Defense can win championships, but the Mavericks have the wrong personnel

"Defense wins champions." Dallas Mavericks General Manager Nico Harrison has said that repeatedly since trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis and Max Christie.

It's gotten to the point where most Mavericks fans are likely tired of hearing it, but let's buy into that notion for a second.

Is the current iteration of the Mavericks good enough defensively? READ MORE: Mavericks forward graded well despite team's tumultuous season On paper, the Mavericks have some great defenders.

Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford are great interior protectors, Anthony Davis is an all-around great defender, P.J.

Washington and Naji Marshall are versatile perimeter defenders, and Max Christie has the potential to be a good defender.

Klay Thompson may not have the same on-ball defensive ability that he used to have, he's still smart with his hands and knows where to be.

However, they don't have nearly enough two-way players, and offense still matters.

Dallas is trying to be like the Cleveland Cavaliers, who run two-big lineups with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

The Cavs finished with the eighth-best defensive rating, but that team works because they have two elite playmakers, Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, and Evan Mobley has become a good three-point shooter, shooting 37% from deep on over three attempts per game.

Anthony Davis hasn't shot above 30% from three since the 2019-20 season, which clogs the offensive spacing for everyone else.

P.J.

Washington, who is more of a 4 in today's NBA, is now having to play the 3 and it's a little out-of-position for him.

Mavericks address biggest weakness in latest mock draft And a successful offense leads to a successful defense.

The more teams have to take a shot out of the basket, the more time it gives the defense to set up.

The five best defensive teams in the NBA this season were the Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, LA Clippers, Boston Celtics, and Houston Rockets.

Those five teams all have a few things in common: at least one elite defensive guard, at least one elite defensive wing, and a versatile big.

OKC has a conglomerate of elite perimeter defenders, including Cason Wallace, Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins, and Alex Caruso.

That helped the Thunder lead the NBA in steals per game at 10.3, more than two steals per game ahead of second place.

Boston has a starting five full of positional versatile defenders with Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum.

Orlando has Jalen Suggs, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Franz Wagner.

The Rockets have Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Amen Thompson.

The Clippers have Kris Dunn, Derrick Jones Jr., Kawhi Leonard, and Ivica Zubac.

Dallas currently doesn't have the playmaking or shooting to be like Cleveland after trading away Luka Doncic, and they don't have the perimeter options to be like any of the best defensive teams in the NBA.

Protecting the interior is fine and dandy, but the Cavs and Thunder, who were the two best offensive teams in the NBA, attempted over 40 three-pointers per game this season.

If you can't stop that, you're not going to win many games.

The biggest issue was that this was all self-inflicted.

Dallas had the best defense in the NBA for the final 20 games of the 2023-24 regular season because they had multiple perimeter defenders combined with the interior presence of Gafford and Lively.

Derrick Jones Jr.

departed in free agency and Klay Thompson took his place, but the five-man lineup of Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Thompson, P.J.

Washington, and Lively had a defensive rating of 104.4 in 119 minutes, which would've been the best defense in the NBA if they were a team (OKC had the league's best defense with a 106.6 rating).

Nico Harrison can say "defense wins championships" all he wants.

But they would've been just fine defensively had he not done anything.

READ MORE: Mavericks address biggest weakness in latest mock draft Stick with MavericksGameday for more FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the offseason Follow MavericksGameday on Twitter and Austin Veazey on Twitter More Dallas Mavericks News Mark Cuban fires back at Mavericks' Nico Harrison after Dirk Nowitzki disrespect Mavericks receive positive Kyrie Irving injury update NBA analyst takes vicious shot at Mavericks Nico Harrison Full transcript from Mavericks GM Nico Harrison's polarizing secret media conference.

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