Only Fantasy Traders in the Building (The Mitchell Case)

[ItsGoTime]

The RW trade must be reconciled on its own merits -- That's part of exactly what I have done - talking about the value (or lack of same) in this season in adding RW for THJ-DB-DP. The only value offered by itself (ie, assuming you keep the same core you already have) is in RW play instead of the 3, for this season and beyond, as well as trade value, and I think the 3 is a far better result for the Mavs.

Yes, I did see your take about what you believe RW would do to this team on court. I covered that thought in my reply to DS but not specifically to you. I think the odds are in your favor on the thought and is a bigger mark in the cons side, but with odds, there is always the chance. With what has been and is happening in his life and on the court last season, there is something there that could lead one to believe it’s a catalyst for change. Also, Cow has done a pretty good job of echoing much of my thoughts on him.

As you said in the above, that was “part” of exactly what you have done. I’m reading and rereading but I can’t see your mention of the other part of exactly what you have done (I’m not trying to be antagonistic, I’m trying to use your words to fully understand what you are saying).

I have been responding to what I think I’m reading from you on that facet of such a deal. To me, it doesn’t matter if we get anything at all done with the opportunity this deal gives us. It does put us in striking distance of getting enough cap space to get creative after we’ve tampered our butts off (I mean, the penalty is what we throw into every single trade, even if they don’t ask for it?). This is the Miami way, I would love to model just 1 offseason after them, just 1 please! Mainly the point was, judge each transaction on their own merits. If we do nothing but resign our guys and move on, that doesn’t make the RW trade any better or worse.

As to how much room (if any) would result in 2023, there are a lot of little issues. It would start with whether Green is kept or not, a decision to be made before G1 this fall. And what about Ntilikina, do you keep his rights? But the big ones are whether you keep your Bird rights on Wood and Kleber, which are helpful but costly. And if you worked an extension  with them in advance (which you should, imo).

I did very rough math based on Kamm’s spreadsheet, just went back and after rounding to the nearest $100k, I show we would have $132.7M with capholds and everything else. The projected cap is currently at $133M. With capholds of $21.5M for Wood and $17.5M for Maxi, I can very easily see at least $14M in savings on those 2 contracts alone (not sure how extensions work on if we can extend at a lesser value than their current contract, that’s a Maxi question). Max extend Wood as soon as he looks like he fits and resign (or extend if you can do it for less salary) Maxi starting at $7M (hopefully lower because that back and age…DAMN!). That’s $10.5M savings on Maxi (at least) and $4M on Wood to add to the $300k below tax for a total of $14.8M to offer a FA, or combine with salary matching contract(s) and picks to get a disgruntled player or a player that the team sees the writing on the wall like SA and git while the gettin’s good, or use it in a SnT along with salary matching contracts and depending on the player, pick(s). So many options. Once you’ve tampered your butt off all season and know who is coming, you can also play the exact same game NY played with us.

But as you do, I start with the assumption (and have mentioned it repeatedly) of keeping THIS roster, or not. That would assume Wood-Kleber get signed, or extended, or cap holds to do so, as the default comparison, since they are part of the current core.

You don't get cap room at all in 2023 UNLESS you jettison signing rights on Wood and Maxi. But even if you do, it's less than max room.

Once they’re signed, that number is their cap number, not the caphold, right? We don’t necessarily need max caproom, we need the threat of it. With THJ and Bertans, there absolutely is no threat of it.

Not sure how a stripped down roster would HELP if players like that were on the trade block. It seems like you want to have the most assets, valued ones, plus some picks. To that end, I'm in favor of extending Green, Kleber, and Wood long before free agency, to have an even better core to work with on every front (including trades).

The idea of waiting until as long as possible to figure it out on keeping a desired player soon to be a FA, like Wood/Kleber, that's the same approach they took with Brunson. But the closer it gets to June, when a player has the taste of free agency and what he might get, the extension can easily get declined.

As soon as Wood is determined to be a good fit, I want him extended. It would suck if he signs the extension and proceeded to be lazy, but he’s worked pretty hard to get to where he is and his lifetime earnings are not all that great (compared to what it sounds like he thinks he is as a player in the league).


Maxi is getting old and has returning back issues. I’m picturing the old Larry Bird moments of laying on his stomach on the court watching the game while someone is loosening his back up. Maxi isn’t starting at a peak level of where Bird was. I want to give him less than McGee, but because of McGee, he needs a contract close to that.