10-24-2025, 11:40 PM
(10-24-2025, 07:45 PM)hakeemfaan Wrote: That's fine. Move Gafford then. As for Lively being great in the playoffs, Gafford was great too until they ran into Boston. In the Boston series both those guys were exposed though. I wouldn't give Lively too much of a pass over Gafford, though I fully agree that Lively is hands down the better prospect.
I put Lively there because I believe the Mavs can get more for him than for Gafford for the reasons you mentioned. I am also concerned about his constant injuries. You will get to a point with him soon where you don't know if he is worth the money you will have to pay to retain him, but you can't lose him for nothing either, and they will be forced to overpay him.
This team when fully healthy will be a pretty solid team, but they are not contenders. I am not asking to gut the team and put Flagg in a terrible situation. Keep some seasoned veterans, but also make a few bold moves that could pay off big down the road.
Gafford got exposed in the OKC series. He had a net rating of -20 (Lively was +24). We survived his minutes when Giddey was on the court, but as soon as OKC stopped playing him Gafford was useless. He had similar issues against Boston. In both series he had the worst defensive rating on the team (with Lively being significantly better). The pattern is clear, when they played against teams that spread the floor he was a liability on the court.