01-07-2024, 04:55 PM
(01-07-2024, 04:22 PM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: I thought the Rui vs THJ “upgrade” was worth something more. I’m not married to Top 3 vs. Top 10 or Lottery or whatever. I try to think in terms of worst I’d do to see if it makes sense for the other team. Most put in the least they want to do, but I often think the other team wouldn’t do that. None of us ever nail these exactly, so hard to critique one approach over the other.
I agree with others. Murray would be preferable from a timeline standpoint, but it would all depend on Luka’s opinion. I did think Kyrie’s comment the other night about not holding back and coming out aggressive was kind of saying that deferring to Luka in Q1 makes if difficult for him to get going. Truth doesn’t have to be a shot at someone or a sign of a worsening relationship. It could just be truth. It probably is difficult to hold back and pick your spots. I imagine it is difficult for all sorts of players.
Rocky's observation above was spot on. I love the idea of swapping Ky for Murray, especially for defense and timeline. However, it's not just the locker room - and 1000% agree that Ky and GWill are the lynchpins of this year's locker room - but also panache and free agent attraction. Free agents seem to love Kyrie in spite of his repeated flakiness in off-court matters. Luka and Murray don't seem to have that - at all. As a matter of fact, it would behoove the Mavs to have Luka and Kyrie sit down for a beer or two and discuss roles. The mantra last year was "get Luka some help." Thanks to DP, it's the mantra this year too. But when Kyrie is healthy, Luka has to learn to let Kyrie help Luka shoulder some of the burden - even when they're both on the court. If Luka would simply knock off the heliocentric horseshit, that kills several birds with one stone: 1) gives Luka far more energy for the defensive end, on which he has shown great strides this year, to the extent that he can even become something of a difference-maker, 2) makes the rest of his teammates happy and gives them more active and exciting roles, 3) wins more games, since it's simply winning basketball, and 4) makes the Mavericks far more attractive to free agents.
A coach with half a brain cell would have sussed this a long time ago.