Saturday Stein Line with Marc Stein (July 29, 2023) Part 3

A little bit of soccer talk with Real Madrid and Barcelona bringing El Clasico to Dallas and lots of Mavericks talk with texter questions taken from the audience. Also discussed: The latest on Luka Dončić as he prepares for his first game action in nearly four months.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to the Saturday Steinline withMark Stein presented by Panini, Trading cards
and collectibles from your official home toDallas Mavericks Games nine the Freak third and
last segment of the Saturday Steinline.Just in time, I remembered to hit
the on button for the mic.Impressive work, far more impressive. Great

(00:24):
response on the Steinline text line today, really love to see it, Love
to see love to get messages fromyou guys when you're especially listening in from
far flung locales. I got myguy j Stotts in Phoenix, checks in
listening all the way from a placewith even more unforgiving weather than we have.

(00:48):
Although we could probably we could probablydo a whole show debating who has
the worst summer weather, Suns fansor MAVs fans. I also I should
have mentioned this in the first segment. If you are headed to Jerry World
today, El Classico is the DallasClassico today, Real Madrid and Barcelona in
town. If you're going to thatgame, let me know two one four

(01:11):
seven eight seven one nine seven one. The first contest winner in show history.
If I'm pronouncing your name right,Christian Goltz, if I'm not pronouncing
your last name right. Apologies,don't tell anybody, but you are the
winner. We will be in touch. You are the winner of the Panini

(01:33):
Women's World Cup album in two boxesof stickers to place in that album.
And this, my friends, ismerely the first of many Panini giveaways.
I just received a box with someautographed football stock from Panini that will be
next to compensate for my lack ofCowboys knowledge and lack of NFL insight.

(02:00):
We got an MFL from Chicago edlistening in. I got Jeff G from
Carrollton checking in telling me he willbe at the induction ceremonies at the Hall
of Fame. Not the first,not the first to tell me that.
I'm I mean, that is along haul to get to Springfield and a
pricey ticket. So if you aremaking the effort to go to this Hall

(02:21):
of Fame, Hall of Fame ceremonyand induction on August twelfth, tip of
the show cap to you. Let'sget into some of these MAVs questions that
you have for me. Jason Ohwants to know. It's a question we've
already tackled here in the past.Who's gonna start at center for the Dallas

(02:43):
Mavericks. If this is the roster, is it gonna be Rashaan Holmes.
I'm still sticking with Dwight Powell.If you tell me this is the roster
and that there are no more moves. And again we talked about this last
week, I'm gonna say it again. The Mavericks don't want to be done.
Maybe they are done with this rosterbecause further moves are not available to

(03:07):
them. They would love if thechance to make another trade run at Clint
Cappella from the Atlanta Hawks materializes.To this point, as we dribble to
the end of July, that opportunityhas not availed itself to the Mavericks.
But will Atlanta move Cappella elsewhere thatcreates an opportunity for Dallas to try to

(03:30):
get in as a third team orwould they trade him somewhere to a team
that really only needs him for thecontract purposes salary cap matching purposes in the
trade, and then that team makesCappella available. These are all hypotheticals.
Aggregators, do not twist or exaggeratewhat I am saying. Would the MAVs

(03:53):
love for that opportunity to be presented, Yes, they would. They did
not at the draft. They werenot willing to package number ten and Josh
Green to get Clint Capella. Theydeemed the price too high at that time.
But the interest has not gone away. But yes, Jason, if
this is the roster and you haveDwight Powell, who's the longest serving Maverick

(04:17):
and already has an encourt chemistry withLuca don Chich, my instinct is that
he would be the decided favorite towin the starting center spot. But Mark
Cuban has also you heard him onSirius XM radio touting Rashaun Holmes as the
most underrated pickup in the whole NBAthis summer. So I think we know

(04:40):
what the team's owner is rooting for, and Lac Holmes will get every shot
to win that job. If thisis the roster and Derek Lively is obviously
a player who the Mavericks are incrediblyexcited about for his future, but they're
also realistic. Nobody is expecting aday, one year, one starters level

(05:01):
contribution from Derek Lively the second.They want to give him time to acclimate
to the NBA because it's a bigjump after a very limited amount of time
in college. All right, Vedronfrom is it little elm look, give
me a sick, give me asaying I'm slow on this. Ryan and

(05:23):
McKinney asked me, who is theother NBA player on Slovenia, Vlatko Chanchar
from the Denver Nuggets. He alsojoined the Slovenian national team this week,
Luka Doncic. Today Today this happenedpress conference. Luka donci introduced as the
captain. The new captain of theSlovenian national team. Obviously, Luca has

(05:46):
been playing for the senior national teamsince he was seventeen eighteen. They won
EuroBasket in twenty seventeen, in thesummer before he was drafted and came to
the NBA. But you know thatteam was God was the veteran leader on
that squad. Luca now entrusted asteam captain, so has even more responsibility.

(06:11):
Jason Kidd, the Mavericks coach,has been with Luca all week in
Slovenia. Jason Kidd invited to observeLucas first couple practices with the national team.
Slovenia plays an exhibition game Wednesday athome in Lubliana against Greece. No
word yet if Jannis Onto Kumpo wouldplay for Greece. My instinct is probably

(06:35):
not seeing that Janie I think,has been on tour in Nigeria, making
some promotional appearances in his parents' homeland, so it's hard to imagine that Jannis
would join the national team so quicklyand play in a game as quickly as
Wednesday. We will be leaning onour pal Is toc Franco, the d

(06:57):
magazine contributor. I am sure isTo is going to help us figure out
if there's a way to watch thatgame in Dallas, to stream that game.
Sometimes it's easy to get those games. Sometimes it's not easy to get
those games. I don't yet haveinformation on how watchable that will be.

(07:21):
Hopefully it will be watchable, Hopefullywe will have access to it. We
have not got to see Luka doneplay. Luka Dontech has not played in
a game since early April, soit's been almost four months, the longest

(07:42):
anyone who follows this young man hashad to wait to watch the longest break
of Luca's career. So I knowhe's eager to get back on the floor.
I am told he will have somelevel of participation in Wednesday's home game
for the Slovenian national team in Greece. I'm also told I heard of whisper
for you sneakerheads out there. I'vebeen reliably informed Luca two's Matador colorway.

(08:09):
That is what we should expect Lucato be sporting, at least in the
first half of the game against Greece. And you know the fact that Jason
Kidd is there all week, Ithink it just underlines again what kind of
relationship there is between coach and star, which is hugely important and a huge

(08:30):
reason why the Mavericks wanted why theMavericks wanted Jason Kidd to be their head
coach. All right, now,I'm going to try to find this question
from Vedron and little Elm, becauseyou know, you guys are filling up
the text machine. I'm still gettingused to using it, all right.
Vedron asked me, do I agreewith the Mavericks landing at number fourteen in

(08:54):
ESPN's Power Rankings. This week,ESPN came out with an offseason edition of
the Power Rankings. Now, Iused to do the Power Rankings at ESPN
for fifteen years, so if thisquestion makes me a little salty. I
can't help it. I'm just beingI'm keeping it real, keeping it one

(09:16):
hundred, as the kids say.I did it as the committee of one
for fifteen years. How did theyreplace me? They actually have a committee
now there's like six or seven peoplewho do the rankings. That's how big
a job it is. That's howimportant a job the power ranking power rankings
are. All I will say isthis, I will be coming out later

(09:37):
this summer with my own power rankings. I don't know where the Mavericks are
going to land yet, but thoseare the power rankings that I will urge
you to consult if you allow myego to get in the way here.
But instinctively, no, the Mavericksare not going to end up in the

(09:58):
top ten. And just yet they'vehad a solid summer. But remember the
primary goals were resigned Kyrie Irving.They did that upgrade defensively. On the
wing. They went after Grant Williamsand Matisse Tyble. They got Williams,
the offer to Tyble was matched,so they didn't didn't deliver as much on

(10:20):
the wing as they would have hoped. They went one for two. Maybe
maybe you give them a little bitmore on one and a quarter out of
two because Grant Williams, they gotit a good number and he potentially fills
some significant needs for this team.But again, the defensive minded center who
can protect the rim roll and finishthe things that Clint Capella can do the

(10:46):
Mavericks. The Mavericks cannot say thatthey have fully addressed their need. Now,
if Mark Cuban has proven right andRashaun Holmes proves to be the steal
of the summer between Holmes and Livelyjoint Dwight Powell, maybe they have upgraded
their center rotation a pretty significant amount. But they had aimed a little bit

(11:13):
higher. So when the team fallsall the way out of the playoffs,
they really have to have a homerun summer to jump into the top ten.
I don't think they're quite there.I was asked by another Texter about
roster moves again. You know,are the Mavericks potentially done? Yes?
I mean they want to do more. Can they do more? I mean

(11:33):
that's obviously dependent on trade partners andteams wanting to engage with them. I
know there were some recent reports thatJalen Noel from Minnesota is a potential target.
I was actually told the Mavericks arenot really in that race at this
point. So to this point,I would I would scratch Noel as a

(11:58):
target for the Mavericks at least thatwas that's what I was told yesterday.
But look, I do think theystill want to do business. They still
want them to try. They're notgoing to abandon the trade search for a
center unless they are told that they'reout of options and there's there's no one

(12:18):
else for them to pursue. Um, But it was it was a good
a good summer overall. And Ithink you know, the draft picks they
got, you know, that's that'sthat's really been the foremost source of optimism
to be able to get both DerekLively and Olivier Max sense Prosper and by
all indications, Prosper is going toget a chance to play in the rotation

(12:43):
right away. I mean, theythe Mavericks believe, based on what they
saw in Summer League that he issomeone who's going to be able to adapt
to NBA minutes pretty quickly, eventhough obviously he's gonna have to work on
his shot. But they are they'rereally optimistic about both the futures of Lively

(13:03):
and Prosper and so to get thosetwo guys as well as Grant Williams signed
Seth Curry for a very reasonable number. Take a flyer on Dante Exum.
I think solid Summer is the fairdesignation. Cameron J listening in Denver,
checking in. I appreciate it.I like I said, I love to

(13:24):
hear from I love to hear fromeveryone on the text line, but it
is particularly heartwarming to hear MAVs fanschecking in from out of state. That
is greatly appreciated. And again ifyou next week there on next week's show,

(13:46):
next week's show, I hope we'llwe'll we'll lead us off into what
is planned here for this run ofHall of Fame coverage with Dark Navitsky.
After that, you're after the jerseyretirement number forty one going to the rafters
at you after the statue unveiling lastChristmas. Now he's going to go into

(14:09):
the Hall of Fame with Pop andso many of his contemporaries. It's going
to be it's gonna get dusty,gonna get Dusty in Springfield. I'm gonna
try to behave and maintain my professionalism. That does it for this edition of
the newly named the Saturday Steinline.On ninety seven one, the Freak