MAVS NEWS: Luka Wins Community Cares Award! | DLive's Mom Passes Away| Maxi OUT

[F Gump]

One clarification...Maxi can't be traded this season.  I think the first question has to be 'are we looking at this Long Term or Short Term?.  The problem with thinking Short Term is the roster is a bit of a game of Jenga.  Pull out one block to fix another and the tower might still crumble.  We can't trade so-and-so.  He makes the D work.  We can't trade so-and-so.  He's the only ball-handler besides Luka.  We can't trade so-and-so.  We need his shooting to spread the floor so Luka can get to the basket.  We have too many sacred cows who aren't the least bit sacred to any fan base outside of our own.

If we aren't a contender, we should think longer term (thus my posting of what Cato said about needing to stop thinking of ourselves as a WC Finalist).  But, as someone stated earlier, when has Cuban ever made an in-season deal (at least since the early 2000's) that was more about future seasons than the current season.  

IF we assume they have some ability to look beyond the end of their noses, the next question is who are your keepers and what do you really need to build a roster around that.  It should be a 'white sheet exercise'.  Start from scratch.  You have Luka.  Now what?  I really think Green is the only player I'd mark as untouchable.  He's really the only two way player on the roster.  He's not good enough at ball handling to be the second creator, but he hits his outside shots, defends the point of attack, drives and can score or create off of drives.  He is a Swiss Army Knife with upside and there is certainly room for that in a lineup with Luka.  I'm not saying you have to jettison everyone else.  You just can't treat them as sacred.

At this point, you need another person who can create their own shot.  They also need to defend at a high level.  It can be any position really.  Jaylen Brown at SF/SG is probably the ideal.  A younger version of Paul George would also work (I'm trying to avoid obvious top 15 guys like Kawai).  But Siakam at center would also work.  The next Jrue Holiday at PG would work too if that guy exists.  Luka and Green are positionally flexible.  So, it just needs to be someone willing to put up with Luka's crap, but good enough to carry things themselves on any given night.  The position doesn't really matter.  If that player is a four or a five, then you have to compliment them at the other "big" position.  Maybe that is Dorian.  Maybe it isn't.

But, if that second creator is a wing or a guard, then you have to figure out what kind of big rotation best fits your creators.  It has to start at the defensive end.  We can talk all day (literally) about whether 5-out or a PnR big is best to unlock Luka.  But he can work offensively with either.  What we know is he can't work with a poor defender patrolling the paint.  I think getting that right is much more important than the philosophical debate around the offensive end.  After that, you eventually get to a point where everyone else is just a replacement level player and largely interchangeable as long as they fit with the philosophy of how you want to play and what you need when your main players sit.  Try to avoid having to pay guys like this above market contracts.

 That's a good outline, but it sure does show how far away they really are right now. They need like 3-4 IDEAL moves to happen to make them be elite, and imo it would be a miracle for them to even figure out how to get ONE done.

Unfortunately, it takes an incredible amount of genius to figure out how to sell off pieces at an ideal price, just as much or more than buying. That makes it hard to imagine that they could go into seller mode and somehow restock their empty asset closet.