly and I broke it down, and there's just some weird stuff that happened.

The Pelicans started their, like, their, their starters on the bench.

They just-- They just did weird things.

Cooper Flagg and Kyrie didn't play and all that.

But Musa Cisse got the start for the Mavericks, and he's somebody that we've been watching because one of the stories of the Mavericks training camp and preseason and all this is Dwight Powell.

Is Dwight Powell gonna make the roster? Mark Stein, one of the, you know, pre- preeminent reporters in the NBA, walked into the press conference before the game with Dusty May.

I was sitting there, and I saw Steiny walk in, and all of a sudden he sits down and he goes, "Dusty, has, uh-- do you have any comment on, on Dwight Powell, like, forcing his way onto the roster, basically? Is Dwight Powell gonna force his way onto the roster?" And so...

And Dusty said, "You know, I don't really get into the, the that because it's the front office's job and all that, but Dwight has impressed us, and Dwight has-- You can just see that there's a connective tissue when Dwight's on the floor, and you can just tell that Dwight is somebody that is additive to this, this Mavs team." And so he was complimentary, of course.

And so my theory still stands on Dwight Powell is that the Mavs brought him in to be, you know, the, the, the coach on the floor, to be that veteran leadership guy during training camp, during preseason, during this China trip.

They wanted the vibes to be good, and Dwight Powell is an absolute good vibes bringer, which is great.

He's great for team morale and all that.

And then the roster crunch will happen at the end of training camp, and the Mavs will, you know, let him, let him go or give him a development coaching job or some kind of coaching job in the front office or, and make him an ambassador.

Like, I don't know what they could, the Mavs could do.

Or the Mavs owners.

I don't know what the Mavs owners [chuckles] could have access to.

[laughs] So they'll, they'll do that with Dwight Powell and give him an opportunity to play with this team and showcase himself so that he can maybe go play for the Timberwolves or the Lakers or s- or something like that later.

What does this have to do with Musa Cisse? Musa Cisse came out and played really well for the Mavericks today.

Had eight points, six boards, three blocks in just 16 minutes.

Twisted his ankle, but he played really well.

And it's good to see Musa Cisse play really well because he was one of the players that the Mavs could decide to cut.

Like, he's one that is not signed for next season, and so they could, like, remove his contract, and then they could just decide to go forward and be like, "All right, well, that, that, that's what we're doing.

That's how we keep Dwight on the roster, just cut ties with Musa, and then we'll go from there." But I'm really glad they didn't, and I'll tell you why.

That's next on Mavs Hit.