Trying to Assess the Mav's Ledger

[hakeemfaan]

So it depends on how we judge how good they were/will be.

Will they go deeper in playoffs? Unlikely, because a lot has to go right. A lot went right last year even though they were a flawed team.

Next year their strength of guard play should be slightly less strong, but remember, this is where you have one of the best players in the world filling that role. On the other hand their front court will be significantly stronger, shoring up a big shortcoming of last year's team.

I expect their advanced stats to be better and for them to have a better record, though I do think it is very possible they miss the WCF.

The aim is to reduce Luka’s role so that he remains fresh in the clutch. Will getting Dragic help offset some of this? Sure.  However you saw what some star players said about Brunson.  The guy was a handful and Dragic is older.  We will miss Brunson. 

Plus the main point in all this is again not that Brunson is gone. Whether the team offsets his loss to a small extent or to a large extent, the main issue is that you lost him for nothing. 

There is a price to pay when you keep engaging in poor asset management. See again how SA traded Murray two years early.  That’s how you play the game if you rate someone a certain way and know that you don’t want to get into a bidding war for him later. That’s  how you stack up on picks and players to swing a trade for a bigger piece later.  Luka won’t say anything publicly. However unless he is just happy to hog the ball and not care of wins or losses, he knows this franchise has messed up this thing. He is watching. His timeline to win is now. Meanwhile Nico is learning how to be a GM.