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

[mvossman]

In my opinion, third best guy (on offense) is someone who generates some of the offense on his own. Denver has MPj, Boston had a couple of guys last season that could qualify (White, Smart), Miami has Herro, Lakers have Reaves/Russell,..

I think Mavs will need that guy and I think Lively is far away from being that. So far he is still extremely raw and not really capable of using his size against smaller guys. He surprised most (all?) of us by his improvement this season, but I have a really hard time imagining such a huge advancement by next season. As he is, it is likely he will be played off the floor in playoffs, I am affraid.

So far, THJ has been that guy for Mavs and it is not even close. His problem is his weak defense, as we basically all agree. Not because he is a bad individual defender, but because you can't play THJ next to Luka and Kyrie and hope for any kind of decent defense. So, for me the only logical way is to replace THJ offense by similar offensive guy who is a much better defender. As Mavs have Luka and Kyrie, that third scorer needs to also be a good defender.

Timmy is not a good fit defensively with Luka and Kyrie, but you don't really have to play him when both are on the court.  With them being staggered, there are nearly 30 minutes a game when one is off the court, and obviously more when one is injured.

I do agree though that what this team desperately needs is a true two way player.  There not a single player on this roster that can create some offense while being better than average on defense.  I don't think you can contend without a guy like that.  In my mind, all effort should be in getting that guy.  Doing anything to make this team a little better this season that has any chance of hampering getting that guy is not worth it.  As someone mentioned above, we will be in the best position in a long time to acquire that player this coming offseason with 3 first, expiring contracts and some young players.  

Iztok had that article out recently that showed the only way this team with Luka and Kyrie can play decent to good defense is with three "defenders" on the court.  Having a true two way player will make that so much easier to accomplish.