(07-01-2021, 02:21 PM)mavsluvr Wrote: Long story short, I agree that the strategy of depending heavily on free agency to acquire a star is dubious. It has failed for ten years. But, I think they're going all in on it, at least for now.
I have no issue with the Mavs trying to land a top star in free agency. (The only players that really make sense cap-wise in free agency tend to be the top stars who are worth way more than the max, and the overlooked good quality middle-tier players in the cases where they can be landed for MLE or less.)
Where I part company with Cuban is the apparent insistence that it's not really necessary to be experts at evaluating and developing talent. That's an alternate way to acquire talent, and typically much cheaper (since you get them before others know they are valuable) -- and it also gives another avenue to find a star other than luck in free agency.
It's hard work, not a short cut that caters to instant gratification. And it likely requires letting go of the reins, and moving to the background out of the way, to get the services of a true master.
Instead, they went the opposite direction and hired a guy who knows nothing about evaluation, development, cap management, or roster building, reducing their expertise even more. It shouldn't be a surprise that Cuban doubled down on his ability to do it his own way with him making the calls and setting the course and even less voices to contend with - but I was hoping for better.