TRADE: Willie Cauley-Stein to DAL | UTA 2nd to GSW

[embellisher]

Great job, Donnie! We needed a big with minimal expenditure of our assets, and he delivered. Hopefully he stays out of Carlisle's doghouse and becomes a reclamation project.

[vfromlmf]

https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/20...ok-at-art/

[Tyler]

My favorite trade reaction is from the Kings sub on Reddit:

"I think we should all be prepared for Willie to look like a stud next to Luka because this fanbase hasn't been kicked in the balls enough."


I also found a sneak preview of Curry's reaction to the deal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTA3o49-Ok0

[haveitall]

Great pickup.  He is a legit banger.  He's 26, he's cheap.  Bigger body than Powel.

[radioaktiv]

I don't think it's been mentioned yet, apologies if I just hadn't seen: an underrated aspect of this trade is that GSW gave away a rotational player for basically nothing, further committing to their tank campaign and more importantly for us, further strengthening that GSW 2nd round pick.

[Mavs2019]

I don't think it's been mentioned yet, apologies if I just hadn't seen: an underrated aspect of this trade is that GSW gave away a rotational player for basically nothing, further committing to their tank campaign and more importantly for us, further strengthening that GSW 2nd round pick.

 
Mavs need to prep this draft hard. Currently Tankathon has only two PGs/Cs projected between 11 and 34. That means the Mavs have two picks from a pool of 22 players in a position of need. The odds are definitely in our favour, as long as we do our homework properly.

[cow]

I don't think it's been mentioned yet, apologies if I just hadn't seen: an underrated aspect of this trade is that GSW gave away a rotational player for basically nothing, further committing to their tank campaign and more importantly for us, further strengthening that GSW 2nd round pick.

 
Mavs need to prep this draft hard. Currently Tankathon has only two PGs/Cs projected between 11 and 34. That means the Mavs have two picks from a pool of 22 players in a position of need. The odds are definitely in our favour, as long as we do our homework properly.

My money is on a draft night trade to land the 3rd cornerstone.

[omahen]

Mavs need to prep this draft hard. Currently Tankathon has only two PGs/Cs projected between 11 and 34. That means the Mavs have two picks from a pool of 22 players in a position of need. The odds are definitely in our favour, as long as we do our homework properly.

Why would be PG our position of need? We have Luka, Wright and Brunson at it. If anything, too many good players for the position.

[cow]

Mavs need to prep this draft hard. Currently Tankathon has only two PGs/Cs projected between 11 and 34. That means the Mavs have two picks from a pool of 22 players in a position of need. The odds are definitely in our favour, as long as we do our homework properly.

Why would be PG our position of need? We have Luka, Wright and Brunson at it. If anything, too many good players for the position.

He means the pool of talent is skewed towards SG, SF, PF which the Mavs have needs at.

[burekemde]

Great job, Donnie! We needed a big with minimal expenditure of our assets, and he delivered. Hopefully he stays out of Carlisle's doghouse and becomes a reclamation project.

This seems as a great move. He is bigger, stronger than Powell, and he can rim run. His defense is better as well I guess? I cant imagine can be worse. Comes cheap and makes GSW pick even better as was mentioned here.

WCS, KP, Maxi, now we have even more rim protection. We need more perimeter defense in the next move. I think the moves should be mainly about securing the defense. We all know this team with Luka and KP will be able to score no matter what.

[Branduil]

The big problem with WCS is his motor and effort. We know how Carlisle feels about players who don't give 100%, especially if they're role players. So it's pretty much up to Willie now. He can either Nerlens Noel himself or breakout as a solid NBA starter. He won't get a better opportunity than this.

[Scott41theMavs]

The big problem with WCS is his motor and effort. We know how Carlisle feels about players who don't give 100%, especially if they're role players. So it's pretty much up to Willie now. He can either Nerlens Noel himself or breakout as a solid NBA starter. He won't get a better opportunity than this.

Nah. It's RC's opportunity to be a player coach and motivate him. The Mavs need it, and it's Rick's job.

[StepBackJay]

Great job, Donnie! We needed a big with minimal expenditure of our assets, and he delivered.  Hopefully he stays out of Carlisle's doghouse and becomes a reclamation project.

This seems as a great move. He is bigger, stronger than Powell, and he can rim run. His defense is better as well I guess? I cant imagine can be worse. Comes cheap and makes GSW pick even better as was mentioned here.

WCS, KP, Maxi, now we have even more rim protection. We need more perimeter defense in the next move. I think the moves should be mainly about securing the defense. We all know this team with Luka and KP will be able to score no matter what.

His defense is definitely better than Powell. Powell's on-ball defense most of the time is not good. He is a better team defender and seems to pick up his activity as the game goes on. Powell cannot shot block at all. Like you say you have 3 guys that give you rim protection which means you play most of the game with 2 of them on the floor at the same time. I agree that we need perimeter defense. I am confident the Mavs will get another perimeter defender.

[DanSchwartzgan]

Don't get me wrong, when you give up basically nothing and get something you are getting good value.  With that said, I'm a bit dubious of the "he's better than Powell" statements being made.

The one comparison I care most about is one on one in the post defensively against the AD's and Jokic's of the world.  That is where Powell really struggled (not that anyone else was any better).  WCS has an opportunity to be better here.  He's slightly bigger and is a better shot blocker.  To me, this is the key benefit of having him if he puts forth the effort.  I've thought since July that we were missing someone like this (even when Powell was healthy).  If he can play good post D, I think we can concentrate our trade assets on a 4/3 or 3/4 type who can help with the Lebron's and Leonard's of the world.

Offensively, WCS is a rim runner, but not in the same class as Powell.  The hope is that Luka and Carlisle will make him better.  Powell's poor shooting from 3 drove some crazy.  WCS has a propensity to launch long 2's and is really bad at them (like worse than Powell is at 3's).  Carlisle will have to cut those out of his game.  So, TBD on that.  WCS is also really good in transition (but is now on a team that plays a fairly slow pace...23rd of 30).  

The one area I mainly wanted to address...and it is worrisome...is rebounding.  I think WCS's rebounding stats may be fool's gold.  Yes, his rebounding percent numbers are better than Powell's.  HOWEVER, if you look at team rebounding when he is on or off the court, team rebounding is always worse when WCS is in.  What that says is he's pretty good at getting his boards, but does nothing to help team rebounding (like blocking out).

So, I'm glad we got him.  I'm glad he was cheap (once again the Mav's take advantage of teams with financial issues) and I hope he can help us with post D.  There is great reason for hope offensively and if WCS is motivated, we could make him several million dollars the next few months.  The question is Will he be motivated?

[TXBamanut]

Great job, Donnie! We needed a big with minimal expenditure of our assets, and he delivered.  Hopefully he stays out of Carlisle's doghouse and becomes a reclamation project.

This seems as a great move. He is bigger, stronger than Powell, and he can rim run. His defense is better as well I guess? I cant imagine can be worse. Comes cheap and makes GSW pick even better as was mentioned here.

WCS, KP, Maxi, now we have even more rim protection. We need more perimeter defense in the next move. I think the moves should be mainly about securing the defense. We all know this team with Luka and KP will be able to score no matter what.

His defense is definitely better than Powell. Powell's on-ball defense most of the time is not good. He is a better team defender and seems to pick up his activity as the game goes on. Powell cannot shot block at all. Like you say you have 3 guys that give you rim protection which means you play most of the game with 2 of them on the floor at the same time. I agree that we need perimeter defense. I am confident the Mavs will get another perimeter defender.

The problem is WCS's attitude.  He can get disinterested and we know that doesn't play with Rick...he's a good player WHEN engaged, so that focus is going to be the deal.  It's going to determine if he can stay out of Rick's doghouse.

[Hypermav]

Great job, Donnie! We needed a big with minimal expenditure of our assets, and he delivered.  Hopefully he stays out of Carlisle's doghouse and becomes a reclamation project.

This seems as a great move. He is bigger, stronger than Powell, and he can rim run. His defense is better as well I guess? I cant imagine can be worse. Comes cheap and makes GSW pick even better as was mentioned here.

WCS, KP, Maxi, now we have even more rim protection. We need more perimeter defense in the next move. I think the moves should be mainly about securing the defense. We all know this team with Luka and KP will be able to score no matter what.

His defense is definitely better than Powell. Powell's on-ball defense most of the time is not good. He is a better team defender and seems to pick up his activity as the game goes on. Powell cannot shot block at all. Like you say you have 3 guys that give you rim protection which means you play most of the game with 2 of them on the floor at the same time. I agree that we need perimeter defense. I am confident the Mavs will get another perimeter defender.

The problem is WCS's attitude.  He can get disinterested and we know that doesn't play with Rick...he's a good player WHEN engaged, so that focus is going to be the deal.  It's going to determine if he can stay out of Rick's doghouse.

[Kammrath]

What that says is he's pretty good at getting his boards, but does nothing to help team rebounding (like blocking out).

I saw a stat (if my memory serves) saying that DP led the Mavs with 3.2 block outs a game and WCS has been averaging 3.6 block outs a game this season.

BUT I will be interested to see how team rebounding will go with him on the court.

[DanSchwartzgan]

What that says is he's pretty good at getting his boards, but does nothing to help team rebounding (like blocking out).

I saw a stat (if my memory serves) saying that DP led the Mavs with 3.2 block outs a game and WCS has been averaging 3.6 block outs a game this season.

BUT I will be interested to see how team rebounding will go with him on the court.

Block-outs don't have to be the explanation.  That was just my speculation.  But, when WCS is in the game, his team rebounds 47.3%.  When he's out, the team gets 50.9%.  That is a huge discrepancy.  Instead of nearly -4% for WCS, Powell, KP and Maxi are flat, +1% and +2% respectively.

The variance isn't as great the last two seasons, but there is a negative variance each season.

[TXBamanut]

What that says is he's pretty good at getting his boards, but does nothing to help team rebounding (like blocking out).

I saw a stat (if my memory serves) saying that DP led the Mavs with 3.2 block outs a game and WCS has been averaging 3.6 block outs a game this season.

BUT I will be interested to see how team rebounding will go with him on the court.

Block-outs don't have to be the explanation.  That was just my speculation.  But, when WCS is in the game, his team rebounds 47.3%.  When he's out, the team gets 50.9%.  That is a huge discrepancy.  Instead of nearly -4% for WCS, Powell, KP and Maxi are flat, +1% and +2% respectively.

The variance isn't as great the last two seasons, but there is a negative variance each season.

I agree that this is a big discrepancy, but if the other stats, blockouts and individual rebounding numbers are good, diagnosing the issue might be more complex than his stats are fool's gold.  For example, it might be the construction of the lineups when he's out there vs the construction of the lineups when he's in and when he's out.  It's also possible that he can be not an awesome team rebounder, but also be better than Powell at that one thing, or a wash.

I don't think he's better than Powell overall, I want to go on the record there as saying.  Powell's hustle, grasp of what the Mavs are doing, culture setting, rim running and other things outweigh WCS, imho...but then again, if we are being fair, this will be the most talented team, with the most talented offensive playmaker, that WCS has been on since Kentucky...so...

Just saying.

[mtrot]

So, some here say it's on WCS to satisfy Rick, some say it's on Rick to develop WCS.  I'd say both are true.  I'd also say it's on Maxi and KP to demonstrate by their play to WCS the level of hustle, effort, and attention to fundamentals that Mavs big men are expected to exhibit.  Sort of make it a friendly competition among the bigs as to who can block out, rebound, cut to the rim, get back on defense, run the floor, block shots, etc.  By doing so, they can engender a culture of excellence for WCS to buy into.