12-16-2022, 02:07 PM
(12-16-2022, 01:40 PM)Mavs2021 Wrote: I wish they´d have gotten Hardy, when he was an assistant at Boston. That guy is so clever. Last night the Jazz beat the Pelicans smallish line-up by switching Zion onto Conley and Clarkson. They´d take any (low percentage) three point shot then crashed the offensive glass with Kessler, Markkanen and Olynyk vs. just Nance and three guards. Also Kessler is the White Tyson Chandler. That guy is going to be a defensive stud. He´s 7´2 and moves like a ballerina. Already a better player than all the Cs on the Mavs.
Unless Utah goes on the greatest self-sabotaging run of all times, they´ll finish ahead of the Mavs. They are simply a better team with a better coach.
If Lillard stays healthy Portland now also seems a decent chance.
You know what happened there last season:
1. TANK.
2. SMART MID SEASON (talent downgrade) TRADE TO RE-STRUCTURE ASSETS/CAP (McCollum for Josh Hart + 1st round pick)
3. FREE DEVELOPMENT MINUTES FOR YOUNG PLAYERS (Simons/Little)
4. TOP 5 DRAFT PICK (Sharpe)
5. BIG POST SEASON TRADE (using the McCollum picks to acquire Grant)
6. WIN AGAIN
All a process of six months. Professional front office work. If only we were in a similar situation. But any moment now Lillard will call his best friend Nico and make it happen.
In all of your tanking examples you fail to mention (or gloss over) the fact that the teams superstar was injured for a majority of that season. Lillard was out most of last season. Kind of an important part to the strategy. You can't truly tank with an MVP candidate, and you can't tell your MVP candidate to try to lose games and hope to keep him.