05-21-2024, 06:00 PM
(05-21-2024, 04:54 PM)Chicagojk Wrote: Yep, I wouldn’t even mind Gafford continuing to start next year. At some point, Lively will be too good to come off the bench.
I’m with you on the hope that Gifford fits better against Minnesota than he did against LAC or OKC, but I’m not hopeful, exactly. Does anyone actually believe the Mavs’ best way forward is to try to fight Minnesota’s size with their own? Minnesota’s size is the DPOY, a borderline all-star who’s featured, offensively, and the 6MOTY. Dallas is throwing Lively (who I’d rather have than any of them, moving forward, but he’s a rookie) and Gafford, who has literally (quite literally) been the Mavs’ worst big minute player in these playoffs.
Would anyone here not jump at the chance to switch Kleber out for Gafford, assuming you couldn’t have both? Pulling the Minnesota bigs out of the paint was to be the most likely path to Mavs victory in this series (just as it was against Gobert two years ago) and he’d also be infinitely better defensively than Gafford. I just don’t understand what people are watching, sometimes.
As to the statement quoted above, Lively has been too good to come off the bench since he became the starter like a week or two into the season. I can only conclude that Jason kid believes Gafford would be even less effective if you were coming off the beach, because the way they are playing down the stretch makes it clear that he understands how how much better Lively is right now.