GIANNIS THREAD: Giannis has SIGNED the Supermax

[KillerLeft]

I think there is a really good chance that the best possible path, when all is said and done, might turn out to be something that we possibly passed up on because we were staying flexible.

I think there's a chance of this happening ("really good chance" is obviously a stretch), but it certainly hasn't happened yet, so I don't get all the doom and gloom about it. So far, since drafting Luka, the vast majority of the decisions they've made have been for the best, imo. They've done loads of stupid things over the past decade, but most of them were silly, flailing attempts to reset the franchise with a young star. Since acquiring that guy, I think what they've done has been not only logical but actually refreshingly effective. 

Also, how in the world can a person believe that once Luka signs his extension that we are "locked in". I don't get that mentality. Is the trade market going to just freeze up once Luka signs his extension? Will there be no FA's following Luka's extension signing? How about the draft? Does that go away once Luka signs his extension?

Two max players = roughly 60% of the cap, yes? That effectively locks you in to improving through trades and MLE only, unless you bail on Porzingis and probably some other contributors who are here on good contracts. There's nothing wrong with trades, and I'm not suggesting that the roster will be written in stone from next summer on, but moving salary out in exchange for other salary requires a multi-directional fit in terms of intent. This is a much, much smaller target to hit, with much less room for error. If you're not passing up anything of value to maintain other options, and so far, they haven't, why plunge head first into a world where you have only one possible route of escape? 

No, none of that goes away, as well as our flexibility to change directions continues to be there. This is not 21 or bust, this is 21 is just another year to get what we need for this team. Luka's contract is just 1 contract on a team that needs to have players signed at their on court value or lower.

Couldn't have said the above better myself, and it 100% supports my view, imo. 

We've seen that the Mavs are willing to add salary. They're just being careful to add the RIGHT salary. 

'21 isn't a doomsday clock, it's merely the end of ONE possible avenue of improvement. I have no problem with keeping that avenue clear, so long as they're not passing anything truly exciting up to do so. It's so simple. 

Dating back to 2011, I have probably been one of the most vocal critics of the MBT in this community. I can't remember where you stood back then, but I remember some of the others who told me letting Chandler and Barea (the two YOUNGEST contributors on the title team) go was smart. Objectively, factually, we now know that it was not. The approach they pulled the trigger on at that time was a CRIME against their fans. EVIL, imo. I'm not bringing this up to reopen a long expired conversation that will do no good for anyone here. I'm just trying to illustrate that I am NOT an MBT homer. I will go to my grave believing that Mark Cuban owes us all an apology for that. 

It was objectively stupid to pass up on drafting Giannis, who they had apparently identified as a future star, in order to add more money to an offer for Dwight Howard, who clearly wasn't going to come here, and who we now know wouldn't have done much for the team or city if he had. That's dumb. 

I'm not seeing that level of ineptitude in the current situation. It's still possible that it resurfaces, but to color that as "likely" is just as speculative as the assertion that Giannis will come here, stated by the dreamers among us. I'm in the middle. I see it as much, much more POSSIBLE that Giannis comes than Howard coming back then, because there is some logic to support that choice. It's definitely not LIKELY, so I'm not holding out much hope for it. What I AM holding out hope for is the chance of something really, truly exciting to happen, and maybe something we don't see coming at all.

If/when your worst fear comes true, and it becomes clear that they've skipped on something that would've moved the needle while waiting on an unlikely eventuality to play itself out, I'll be just as pissed as the next guy. To this point, I've seen no evidence that this is going to happen. They seem to know what they're doing these days. This off-season was BETTER than I expected, not worse.