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Kidd updates Porzingis' status
Kidd updates Porzingis' status

'Spoiled Oatmeal': Jason Kidd Must Change Mavs’ Starting Lineup Around Luka Doncic

After five straight games of playing from behind after the first quarter, the time has come for Jason Kidd to make a starting lineup change for the Dallas Mavericks. Will he, though?

“This isn’t instant oatmeal,” said Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd after his team's first win of the season in Toronto last weekend. “This is going to take some time to cook.”

In some ways, that statement makes sense, because some teams and players do need time to get things going at the beginning of a new season.

But what if ‘oatmeal’, instant or not, is already spoiled? What's the point in continuing to let that cook?

That's the feeling you get from Kidd continuing to start Dwight Powell at center after five consecutive games where the Mavs have gotten off to slow starts. After three straight wins when having to play from behind, it finally caught up with the Mavs in a 106-75 blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday night.

“It starts with me,” said Doncic after the loss. “I have to be way better. That game is on me.”

Every game this season, Dallas has trailed after the first quarter. And to be fair, not all of the blame is on Powell's shoulders, because Doncic and others have had their fair share of struggles as well. But as poorly as Doncic has shot the ball early on this season, the man simply needs more space around him right now to help get him going again. 

For that to happen, Powell can't continue to start at center.

The idea of the Mavs having a 'Leadership Council' is cool and all, I guess, but at the end of the day, no matter how much Doncic, Porzingis or Hardaway Jr. say they want Powell starting, Kidd will eventually need to overrule the council and shake things up. You can get away with starting off games in a slump when you're playing the Torontos and Houstons of the league, but not when you're playing established playoff contenders like Denver and Atlanta.

It's not panic time for the Dallas Mavericks. That would be a crazy thing to say about a team that has a 3-2 record five games into an 82-game season. But with those two losses being brutal blowouts, and the three wins having to be come-from-behind wins, now is the time for Jason Kidd to make his first real adjustment as head coach of the Mavs by making a change in the starting lineup.

As mentioned in our DallasBasketball.com game recap, Doncic is the leader of this team and is held to a much higher standard than other players are given that he's already a two-time All-NBA First Team player and MVP candidate. Doncic will need to figure some stuff out on his own, but it can't hurt for Kidd to switch some things up around him in the meantime to help jumpstart that process.

Whether it's instant oatmeal or slow-cooked homemade oatmeal, it doesn't really matter when it's spoiled and inedible. 

We'll see if any changes are made heading into Sunday's matinee game against the Sacramento Kings, a team that swept the Mavs 3-0 in their regular season series last year. And we’ll see if Kidd starts cooking up a Doncic-led opening lineup that opens capably.