Should we give Donnie credit?

[reckoner07]

And if they find a strong long-term player that makes it worth passing on Giannis earlier than expected

Why are you so convinced that signing a long term contract means passing on Giannis? My take is, IF Giannis express a wish to come here, we will find a way, no matter what contracts we have. Did you see Miami as capable of getting Butler before the season with their huge over the cap roster?

GSW using us to get KD. Utah moving Favors to get Bogdanovic. I’m sure there are many other examples. If you sign guys to reasonable contracts, you can move them and get assets. If you make a wrong decision and sign someone to a bloated contract, you attach the extra assets. That’s how other FO’s work, why can’t ours? Getting better players is better.

Oh yeah, I see impact players being obtained all the time for packages of role players.   With a team to package almost no draft assets with.

Mavs just signed a bunch of role players past '21, who are valuable, but valuable in a system, alongside an ascending all-time great. There might be an impact guy to be had on a short-term deal with these guys sure... but a quality player locked into a deal past '21, with our assets? Forget about it. And I'm not talking about eating a shit Chris Paul contract, and screwing the team (which the Mavs would never do)...just an expectation of fair market value.