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

[RDB]

RDB - "I like Maxi but am not married to an above average defender who has no game inside the 3 point line and needs 3’ of space to shoot or he becomes a speed bump in ball rotation.  I just think his skills are easily replaceable with reasonable dollars. (Wow that sounds harsh).  I will agree that I am on the fence with Green.  I still hold out hope that we will see significant improvement where Maxi at this point is what he is."

My view on Maxi is 2-fold, and I think both are vital to the bigger picture:

1 He is a good two-player. The Mavs don't have enough of those. Sure there are better players out there in this area or that, but it's a mistake to make the perfect become the enemy of the good.

2 More importantly, if he is traded right now, finding a "two-way big" replacement will be hard. Who's that 3-and-D big you have in mind that's so great? Or even as good as Maxi?

It’s just a difference in the value each of us place on him.  I view Maxi as a solid bench player but nothing more.  I do like his defense and would probably value him higher if he were more than a set shot 3 point guy who is completely reliant on others to get a shot.  If we could get DB the same looks that Maxi gets, we would forget about Maxi’s shooting quickly.  Unfortunately, that isn’t going to happen because teams stick to DB much tighter and know if they can close out reasonably quickly, Maxi won’t shoot or drive.  I would even accept passable inside the 3 point line.  I just think at 30, he is what he is and I don’t see things improving as he gets further away from 30.

And it doesn't get solved next summer either, because even if there are many available then (and there never are), the Mavs only get 1 (ONE!) opportunity each summer, not all they want, to get those good solid NT-MLE players to fill various needs throughout the roster. Sometimes (like this year, limited to the T-MLE), they get 0. With Kyrie having walked, you have to fix that already.

As far as Green, I don't think you get enough value by including him. So why bother? He would be pretty close to just filler in the eyes of the other team. They certainly won't be giving you the value of what you think he can become.

I agree…I threw him in as filler too.