IZTOK DIAGNOSES DECLINE OF MAVS OFFENSE

[mvossman]

And no question he is 100% unproven as a GM, but none of the evidence we have so far has me concerned in the least. If the TDL rolls by with nothing, I will get more anxious or if some questionable moves happen then, but my eye is mostly on this summer. This will be the "summer of Nico" IMO.

The evidence does not concern you in the least?  We had potentially 34 mil in cap space with significant holes to fill.  Specifically we needed a secondary play maker and more defense.  What we got was THJ/Bullock/WCS.  That is an extremely underwhelming return and did not address any of our needs.  This offseason was the last shot we had with improving the team with cap space and we failed utterly.  

I have heard a lot of suggestions that Cuban handed over the keys to Nico, but what evidence for this is there other than PR speak?  When Cuban went to hire a GM there was no hint of him looking at an experienced GM (or underling).  If he was really going to hand over the keys, why would he do that?  He really isn't that stupid.  Look at this last offseason we had.  It looks a whole lot like previous offseasons.  Put all of your eggs in a big name older (declining) player (Lowry) and when that fails scramble to hold on to your own guys and overpay for middling players that you will have to attach an asset to dump later (Bullock/Brown).  Oh yeah, and make sure we make a deal for a TPE that we will never use.  It was a textbook Mavs offseason.  The only difference is that we at least properly tampered this time, but my guess is that was a lesson Cuban learned after getting his ass handed to him 2 years ago.

The Nico/Kidd hires feels like an attempt by Cuban to make the Mavs more of a free agent destination.  Given that our top outside free agent was Bullock, that obviously didn't work.

The "summer of Nico"?  For what?  We will have no cap space and no assets.  Most likely the biggest moves this summer are going to be shaving salary so we can stay under the tax.  You may want to brace yourself for disappointment.