Zach Lowe recaps our offseason. I agree with him that a large part of our future success will be based on getting a more productive KP....either to stay longterm here or trade in the future.
Dallas fans are tired of the Mavericks doing pretty well in free agency after teasing grand plans. I get that. We don't need to recite the free agents who spurned the Mavericks, or the draft assets Dallas forfeited to crack open cap space.
Unwinding the
Josh Richardson trade was painful -- an admission of its failure, and of wanderlust for
Seth Curry. I liked that trade at the time for both teams. Richardson represented the two-way wing to shore up Dallas' defense and maybe provide secondary creation around the overburdened
Luka Doncic.
Reggie Bullock is an archetypal 3-and-D wing with a quick release. (Richardson's slow release was an under-discussed problem.) Bullock brings zero off-the-bounce juice, but he's fine on a 3-year, $30 million deal.
The Mavs brought back
Tim Hardaway Jr. on what should be a tradable contract. He has grown into a knockdown shooter who can pump-and-go, and run some pick-and-roll. He's not a good defender, but he tries and has improved.
I've been beating the
Sterling Brown drum for years. He's 6-5, can guard three positions, and hit 42% from deep last season. That will likely prove a fluke; Brown was a league-average 3-point shooter before busting out in Houston. He's not as reliable on defense as you might think given his size and versatility, but he has the outlines of a rotation reserve on a good team.
None of this is as exciting as an alternate reality with
Kyle Lowry next to Doncic.
Chasing Lowry evinced an internal belief that the Mavs were one player away from title contention. That was an appropriate mindset. Doncic is that good already.
Surrounding Doncic with shooters is the right Plan B, even if it does not resolve the issue of Doncic wearing down late in playoff games because no one else can orchestrate. (There is hope
Jalen Brunson becomes that relief orchestrator, but his size is a detriment against elite postseason defenses.) The Mavs are loaded with good role players on value contracts -- grist for trades, even if the Mavs (pending a
Kristaps Porzingis revival) don't have the blue-chip players to get in on superstar trades.
Dallas still has semi-reasonable pathways to
Goran Dragic, though they are surely wary of surrendering more picks after forking over two in the Porzingis deal.
And that's what everything boils down to: The Mavs have a hard ceiling as long as the gap between their best and second-best players is gargantuan. Porzingis can shrink that gap by finding his groove again on defense, and playing more center. The Mavs can shrink it by trading Porzingis for someone better, but they won't manage that unless Porzingis rounds back into form.
The Mavs made their bed by punting on the first round of the draft for years (they have done well in the second, and excelled with undrafted free agents) and then dealing their remaining equity for Porzingis. They have reprioritized the draft over the past two offseasons, though the results are TBD.
The Mavs are in a bit of a holding pattern around Doncic. But they will be a dangerous playoff team, and they are doing well on the fringes while in that holding pattern. That is the only way to break out of it.
https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_...-offseason
[quote pid="104209" dateline="1628697411"]
ChicagojkZach Lowe recaps our offseason. I agree with him that a large part of our future success will be based on getting a more productive KP....either to stay longterm here or trade in the future.
Dallas fans are tired of the Mavericks doing pretty well in free agency after teasing grand plans. I get that. We don't need to recite the free agents who spurned the Mavericks, or the draft assets Dallas forfeited to crack open cap space.
Unwinding the
Josh Richardson trade was painful -- an admission of its failure, and of wanderlust for
Seth Curry. I liked that trade at the time for both teams. Richardson represented the two-way wing to shore up Dallas' defense and maybe provide secondary creation around the overburdened
Luka Doncic.
Reggie Bullock is an archetypal 3-and-D wing with a quick release. (Richardson's slow release was an under-discussed problem.) Bullock brings zero off-the-bounce juice, but he's fine on a 3-year, $30 million deal.
The Mavs brought back
Tim Hardaway Jr. on what should be a tradable contract. He has grown into a knockdown shooter who can pump-and-go, and run some pick-and-roll. He's not a good defender, but he tries and has improved.
I've been beating the
Sterling Brown drum for years. He's 6-5, can guard three positions, and hit 42% from deep last season. That will likely prove a fluke; Brown was a league-average 3-point shooter before busting out in Houston. He's not as reliable on defense as you might think given his size and versatility, but he has the outlines of a rotation reserve on a good team.
None of this is as exciting as an alternate reality with
Kyle Lowry next to Doncic.
Chasing Lowry evinced an internal belief that the Mavs were one player away from title contention. That was an appropriate mindset. Doncic is that good already.
Surrounding Doncic with shooters is the right Plan B, even if it does not resolve the issue of Doncic wearing down late in playoff games because no one else can orchestrate. (There is hope
Jalen Brunson becomes that relief orchestrator, but his size is a detriment against elite postseason defenses.) The Mavs are loaded with good role players on value contracts -- grist for trades, even if the Mavs (pending a
Kristaps Porzingis revival) don't have the blue-chip players to get in on superstar trades.
Dallas still has semi-reasonable pathways to
Goran Dragic, though they are surely wary of surrendering more picks after forking over two in the Porzingis deal.
And that's what everything boils down to: The Mavs have a hard ceiling as long as the gap between their best and second-best players is gargantuan. Porzingis can shrink that gap by finding his groove again on defense, and playing more center. The Mavs can shrink it by trading Porzingis for someone better, but they won't manage that unless Porzingis rounds back into form.
The Mavs made their bed by punting on the first round of the draft for years (they have done well in the second, and excelled with undrafted free agents) and then dealing their remaining equity for Porzingis. They have reprioritized the draft over the past two offseasons, though the results are TBD.
The Mavs are in a bit of a holding pattern around Doncic. But they will be a dangerous playoff team, and they are doing well on the fringes while in that holding pattern. That is the only way to break out of it.
https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_...-offseason
[/quote]
Wow...that didn't work. It is an insider article that I got from somewhere else. It was a good detailed writeup. Sorry.
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