(09-20-2022, 10:24 AM)mvossman Wrote: I'm going with a D as well. I look at the moves in order of importance:I was putting those box stats in for Wood to show that he does have some defensive tools to get to where we hope for him. A player doesn’t just luck into getting 1 bpg (they can luck into getting .8 spg but there has to be at least some hustle to get more than .5 pg).
Letting Brunson walk for nothing. This can't happen. It's an F at this point.
Trading for Wood. This is an A move. Brings the overall close to a C
Doing absolutely nothing to replace Brunson playmaking. This was an issue last year until TDL. Brings the overall down to D
McGee signing. The third year player option is a joke and given the above two moves would have rather gone for Rubio type player
Hardy. Looks like a bust, but most 2nds are. Fine with the flyer. Would rather have paid cash than seconds. Another sign Cuban cheap
As for comparing Wood and Maxi defensive stats, that is probably a good argument not to look at those in a vacuum. Even a box score advanced stat like DBPM has Wood as below average and Maxi above, particularly this last season.
As far as the McGee signing, the joke is the previous FO group putting this roster in the position where we even have to overpay in negotiations against KL’s favorite city in the world. As far as the player? His impact remains to be seen, but he is, on paper (which if we’re grading right now is the only way to look at it) a large upgrade to Powell. Years on his contract (2 vs 3) make little difference to me. If he isn’t what we want in year 1, $5M is fine to pay a backup. If he declines in year 2, he’s only finishing out the year away from being an expiring and is paid fine as a bench player. If he declines in year 3 he’s a low money expiring throw in for a TDL trade. It’s an overpay (in years), but in the board’s discussion revolving around this topic, that is what we’re gonna have to do to get FAs coming from other teams. Joke? Hardly.
Not getting a ball handling replacement for JB is a calculated risk from a group that has seen much more Mavs ball (and for that matter, NBA ball) than we have. Another, remains to be seen, item up for judgement. You want to go the dark pessimistic way about it, I get it, I’d rather have another rotation level ball handler, but I’m not going to presume that is so required as to drop a full letter grade.
The trade unlocked the offense with SD playing above his season and way above his career 3% numbers, but it also downgraded our defense. Not yet getting a ball handling injury replacement, I think, is the bigger sin, but with a roster spot still open, there are still options open (heck, signing Pinson always will give us a waive option).
If it turns out THJ has negative trade value like I said in a previous discussion we had long ago and the plan is to play him to get that value up so we can trade for a ball handling upgrade, I would prefer that as opposed to trading now and having to give up too much. That’s good asset management, but remains to be seen. It is, however, speculation that has been thrown out on this board previously.