ROSTER TALK: Mavs favs for Vogel if no HC job exists. Kyrie handshake deal?

[Mapka]

It sucks to lose Brunson, but I do not think Brunson was pivotal to the Mavs building a championship team. Brunson was great in the playoffs when Luka was hurt, and he would have been a good back up point guard, but he IS worth more to a team like NY that needs someone to facilitate the offense. I will be SHOCKED if Brunson is ever once an all-star. Having said that, Brunson was a net positive for the Mavs. At 125/5 he would have been a very expensive net positive, but he would have potentially been trade material for a better fit. Of course, we couldn't trade him last year, so at 125/5 it might have been really tough to trade him next year.

Meanwhile I am VERY excited about Wood. Yes, he might be a bust. But he might be feasting with the best stats of his career with Luka. I suspect he will be somewhere in the middle, but contributing at least around as much as he did in Houston, which would arguably make up for any Brunson loss.

Javale will be a net positive, even if it's off the bench with the 2nd unit. He will only start if he earns it and I dont expect him to play more than 15 minutes a game. But he provides skills the Mavs don't have.

So far I am not sure the team has improved, but I do not put the Brunson failure on Nico. Brunson was held back by the previous regime and despite what his dad says, I am not convinced Brunson would have taken the extension early last year. Maybe, but its speculation at this point. 

I do expect the Mavs to be better next year. We get Hardaway back and the team has a chance to grow together. I also expect Nico to continue to churn the roster and look for ways to improve it during this and next years trade season.

Better than the WCF?

At the moment I have a very hard time seeing that. We got worse and other might get healthy.