GAME 31: DAL (15-16) @ MIN (16-15) | 106-116 loss

[Mavs2021]

KL was pointing this out in the summer and I largely dismissed him. I never thought that Brunson alone would've been the difference of 11-15 wins just in terms of chemistry and team leadership. 

I do mainly blame the coach for this though. How can you let your team get this bad? No sense of culture or leadership. Luka also takes some blame here.

You simply assign too much value to intangibles like chemistry and team leadership. I don´t deny that Brunson was an important part of the culture/leadership and that it matters at the high-end of the discussion (championship or not), but making or missing the play-offs is simply a TALENT issue and the loss of Brunson´s basketball talent was enormous.

1. A lot of teams in the West are healthier than last season. The Kings (30), Blazers (27) and Pelicans (36) were far below 0.500 win teams last year. Now they look like they could all win 50 games. Only projected counter-demise (Jazz) has not happened so far.
2. We are the only team in the whole league that (in)voluntarily gave up their 2nd best player. The next highest paid free agent thath changed teams was Malik Monk at barely above the MLE.