The Mavs' offense is hilariously ineffective
If there's one thing the Dallas Mavericks were known for during a run of 16 straight .500+ seasons - in which they made the playoffs 15 times - it was offense.
Whether run by Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Deron Williams, or any number of talented guards who have passed through American Airlines Center, with Dirk Nowitzki as the focal point, the Mavericks have always been able to score.
Anyone who has tuned in to even a couple minutes of Mavs basketball this season will tell you those days are long gone.
At 96.5 points per 100 possessions, Dallas owns the Western Conference's worst offense - the 28th-ranked offense overall - and the worst scoring efficiency in the franchise's 37-year history.
With injuries limiting Nowitzki and Williams to less than 300 minutes combined so far this season, the bulk of Dallas' offense has been forced to flow through Harrison Barnes, Wesley Matthews, J.J. Barea, Justin Anderson, and Seth Curry.
Safe to say it hasn't exactly worked out.
Only two (Barnes and Barea) of the Mavs' nine most-played players have an above-average true shooting percentage and none of the nine have an effective field goal percentage above 49.6.
One stat more than any other really captures Dallas' offensive ineptitude, however. The Mavs score a putrid 0.84 points per possession after their opponents commit a live-ball turnover.
That level of offensive anemia is unfathomable, as in the 14-season archive at Inpredictable, the worst recorded post-turnover efficiency belonged to the 2003-04 Bulls, who still managed to score 1.03 points per possession, because it's tough for a group of five professional basketball players to not score in such scenarios.
The 2016-17 Mavs are also the only team in Inpredictable's 14-season archive whose offense somehow gets worse after scooping up an opponent's turnover.
Even at less than 100 percent, getting Dirk and D-Will back in the lineup consistently should help, and Rick Carlisle's wizardry alone is usually enough to keep Dallas competitive. But a month into the season, the Mavs not only look poised for their first losing season in 17 years, they look hell-bent on producing some of the worst offensive basketball many of us have ever seen.