The newly crowned top pick switches to playing point guard! What a wild experiment!

The much-anticipated Dallas Mavericks have lost their first two games of the season.

While losing to the seemingly invincible Doncic was forgivable and anticipated, the loss to the Washington Wizards yesterday was beyond the fans’ comprehension and acceptance.

The chants of "Fire Nico" have erupted once again.

If this continues, fans might soon be shouting "Fuck Nico"... After all, the star at the front, Dongzi, has been playing insanely well in the first two games of the season, practically aiming for MVP.

When someone is struggling, they often start to long for the former player.

Why isn’t Nico being criticized? Because the Mavericks are winning!

Looking at the roster alone, they are very solid; the Mavericks might have the most enticing frontcourt in the entire league.

However, Kidd is currently conducting a crazy experiment:

placing the 2.06m tall Flagg at point guard, pairing him with the twin towers of LeVert and Davidson inside, along with wings Clay and PJ Washington, making the 1.98m tall Fosu the shortest player at the two-guard spot.

The idea sounds very promising.

Since the Summer League, Kidd has clearly stated his intention to try Flagg at point guard, aiming to "make him uncomfortable to accelerate his growth," with the core goal of developing his all-around skills and optimizing the team’s height advantage.

If this lineup works, the new top pick’s physical advantage at point guard combined with the Mavericks’ overall height would be terrifying.

You can feel that the NBA’s demand for team athleticism is rising this season, and a smart coach like Kidd certainly isn’t blind to these changes.

Plus, with Irving injured, this opportunity arose for the top pick to play the point guard position.

So the question is, how has he performed individually after two games?

In his career debut against the Spurs, he posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds but had zero assists as a point guard and committed 3 turnovers.

Yesterday against the Wizards, he contributed 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists but also had 5 turnovers.

After the game, Kidd said Flagg performed very well at the point guard spot and that this starting lineup with him as point guard will continue until the whole team is healthy.

For an 18-year-old rookie, not playing in his familiar position is indeed a huge challenge.

There’s definitely awkwardness; the current question is, how long will this experiment last?

If the Mavericks keep losing like this, will Kidd still stick to it? This relates to the team’s long-term plan.

After all, there has always been a strong call to put Russell in the starting lineup.

But historically, Kidd has done things like this before.

He is a former NBA player and a high-IQ point guard, known for his basketball intelligence and crafty moves, so his thinking is indeed different from other coaches.

During his coaching stint with the Bucks, he advocated for Giannis to play point guard, aiming to push him out of his comfort zone and develop his ball-handling and playmaking skills.

Although this move was questioned at first, it is now considered a key factor in Giannis’s growth into a versatile superstar.

Giannis’s current ball control and passing vision owe a lot to Kidd’s development efforts.

The question is, can the method used to develop Giannis work for Flagg?

Having a power forward play point guard is indeed quite interesting.

After only two losses, Kidd is unlikely to give up easily.

So, let’s keep watching!