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

[ItsGoTime]

I think Toppins potential is mostly on offensive side. I may be wrong, but if I remember correctly, defense was his weakness coming into draft. 

As for center. I like Vuc as a player, I think he can do a lot of things very well. But, I think Vuc is just the opposite of what Mavs need at center. Having him next to Luka and Kyrie will lead to disastrous defense. Besides that, I think he will be paid at least Nurkic level money. Based on this, every dollar coming his way is a wasted dollar on the center position imho. 

Since Mavs chose to be in the win now mode, I think the only way to success is to navigate within the "Available, and what we need" bunch successfuly. Overpaying is the least concerning thing to me, because I am affraid Mavs situation is pretty much black and white. They either succeed (build a contender now) and everything is fine or they fail (at building a contender now) and likely start rebuild sooner than later. I think Mavs moves will all look like an overpay. The question for me is, are they capable of bringing in two quality starters that fit next to Luka and Kyrie, while hopefully retaining Green and Hardy. If they can do that, this team could be good, no matter what else is left there. If not, well, the mistakes of many years are just too big to overcome.

So, Toppin is at worst a neutral defender. Looking at his DFG% he’s decent at 6 ft and under and doesn’t let 3’s get out of hand. Overall, he has a -1% DFG% which isn’t world beater, but it isn’t bad either. That was this season. Last season when he was getting a lot more playing time he was a ton better. Overall -4.4% DFG% (more negative the better).

Regardless of what the knock on him was coming out of the draft, I think he’s fine, again, not great, as a defender.