Trade & FA 2023-24: Lavine Market Barely There| NOP Want Trae or Murray

[Scott41theMavs]

I'm confused by this as well.  Why does everyone think more defense is need and the Mavs can ignore the other side of the floor.  The Mavs offense has been putrid this post season.   

NBA defenses have figured out that you have more success when you double Kyrie and Luka every possession and let the other players try to beat you.

The solution to the offensive problem is not to go get someone who is 1) inefficient, 2) not great at team play, and especially 3) a problem for their own team on defense. Hell, if that's the goal, just re-sign THJ at a ridiculous rate.

I'm not sure I understand this trend right now of having created nearly the perfect defensive team around Luka and Kyrie and wanting to torpedo that. Landlord and Lively manning the middle. PJail. DJJ. Exum and/or Green to help with defensive effort (if not results) off the bench. Maxi when healthy. With those guys next to them, Luka and Kyrie are playing the best defense of their lives, because they have those other guys to shore them up as they sell out their defensive approaches. When THJ plays, it hurts the team right now. When Hardy plays, it hurts the team right now. 

Should the Mavs work on getting one or two strong offensive players this summer? Sure! But guys who are below average or worse on defense are unwelcome in the most absolute of terms. Personae non gratae, period. And guys who are capable of creating their shot who are also average or better on defense tend to be quite a bit more expensive. Given how crowded the Mavs' cap is, I just don't see how you're going to get a guy like that, and especially not without losing DJJ as well, which could make any such acquisition close to being a wash. 

I think the only real solution for the Mavs moving forward is to have phenomenally great, no-worse-than-top-five-in-the-league scouting. Get the guys we need on rookie scale. I think there's a nearly airtight argument to be made that, given what's coming with Luka's supermax, the only way they're ever going to replace Kyrie's roles on the team is by finding the league's next Brunson in the next couple of drafts or undrafted free agent groups (and not losing him via screwing up his rookie deal).