05-22-2024, 05:28 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-22-2024, 05:31 PM by KillerLeft.)
(05-22-2024, 05:06 PM)F Gump Wrote: I think the Mavs main goal in the summer needs to be signing DJJ. I said that long ago, concerned over the Mavs lack of spending room (and felt like I was on an island). Now after some good playoff games, he's the flavor of the day. A bad game or three and I may be alone again. But I will still be saying that re-signing DJJ needs to be their #1 goal this summer.
I have been aware of DJJ for a long while (lots of national guys thought he'd be a great fit here a few years back, when he was leaving Miami, so I started observing him then) and I fully admit I didn't know A) he was quite THIS good, defensively, or B) that he would be able to make himself enough of a factor on offense to stay on the floor when things mattered.
I'm completely sold on A, and that's an understatement. No matter how hard I try to believe in B, I can't completely eradicate my skepticism, because he has a long track record of not really being playable, offensively. But, like I said the other day, the sample size of him being a legit shooting thread (legit ENOUGH, at least, when wide open) has gotten big enough to include an entire season and two playoff series, and when you combine that with his transition game and his slash/cutting game...yeah, he's the right guy.
At this point, I think I'd want him back even if he laid an egg in this next series, but something tells me he won't.
I'd say retaining him is of the utmost importance (if you saw that back when he was struggling even to find a toehold in this Dallas rotation, kudos to you!). What I'm not sure I quite understand is: how much will that cost? I mean, part of why we love him so much around here is that he has the exact, much-needed skillset to make this rotation work. I'm honestly unsure that as many teams will line up to use their precious cap space on him as we think, because I still believe he'll be looked at (in a vacuum) as a player with noticeable flaws. But, I'm getting close to believing that he's going to be worth the MLE to someone, especially if he continues to play THIS well on THIS big of a stage. That's a much bigger pool of teams to compete with.
I really hope they can sign him for the tax MLE range. That's a remuneration level at which I'm confident there's very little chance of buyer's remorse.