MAVS NEWS: Luka Is Hurt, But is Trudging On | DLive's Mom Passes Away| Maxi OUT

[KillerLeft]

There's no way Luka waits 3 more years for young talent to hopefully blossom. A player of his magnitude shouldn't have to wait either. He's in year 6. No great player has ever been content with waiting until year 9 to hope things work out. I understand you personally wanting that, but no matter what any of us think or want, it only matters what Luka wants. He deserves to have a competitive team and one that he can take deep into the playoffs if they are healthy. The roster is good now. Can Kidd coach them properly? Who the hell knows, but the talent is there now from 1-10. This roster is good enough if healthy and if Luka does his normal playoff thing, to make a run.

You keep responding as if it’s a simple choice between being good or not being good, and which of those Luka would prefer.

What I’m saying is that I believe these choices the Mavs are making could make winning less likely in the long run. Far less likely. “In the long run” is when he will actually decide whether or not he wants to stay, not this summer. He is here for two more years for sure, and probably three. What they are doing is going to make it far, far more difficult to upgrade the team THEN, when it will matter most. 

If the payoff for putting themselves up against that kind of risk was actually competing for a championship now, I could understand it. But, that’s not what they are getting, right? What they are getting now is a slightly better chance to finish sixth, rather than have to go through the play-in process to make the playoffs. Either way, what’s the best we can hope for… Second round exit? That’s not nothing, and I am not suggesting they shouldn’t try to max this team out, it’s just that I had hoped they could do it with more modest moves that kept momentum going for future moves.

Love Gafford, but he is a backup center here. I do not think he is worth (to the Mavs) either his salary or the first round pick they had to acquire to give up for him. I think there will be playoff games where he plays eight minutes and everybody here loses their mind, because Kleber is in there instead of him. And, I think it will probably be the right decision to play Kleber in front of him. Who knows, maybe Gafford will get the minutes and it will be Lively who ends up with eight minutes, but I doubt it. Gafford definitely protects them from a Lively injury. Love that part of it, but… For a first? At $12 million per?

Love PJ and I think he will be great here. I have said so repeatedly for months. But, I didn’t think it would be so expensive to get him. I would feel so much better about that deal if it had been like Williams, Curry and Hardy, maybe. 

It’s just the draft capital, guys. You need it just to be able to get on the phone and discuss these deals nowadays. They’ve got to be smarter about how they use it. I do like that they’re starting to get pics back in these deals, but I think it might be too little too late.