Trade & FA 2023-24: Stein-Ingram Trade Inevitable| LAL Want Lebron Back On Any Terms

[Smitty]

I can't agree with that. Last season clearly demonstrated that Powell is not a reasonable stopgap solution. There was zero protection at the rim once the first line of defense was beaten, which happened often and will continue to happen often since we have Irving and Luka guarding on perimeter (1-4 is basically perimeter in modern NBA). The second problem was rebounding. Grant Williams is an upgrade at PF, but he is still relatively small for the position. 

Ideally, Mavs center rotation would be:
- Primary center taking roughly 30 minutes at the position. Something Mavs don't have and what we are considering to be filled with a mix of Holmes and Powell. So a third center on Sacramento team and Powell
- Lively playing developmental minutes and
- Maxi playing roughly 20 minutes per game either at PF or C. His minutes can increase in specific situations where the primary center could have problems
- break in case of emergency solution in Powell as deep bench

As I said plenty times before, problem is that Holmes and McGee contracts are difficult to move while they are eating capspace and roster spots. 

Mavs have two capable wing defenders in Green and GW. Green can guard positions 1 and 2 and GW can guard 3 and 4. We only have two replacements on the bench - Exum replaces Green and Omax replaces GW. I like both of them, but I have my doubts at this point if any of them is actually capable of playing significant NBA minutes (will their offense be good enough to stay on court). Problem occurs in times if one of the primary defenders is out. There is just not enough depth. Maxi can help against some of the big wings. 

Seth contract can be considered as great, but where will his minutes come from? He is basically playing totally same role as Hardy and THJ and as long as they are on the team, I just don't see minutes for him. 

By all accounts we can assume Mavs know they have not done enough and have recognized that THJ and McGee (and Holmes, but more difficult to move him) are basically redundant on this team, while eating over 35 mil of cap space. Something I totally agree with. All three of them have 2 years left and the partner team would need to see value in having them on roster. We can be pretty sure that no one in the league sees value in having Holmes or McGee on the roster at the money they are paid. THJ could be seen as a positive player in the right situation. But, Mavs are unsuccessfully trying to move him for value for quite some time now. 

So, as I wrote yesterday. In my opinion, Mavs can go to a season like this, but they have to be aware they are not anywhere close to a contender and that it can easily happen that result will be similar as last season. I think there is a considerable possibility of this to happen, certainly far above neglectable. But, situation next summer will be much better with THJ, Holmes and McGee expiring and 3 picks available for trade. Irving will also be a year older in this window and who knows if still available. Is this acceptable? Especially, is Luka fine with this? Be realistic with them, or dissapointment can be huge. Personally, I can also accept this option, if Mavs are realistic about what they have. 

If this is not acceptable (lets be honest, Mavs really lost all of the trust in the five years of mistakes they were making), than I think the only alternative is to bring the 2027 pick into play for a better starting center and some wing depth, while part of the pick value will be offset by the non expiring status of Mavs contracts.

This is a lot to digest so I'll try my best to state where I agree and disagree. Great post by the way! Powell was resigned to be a backup center. Full stop.

I believe, as currently constructed, the Mavs may view Maxi as a C/F not the the other way around. That means you can at minimum split the center minutes in half if you'd like. Holmes 24 | Maxi 24. It won't look like that but 18 & 18 seems reasonable. Then you have 12 minutes of either Powell or Lively. 

Of course that means that OMax is having to cover the backup PF minutes (16-18). Jae Crowder played 78 games his rookie year and 17.3 mpg. Brunson played 73 games and 21.8 mpg. Both second round picks. I feel confident in saying Omax will be able to cover the backup 4 spot behind GWill.

I don't think Curry has the same role as Hardy or THJ at all. Curry might be the only capable player from the bench that can play PG in the NBA. We know THJ can't, Hardy has been really bad at it and who knows what Exum can do. If one of Kyrie and Luka aren't playing then THJ is the 6th starter, leaving a capable PG (Curry) to run the bench unit. Hardy is a scorer and will have a role on this team but I think all of us will be complaining about how much time THJ is getting and how little Hardy gets....

I think the Mavs are very close to contention. If Nico and Co. think they are one piece away, I have zero issue with them using the FRP to bring that player here. I think most would agree that a top 5 center would make this team a 'contender'? Kyrie-Luka-Green-Williams-Capela? is much better than what they started in the WCF 2 years ago.