10-02-2020, 01:12 PM
Just getting caught up with stuff. A few points:
1) Dundalis lost 100% of his credibility with me when he cited the Sixers as great asset managers who are in a wonderful position. LOL, that someone would think that. They have tens of millions sunk into Al Horford and Tobias Harris, and have few trade assets. They are a trainwreck, and Doc's laissez-faire crap on the court and in the lockerroom is going to hurt, not help.
2) I think nearly everyone in this discussion is losing sight of the fact that we have a player who is by authoritative consensus the fourth-best player in the league - with a freaking bullet. To argue that he cannot compete for a title in 2020-21 with the right roster is a b!tch-slap to him (he has the mindset of wanting to win-now for sure), and a b!tch-slap to the intelligence of basketball minds around the world. Moreover, we are less than a calendar year away from the time to tender him a qualifying offer. If he wants to Gordon Hayward us - see, it does happen, because it has historically happened before - that is when it will happen. We live in a world where superstar players dictate to their current teams and league as to where they want to play. The clock is ticking for the Mavs, and the time is far shorter than virtually anyone on this board takes it to be. They don't need to do anything stupid (KL's concern), but they need at the naked minimum to add a player who will not necessarily be a star, but will be the third-best player on the team right now (which I have said many times over is *not hard to do,* because this team outside of Luka and KP consists of two guys who could compete for being the 5th-best starter on a contending team in THJ and DFS, and a crew of bench players - the Mavs of course believed erroneously that pre-injury Powell was a starter; Powell recovering from an Achilles injury is by all objective measures a bench-level player *at best*). IDGAfreak if they do it by the draft (probably need to move up to do it), a trade, or free agency. They don't have the real-world option not to do it. Moreover, given the quality (snort) of our roster outside of Luka and KP, the guy can certainly be a rental (someone who expires in '21) to keep next summer's options open - it will still mean a more competitive team on the court. If THJ isn't here next year for some reason, then the burden is on them to get two of those players, but that is of course not necessarily harder in the sense that it probably happened by virtue of THJ opting in and the Mavs trading him for one of those guys. Bottom line, relying solely on 18, 31, and the MLE to improve the team would be quite dangerous and foolish (caveat - *unless* the MBT has an internal assurance that the guy or guys they get in the draft are Brunsons whom they know by virtue of their scouting confidence will be able to contribute right away, and *unless* they get a guy with the full MLE who fulfills my above criteria of third-best player - but, that's not at all how at least one person here is thinking), IMnotsoHO, and I'm very glad that people who think that way aren't running this team, whatever the MBT's shortcomings might be.
3) Since when can't we bundle 18 and 31 to move up? Last I heard, we could use them to move up between 2-8 places. If they have a super-Brunson (not position, but readiness) player in mind who would be more likely to be on the board at that point, why wouldn't they do that?
1) Dundalis lost 100% of his credibility with me when he cited the Sixers as great asset managers who are in a wonderful position. LOL, that someone would think that. They have tens of millions sunk into Al Horford and Tobias Harris, and have few trade assets. They are a trainwreck, and Doc's laissez-faire crap on the court and in the lockerroom is going to hurt, not help.
2) I think nearly everyone in this discussion is losing sight of the fact that we have a player who is by authoritative consensus the fourth-best player in the league - with a freaking bullet. To argue that he cannot compete for a title in 2020-21 with the right roster is a b!tch-slap to him (he has the mindset of wanting to win-now for sure), and a b!tch-slap to the intelligence of basketball minds around the world. Moreover, we are less than a calendar year away from the time to tender him a qualifying offer. If he wants to Gordon Hayward us - see, it does happen, because it has historically happened before - that is when it will happen. We live in a world where superstar players dictate to their current teams and league as to where they want to play. The clock is ticking for the Mavs, and the time is far shorter than virtually anyone on this board takes it to be. They don't need to do anything stupid (KL's concern), but they need at the naked minimum to add a player who will not necessarily be a star, but will be the third-best player on the team right now (which I have said many times over is *not hard to do,* because this team outside of Luka and KP consists of two guys who could compete for being the 5th-best starter on a contending team in THJ and DFS, and a crew of bench players - the Mavs of course believed erroneously that pre-injury Powell was a starter; Powell recovering from an Achilles injury is by all objective measures a bench-level player *at best*). IDGAfreak if they do it by the draft (probably need to move up to do it), a trade, or free agency. They don't have the real-world option not to do it. Moreover, given the quality (snort) of our roster outside of Luka and KP, the guy can certainly be a rental (someone who expires in '21) to keep next summer's options open - it will still mean a more competitive team on the court. If THJ isn't here next year for some reason, then the burden is on them to get two of those players, but that is of course not necessarily harder in the sense that it probably happened by virtue of THJ opting in and the Mavs trading him for one of those guys. Bottom line, relying solely on 18, 31, and the MLE to improve the team would be quite dangerous and foolish (caveat - *unless* the MBT has an internal assurance that the guy or guys they get in the draft are Brunsons whom they know by virtue of their scouting confidence will be able to contribute right away, and *unless* they get a guy with the full MLE who fulfills my above criteria of third-best player - but, that's not at all how at least one person here is thinking), IMnotsoHO, and I'm very glad that people who think that way aren't running this team, whatever the MBT's shortcomings might be.
3) Since when can't we bundle 18 and 31 to move up? Last I heard, we could use them to move up between 2-8 places. If they have a super-Brunson (not position, but readiness) player in mind who would be more likely to be on the board at that point, why wouldn't they do that?