https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status...2327389186

WELL!

I took the weekend to work and I return to this rumor. Haven't seen much discussion of it yet but felt like it deserved it's own thread.

How much would y'all theoretically give up in such a trade? Lebron will be 39 and will be able to opt out in a year. I think that massively (read incredibly massively) drives down his assumed price in a trade.

I think THJ+Hardy+Bertans+10 is all it'd take. Heck might be able to pry 17 out of them too. #10 historically is worth at least 2 first rounders.

I thought it would be interesting to post a 10 question test regarding the draft and free agency and see how people do.  Please answer before the draft.  If you post more than one guess (as things change between now and then), please let us know which is your "Sheet of Integrity".  This is intended to be what you 'think' will happen as opposed to what you 'want' to happen.  Each question is worth 10 points.  Six of the questions are simple Yes/No or Over/Under.  Four of the questions require a name.  Good Luck:


1. Will Kyrie remain a Dallas Maverick next season?  Y/N

2. Will Kyrie make over or under $41mm in the first year of his next contract?  O/U

3. Will Dwight Powell make over or under $4mm on his next contract?  O/U

4. Will the Mavericks keep or trade the player taken at #10?  Keep/Trade

5. Who will the Mavericks draft with whatever first round pick they make (N/A if no pick)?  __________

6. Who will be presumed to be the Mavericks starting center in Mid-July?  ___________

7. Will Christian Wood get a contract over the full MLE?  Y/N

8. Will the Mavericks total salary to start the season be: 
    1. Under the LT 
    2. Between the LT and first apron 
    3. Over the first apron

9. Name one current Maverick player who will be traded or waived by mid-July?  ______________ 

10. Who will the Mavericks sign (if anyone) in free agency above the minimum (N/A if none)? _________________

Any ideas for getting home boy back? Would you say yes to:

1. Davis Dump + #10 for a Finney-Smith reunion?

2. Keep #10 but eat that Ben Simmons contract in exchange for Timmy, JaVale, and the aforementioned Davis, all for just two more years of Dorian + a player-option on year 3?

Count The Jom as a yes on both proposals.

While it is the offseason for the Mavs, it is the perfect season for innovation.

So I ask all of you what is your opinion on how we present information?

Should we continue doing these season long Mega-Threads that are all encompassing, OR do we go and do individual topics when things come up?

For instance, if there was a trade rumor for say Anthony Davis, we'd normally throw it in the Trade&FA thread and call it a day. Under the individual topic organization, anyone can start "Trade for AD???" thread and we'd talk about that specific rumor there. 

Let me know. I have put up a poll and am going to let it run for a week.

https://twitter.com/StepBackJay77/status...0638365698

Okay so this is click-baity but we came up with a trade article idea that we ran through ChatGPT + some Midjourney art and I think the result is not bad. Please like and re-tweet, I think we could probably come up with one of these fake trade articles every week lol.

"Those that can not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

After the break up of Mavs chamionship team, with an aging 33 year old Dirk and roster the Mavs went into get "win now" players only mode.

This consists of let's sign Darren Williams and Dwight Howard to extend the chamionship window(fail). That didn't happen and we have to win for Dirk let's overpay Chandler Parsons, Wes Mathews, Monta Ellis, trade assets for Rajon Rondo and attempt to sign DeAndre Jordon(fail).

Okay we have no assests let's over pay Harrison Barnes and bring in any other vets possible (fail). 

All this while missing out on drafting a generational player and developing him in Giannis.

I say all this because now the Mavs are in a parallel position except with a 24 year old super star and another 31 y.o all star if he signs.

Why exactly are the Mavs in a hurry/panic? Bring in the best players for now and the future even if it takes a bit for that player to develop. 

If that means building through the draft so be it. Do not panic by saying only go for "win now" players only.

Have a draft plan and stick to it.  Their are likely players in this draft that can help the Mavs iimmediately.  Identify them and trust your development staff.

I know the Mavs are desperate for a competent 5 at center, However, bringing in a player like Ayton, Capella, Allen, claxton while paying a high lottery pick is more of the same.  

Unless it's a all NBA player type, I am not trading the pick for one of these "win now" player's.

Just need an easy to find place to keep track of this. 

ESPN is doing a special on him called “The Future”. I hope the guy is humble enough to cut through all that b.s. Otherwise he could become Lebron 2.0.

Edit: So here is my Theory all in 1 place (what else is there to read?). As I discuss it and get input, I do change things up a bit, but for the most part this is it:

I think Wemby will be injury prone for 3 interconnected reasons: height, body shape and style of play in this new injury prone era of NBA basketball. To me, I think AD's last 5 years is about what he'll be until injuries just sap all the ability out of him. A guy that is constantly injured during the season (avg 50 gp per season for the last 5 years) and there is no telling if he'll be available or ready to go come playoff time. When he plays, he helps vault your otherwise well built team to contender status, but that is so hit or miss, you most of the time don't want him on your team. I think KP and Bol Bol are the closest player comparisons in terms of the full package (KD is closer to what Wemby is in play, but he doesn't have close enough to the height and even he came out 7 inches shorter, but only 5 lbs lighter than Wemby...let that sink in please!). I have to say, I think Kareem is too far away from this new style of NBA basketball that I can't accept him as a great comparison. I don't think I need to spend a ton of time on the first two things, as those are what have been discussed the most in this topic, but, here is the breakdown of each aspect and how it connects with the rest.

Height:
If you haven't seen or heard of the studies about how height is connected with injury, you probably aren't reading this long post. There's enough smoke out there to me, to believe there's fire with this aspect of it in my mind, so I subscribe to it (I also have to say, I've seen it myself growing up and watching the game for 40i years). This is also the key part to both the other two, because of how unique Wemby is as a player of his height. It's newish territory being so tall. This is why KP, who can't be the sole reason for a theory, is the best case study for any of this. Bol Bol is another pretty good comparison, but then it's starting to get too far away from 7'5". It's 2 inches difference from KP to Wemby, 3 inches from Bol Bol to him. To put it in simpler terms and keeping in mind this is solely in a thought about height in a vacuum, three inches in general is the difference between a great height for a PG to a good height for a SF (6'4" to 6'7"). So that is to basically say, 2-3" still needs to be put in it's place with all of this. Which is also to say, the taller you are, the harder it is to maintain your body.

Body shape:
Andre the Giant would have made a terrible basketball player. Wemby will make an amazing one, when he plays. In general, this part is a look at the height to weight ratio and how it affects a player's health. I haven't made a spreadsheet to calculate the height to weight ratio, I've used height, weight and sight for my "analysis". Pokusevski and Holmgren are 2 guys that have the most comparable body shapes to Wemby. New study on height/weight bigs. I've done this once already, but never set parameters up before doing it. At 6'10" the player can be no more than 205 lbs., then no more than 5 lbs for each inch above (which is still being very generous with Wemby's height/weight ratio). Here is your list with the # of NBA games played to date and years past draft:

Chet Holmgren - 7' - 195 - 0 - 1
Yannick Nzosa - 6'10" - 195 - 0* - 1
Evan Mobley - 7' - 215 - 148 - 2
Isaiah Jackson - 6'10" - 206 (close enough) - 99 - 2
Aleksej Pokusevski - 7' - 201 - 140 - 3
Jaden McDaniels** - 6'10" - 184 - 212 - 3
Nicolas Claxton - 6'11.75" - 217 (close enough) - 170 - 4
Bol Bol - 7'2" - 208 - 123 - 4
Michael Porter Jr*** - 6'10.75" - 211 (close enough) - 187 - 5
Jonathan Isaac - 6'11" - 205 - 147 - 6
Thon Maker - 7'0.75" - 216 - 263 - 7****
Kristaps Porzingis - 7'3" - 230 - 402 - 8

* - Never on the team's roster
** - More a SF for a big man study
*** - preexisting injury issue well documented
**** - only in the league for 5 years

Biggest part of the reason this is a 6'10" cutoff is cause most bigs aren't smaller unless they are way outside the parameters. This is a "big" study, mostly because of the role bigs play on defense being that of a paint protector so they will come into contact with other players in compromising (to the body) positions and elevations. The toll taken on a body of Wemby's shape is much different (read as worse most of the time) than the toll on bigger players (again, most of the time). One thing to mention, either guys with this type build are for whatever reason, not drafted, or they don't make it to the draft. There are also a LOT of 6'10" - 7' guys that have bigger body shapes that are drafted in the space I was studying. Is that supply? Is it where NBA teams are trending towards? Either way, this list, as small as it is doesn't have much to redeem for players with similar body types to Wemby. It's right on par with AD's last 5 years prediction, 50 gps and hit or miss on playoff availability.

Style of play in the new, injury prone, era of NBA basketball:
If you asked me who is gonna win a regular season matchup between any two teams in the league, my first question is, who is on the injury report? This league has either become soft, or the way the players play is not conducive to staying healthy or both. One way or another, it's just the way I see it. If you disagree, we will absolutely agree to disagree on that without any discussion needed.

Wemby's style of play puts him at maximum risk of injury in the NBA. Great defender, rim protector and rebounder on defense. He would play a "big" role to protect the paint and grab rebounds. That is enough contact for guys to get injured fairly often. I suspect Gobert is a decent place to also consider how Wemby will play on defense, soft, but quicker on the perimeter. Gobert is not oft injured, probably because he does not play with much force, but he does get injured, and all of this is building to the bigger whole.

Great dribble penetrator, 3 shooter, passer and rebounder on offense. Let's get 3 shooting out of the way, not many injuries when someone shoots a 3. Passer? Anytime a player has the ball, there is focus on that player and thus more possibility of contact, the more contact, the closer to injury. Offensive rebounder? Fighting for a rebound and then being that close together while jumping in the air with arms and legs flailing and players trying to get every advantage is a recipe for disaster, however, I continue down the path of the Gobert model where he's gonna play with as little force as possible while still doing well with rebounds. He could be worse than Gobert on this cause he will also be on the perimeter more often than him when the ball goes up, assumingly. In that sense, let's say he's closer to Dirk on ORebs than Gobert.

Dribble penetration is the worst of all of the offensive play style traits (for a player with the other two issues). This is where even small guys get hurt fairly often. This is one of the biggest reasons (please do not read that as ONLY) I keep talking about style of play being an important part of the whole of the theory. I just don't see a way around a 7'5" 220 guy going up against Embiid...or worse, Markus Morris (take your pick of guys) and the outcome not being an injury of some sort to Wemby. Then there's the thought of the adjustment to the speed, quickness and size of the defenders all around him. Hip checks going to the rim are a foul, does the player care about that foul when he hip checks the biggest threat on the court into injury? The more he goes up in the air and lands in traffic, the highest the risk of injury in my mind. Dereck Rose wants his game back.

All of his style of play attributes are what make him who he can be on the court and that should look great. Most of them are what adds up to getting him closer and closer to his next injury. Here's the point where I also say, these 2 way guys are burning the candle at both ends. It's one thing if you are like Trae Young and are an amazing offensive player but take your rest on the defensive end. If you're Maxi Kleber who plays hard on the defensive end but can sit on the 3 line during most of the offensive sets. It's another thing if you're doing it on both ends like AD. It takes a toll, wears you out and then you're doing things you think you should be able to do, but your body is spent so you get injured (see Luka).

Wemby's style of play adds to the interdependent whole of being injury prone. Which is to say, this theory isn't necessarily repeatable as a whole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A43oEkdAykE



NBA did a mini docuseries on several players this year. Luka was one of them. We see a lot of the same stuff from previous years, but there is plenty of behind the scenes footage from this year. Some interesting moments (especially the game vs. the Bucks this year). 

Great watch.

This thread is intended to be good fun. This thread is going to require a certain maturity level which I'm hoping the posters at Mavsboard.com possess. If it becomes an issue, please delete the thread. That being said, I'm optimistic that we can have some fun without taking things too seriously or crossing the line like a weirdo.

Here is how the thread goes. 

1) Post any basketball related tweet.

2) Everyone says who they think made the tweet. Name any poster or answers like Cuban, Kidd, Kyrie, etc. could be comical as well.

For Example...

Some people might think this is IamDougieFresh's tweet and the rest might say "I'm not sure, but whoever tweeted this is a basketball genius."

https://twitter.com/Vengeancewood/status...30914?s=20

This is most certainly cow.

https://twitter.com/MaffieuMufasa/status...20928?s=20

Have fun, fellow posters.

1.  Does the current NBA draft lottery system really discourage tanking?

2.  Should the NBA even attempt to implement rules/policies/procedures to discourage tanking?