12-17-2022, 07:28 AM
(12-17-2022, 06:24 AM)F Gump Wrote: This is simply a version of Kidd using Luka at the 4, and in essence making him a point-forward. We put on the blinders of "Luka is a PG" while failing to remember that "point" doesn't necessarily have to be a guard. Kidd doesn't seem to be as constrained in his thinking.I always said he´s a PG on offense and a PF on defense. Nurkic was abusing Powell early. Later they had Luka defending Nurkic post-ups. Luka is strong as an ox.
Therefore for the Mavs it actually makes sense to have a "smaller" guard, who can play SG on offense and PG on defense. Green actually fits that description pretty well.
Btw the last two games were a glimpse into the "Powell is un-playable future"-again. Allen/Mobley and Nurkic flat out murdered the Powell starting five. Obviously we cannot invest assets in our current situation, but guys like Saric or Bitadze (RFA) are on expiring contracts and barely play in Phoenix or Indiana. I´m sure, if you make it advantageous financially for Indiana they dump Bitadze.
Saric might be a bit more complicated as I assume the Suns want to package Saric/Crowder for a bigger rotational piece. But I could see a Collins scenario, where Atlanta would prefer Bullock over Saric and the Mavs can make it happen, in exchange for a small piece like Okogie (from Phoenix) or Jalen Johnson (from Atlanta). So you get your PF/C in Saric and a younger SF replacement in Okogie/Jalen Johnson.
These are the kind of moves the Mavs should make to set themselves up for the future.
We likely won´t have the ammo to make direct plays for guys like Collins, DeRozan, Lavine, Beal, Kuzma, Porzingis (haha) whenever those moment arrive, but we can weasel our way into the deals and make small improvements.