08-02-2022, 04:32 PM
(08-02-2022, 07:57 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: It really bothered me we lost JB. Not so much paying him close to 30 million but how we made a mistake on our internal evaluation. I believe it is a misconception here that JB made a huge jump this past year. I think that is untrue and unfair. He had a bad Clippers series. It happens. The coach drastically cut his minutes where he couldn't play through his mistakes. If we play the Clippers in a series again, there will probably make life tough for a few of our players still. It was a bad matchup for JB. But he was good that year and he well deserved the contract he should have been offered. I know things are not always black or white with moves, so I try to see both sides. But the offer should have been made to JB last offseason.
I keep saying for the past 2-3 years that yes Dallas missed an opportunity, but there is still time. I still believe this. Whether it was passing on Maxey in the draft, striking out in FA, etc. The issue is, the Mavs really can't afford to make many more mistakes moving forward.
I think the Mavs will take a step back this year. I thought this even if they signed Brunson. But if we think positive and use a lot of if and buts, there is some hope for this upcoming season and moving forward with added flexibility. Dinwiddie is bigger than Jalen and given the added role he may be able to make a jump in production. I am still worried about health long term with him. Can McGee be better than Powell? Maybe as good as a role man but a better rebounder and rim protector? The big question is can Dallas find a guy who can do 70% of the protection as Jalen as your third creator? Maybe it is someone between Jalen and Trey Burke production. If they can, then you have added a better starting center, a bigger backcourt mate in Dinwiddie, and also adding Wood and getting Hardaway back. I need to see Wood play in a winning environment. There have been times where i thought he was exactly what we needed. Other times, I thought he was going through the motions. If he is that guy, he sort of does the things we expected KP to do on offense.
Is this the team that will win a championship? I severely doubt it. For me it is closer to a play in team than contender in the deep west. But no one wants to play Luka plus shooters in a playoff series. I could see them back to the same spot next playoffs in the conference finals. I wouldn't be on it, but I think it is possible.
The only thing I would disagree with you about is that, while the western conference has its challenges and vicissitudes, I don't think the Mavs were going to take a step back if they had kept Brunson. Add him to the little positive that has been done, and our prospects would have been better. No guarantees on the playoffs in any event, but certainly we would have been better in the regular season. Now I think it would be foolish to presume that our regular season win totals will be as high as last year's - unless, of course, the Mavs make a decent move to replace JB, regarding which my hopes are not at all high.
I think it's undersold here that Luka and JB were buddies. I think they had their clashes at first, but by last season, they were close friends. The Mavs let one of Luka's best friends on the team walk, traded another, and refused to go aggressively after a third. Quite a bad look in these terms for the offseason. No way Luka feels as good about going into the season as he would have otherwise.
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