09-29-2022, 12:59 PM
(09-29-2022, 11:58 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: I think it is CAN rather than MUST. The regular season (especially the first half of it) will be a time of experimentation. Good teams don't fret over the early regular season as much as fans. I don't think we have to necessarily sacrifice a good record to experiment. But, we need to know what we have and don't have going into the final two months.
I better wording for "not flexible enough" might be "not dominant enough". Some teams are good enough to dictate to their opponents. We aren't there. We don't have a single lineup and style of play that will work for 82 and 16. A healthy LAC, for instance, doesn't have to adapt their style nearly as much as most teams (though they are deep enough to do so). Same with GSW. They are very different teams and until we get our version of Paul George, we will be dictated to by these better teams. Our only hope is to be high quality in every combination of things we throw out there. We have bench guys in Maxi, Powell, Tim, Wood and Bertans who have been starters much of their careers. None of those guys are ball handlers, which is where a lot of angst comes from. Maybe Grank gets the job done. If they don't, there will need to be an addition before we get to the playoffs in order to be fully adaptable to whatever opponents throw at us.
While I don't agree with DLord's theory about Cuban being so much of a skinflint that he won't pay a 15th player minimum wage, I do believe that the reality is that, at this juncture, our desire for a third ball-handler is moot. The Mavs do not have the assets to acquire a ballhandler without including FRPs and damage future flexibility. The value of many of their assets will increase by the TDL (by virtue of contract situation more than anything else), and they might make a move for a ballhandler if Grank hasn't stepped up. I do agree with KL that their current situation regarding this particular problem is going to cost them some opportunities. The crimes on their part here are past crimes - it's their fault that they boxed themselves into the current inflexibility. However, there is still hope that after the '23 draft they may be able to make a major move that will help the team greatly. That hope disappears if they burn a FRP right now. Shame on them for the situation they're in, but imho they're handling it the right way if they can't find a team willing to be fleeced for what we want.