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[Winter]

1) Flexibility is great. And just because your big CAN shoot, doesn’t mean you are FORCED to play him in a 5-out approach. That’s straw man. Wood can be a 5-out spacer AND a vertical spacer. So can Kleber, for that matter.

2) McGee is the opposite of flexible. When he’s on the floor, you’re locked into certain play style choices on both ends. Yes, you can take him off of the floor when you need to, but the way the roster is set up he basically MUST be played at least 10-15 minutes. Otherwise, you’re depending on what you can get from Green, Ntilikina, etc. What happens if you play a defensive team against whom you can’t get away with a clogged paint for even that short length of time? maybe 1-2 of the Green/Ntilikina/Hardy/Dorsey crew steps up and this works, making my concerns a complete non-issue. Maybe not. I’m not comfortable with that risk with the stakes being what they are coming off of last season.

3) if they had added other rotation qualified players, such as Brunson (or a replacement for him) and (even “or”) they’d be flexible enough to use McGee (or a cheaper version of his type) only in situations that call for it. But, for me, the main concerns with the center position we’re addressed by the Wood trade.

This is all pretty weird if you think about. I'm not calling you out at all KillerLeft, but I need to state the obvious here.

Most of these threads the last few days are just rampant with speculation. We are speculating on a head coaching change less than a year old, a Front Office less than a year old, and players under contract who have never played together in a system we are only vaguely familiar with. 

I realize this is what message boards do. But the last few days, it's hard to call most of these posts well-grounded opinions. There's almost no history to the Mavericks coaches, front office, or several players. We're all just imagining what it will be like, then getting overly morose about outcomes we can't possibly predict.

I have no good idea how these guys will play together, don't feel particularly informed about Kidd's "system" right now, and haven't really seen enough of Wood or McGee to tell you exactly what these guys will bring. Since we got to the WCF last season, I'll at least give the coaches a chance of putting together the pieces they choose without gnashing my teeth. 

I get that Free Agency has been historically bad for the Mavericks, but I feel we chewed all the flavor out of that gum two weeks ago. 

Honestly, I'm at a point where I expect one more trade so I keep checking the wire and reading the posts. But it's getting downright apocalyptic in here.