MAVS NEWS:

[michaeltex]

Ujiri? Pfft. He had some skills. But he was never ever my favorite. Of course, I would have liked him (and many many others too) being the Mavs' GM more than Cuban -- and still would --- because the Mavs so badly needed someone with skills that Cuban lacked. Lots of weaknesses. 

But Cuban is gone, and finding "better than Cuban" is not the standard. The Mavs don't need a GM. They need THE BEST.  

NBA competition starts at that GM level, with negotiation and evaluation and player development that all happen off the court, and there's no salary cap on getting that guy. Roster building is an art form, as is acquiring assets, and making them fit together, and negotiating with both agents and teams, and cap management, and making the right trades to win at the margins, and it all goes way beyond a few cap tricks and trade-match ideas. The top guy will also have the ability to hire the right guys to make it even better. If some other team has that guy that's The Best GM, you're always going to be competing at a great disadvantage. 

We've lived in that "greatly disadvantaged" world way too long. 

The time is now. Presti, please!

I would love Presti in the big chair. But, apart from $$$ I'm not sure what motivation he'd have to leave OKC. They are a top contender (have been for a few years now), defending champ and look to be in this position for years to come, and it's all attached to the Presti name.

He does have a looming cap explosion to manage, OKC is currently ~$250M with no slots open for FRPs or FAs. This figure does include ~$71M in 6 TOs, so they can refuse or trade any of those guys to make room for new blood. I guess if Presti didn't have the patience for dealing with cap/apron headaches and possible tax issues, he might dump it and move on to a club with some breathing room.

The NBA system usually only allows teams a limited window for success, unless it's an all time legend like Curry or Duncan. Who knows what the new lottery system will look like next year? Maybe the backlog of FRPs won't be as valuable and Presti will want a change of scenery.

With no other information, I wonder if prying Lindsey away from DET would be a better path.

I also wonder if DAL's "deep dive" search for a GM is just MBT speak for kicking the can down the road and making it tomorrow's, or next week's, or next month's issue.