04-12-2024, 02:40 PM
(04-12-2024, 01:38 PM)omahen Wrote: They are doing everything to build as good a team as possible around Kyrie and Luka. Gafford and PJ are not old, but they are both on their second contract. Mavs also don't control any of their picks from 2027 to 2030. No idea how they plan to replace Kyrie in a couple of years when needed, because they will not have (good) picks to draft a star nor draft assets to trade for one. In two years, Kyrie and Maxi will be 34. The only really young players are Lively, Omax and Hardy. I don't see a star here. The rest are more or less what they are. If age slows down Kyrie, Mavs will have imho huge problems to build a contender.
I don't disagree with a lot of what you are saying, but it doesn't change the fact that their actions do not imply a hyperfocus on the next two years. They appear to be looking longer term than that. Maybe its partly because they are not looking at Kyrie as a 2 year window. Some of the guys we have been talking about trading for (George, Butler) are older now then Kyrie will be in two years, and he has not shown any real sign of decline yet. Who knows, maybe in a couple of years we will actually be a destination with the Luka/Kyrie combo and can land another big fish during Kyrie decline years.