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

[Chicagojk]

ChicagoJk, I wanted to piggyback on something you said in the Summer League thread about Zach Lowe on Houston’s future. I feel that way about OKC and NO as well. Part of what is so distressing about the Mavs (admittedly, and hopefully unfinished) offseason is the extent to which our immediate  AND future competition has stocked up. By my reckoning, only Utah and SA didn’t improve out West this summer. GS, Denver, LAC, LAL all with better health(and Kyrie) and Phoenix if they trade for Durant all should see internal improvement. Portland gets Dame back and presumably better health in addition to what they added in Grant and GP II. Minny added Gobert and has two young stars. NO adds Zion and has a crap ton of picks and assets. Memphis is stocked with picks and cap flexibility. Even SAC added Murray, Huerter and Monk. OKC has the brightest future to me, though Houston has a good thing going too. OKC just has SO many picks that they can elbow in on any trade and maneuver the draft. I wonder how Cuban and Nico and the rest of the rebooted MBT see a way forward in the West. It seems like the championship windows for immediate comp in Pho, GS, LAL and LAC and let’s say Portland, should be closing in the next few years. Leaving Our Mavs, NO, Minny, Memphis, Denver as the “next wave”, with OKC and Houston looking to make noise around that time as up and comers. The West is back to being an absolute arms race again, with only the Celtics in the East looking to have a formidable near and longer term window, as Milwaukee and Miami and even Philly start to age out unless they pull off huge trades. I guess I just looked around the landscape and was reminded anew what a colossal screw up it was not to offer Brunson a larger deal. Maybe he goes to NYK anyway? Maybe we have something else great lined up? I think we are in the beginning of our window opening now, but don’t have time to dither as Luka’s current contract winds down. If Cuban wasn’t willing to be a legit tax paying team with a group that made the WCF, what could convince him to take that route in the near future? Desperation in the face of a more imminent threat of Luka’s departure? His own finances improving? A true second “star”? Some combination? I don’t think there is any way to compete in the West and be cheap, not with our current management  model at least. Sorry to re-litigate all this, I just wonder what everyone figures the way forward is. If this is the first opening of our title window it seems to me we are off to a rough start as a franchise, until Nico and Mark prove otherwise. We get one shot with our full compliment of assets coming available after next season to get it right. Losing Brunson for nothing just made that even tougher in my estimation.

Yes, I feel Dallas is in a really treacherous place....and that is weird considering how last year was a success.   I hoped the plan was bring back the roster as is, make some improvements (Wood, McGee), pay the tax, clear up the bench large contracts next year, and be ready to pounce on the big deal when is appears.   This next season may have been a step back if we followed that path, but I was optimistic it was a group that liked playing together and played well as a group.

Without Brunson, I think we have taken a step back from the top and I am also glancing behind us as the young teams are gaining speed.   

In all likelihood it may be best to take the long view approach and not make any drastic changes now.  The issue is Luka is in a win now space and how does he react if we have clearly taken a step back?   I think we all want to make that big move now.  But the problem is that move may not be available and if we bet wrong again, we may be stuck with no assets moving forward and the impending future Luka FA date getting closer and closer.  

Even if we take the long view approach, we clearly need another ball handler and another wing.   I can't believe we would go into the season without either.    I think minutes for a wing can be manufactured internally, but it was a stated objective of the team this offseason.  So I expect at least some kind of move is made there.