Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[FireNicoHarrison]

No, but calling Christie a project is.

Third NBA season, averages 5-2-1 in his career.

He played great last 5 Mavs games... What is he? A future all star? Stop dreaming.

And I like Max a lot but i know that solid starter would be awesome.

[BoulderMFFL]

Third NBA season, averages 5-2-1 in his career.

He played great last 5 Mavs games... What is he? A future all star? Stop dreaming.

And I like Max a lot but i know that solid starter would be awesome.

Barring injury solid starter is the floor. I would put the ceiling at elite 3&D. Dreaming would be borderline all-star.

[mvossman]

That's a lot of assumptive "if's" that negative things are sure to happen, while positive things would have been sure to happen on the road not taken.

Yes we can and should stop and declare Nico a dolt for the negotiating itself, because it was awful work.

But in particular let's see how Luka does in winning a title. His road ahead to claiming rings has MANY huge question marks, maybe even more than the Mavs.

I'm not making any assumptions.  I am using a hypothetical example to explain my point.  There are scenarios where winning a championship would not make everything better.

[Winter]

Ranking the NBA front Offices

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-f...not-no-30/

Dallas went from number 5 (before trade) to number 27.

According to the article, we're better than Phoenix, Sacramento, and Chicago.

[audiosway]

I think you may be right, and the Christie hate in this forum really disappoints me.

Christie is REALLY good. On both ends of the floor. And he's still very young with lots of room to grow.

The fact that he's not Luka, pffft since when is that the standard? Early thinking that "he looks like he might be an All Star one day" is an incredible level of play by a youngster. 

FWIW I so enjoy Team Ball wayyyyyyy better than an offense that is tied every possession to the whims and results of one player.

I do too. I love team ball. Team ball and defense are very fun to me. The Christie hate is very disappointing. he seems like a great kid, he's a great young up and coming player, and at 21 has plenty of room to grow.

Luka as a standard is just dumb. Very few live up to those standards. Then again, I watched Luka highlights last night from the game against Denver. He is starting to look more like himself. However, he looks closer to 35 than 25. I went back and watched some highlights from the bubble vs last season and I can't believe how much athleticism he has lost in that short of a time. Kyrie looks closer to 25 than Luka.

[LukaMVP]

Ranking the NBA front Offices

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-f...not-no-30/

Dallas went from number 5 (before trade) to number 27.

According to the article, we're better than Phoenix, Sacramento, and Chicago.

Phoenix will overtake us once they trade Durant to Dallas for a shipload of talents and picks in summer.

[david75090]

Why the pretend Christie hate? Haven't seen any on the forum. Nico hate? Of course. Trading of Luka hate? Of course. Christie hate? Nope. I've seen realistic takes on Christie. When I see this "oh, I can't believe the Christie hate", I'm not reading the rest of the post. If a person starts out with some BS, why read the rest?

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

lol i thought this would blow over after a week. Looks like everyone is gonna be in meltdown mode for years every time Luka has a good game m

[LukaMVP]

Nico sold the Mavs present and future for his own business, he is done as NBA GM but he doesn't care.
He laughed at us at the press conference.

He worked for his personal future... All of that trampling an entire fan base.

We will never forget. It's impossible to do because it's not a basketball trade, it's not basketball stuffs.

golden truth. Nico is just a shameless gruesome utter fuck who does everything for his own good and he never really gives a shit about the team or the fans. I'm not gonna call him an idiot though, because he isn't, he's done an awesome job benefitting himself and as a businessman he's simply too smart to be an idiot. 

the trade and Nico should be viewed separately imho. it makes perfect sense on nico's behalf, while on behalf of the team it's just horrible, to say the least. I hope the luka trade will turn out less lopsided in the future, like the Gasol trade, but Nico should never be forgiven for the plot that cost us our second best player in franchise history. even if Christie becomes a superstar someday, it should be attributed to the mavs' cultivation, but it'd have nothing to do with Nico. 

what makes the trade so horrible isn't just the cost of luka or the poor return, the emotional torture inflicted on the fan base has to be counted in as well. Cuban wouldn't have traded luka even if a million picks were offered on the table tbh. Nico and his new boss have no clue what the mavs culture is and what made the team great, so they just devastated it all by sending away our franchise player, whatever the return, they're to be nailed to our Hall of shame tbh. neither of them is idiot though, they probably know they are being hated by the mavs fans (who can speak it out) and even the players (who don't dare to say it straight for money's sake), but they just don't give a shit.

[KillerLeft]

We've been pretty hands off with moderation these past couple of weeks, mostly because folks are hurting and needing to vent, but it's officially getting a little too loose around here with language and how we're attacking opposing opinions. I'm not going to do anything with any posts above this one, but this is your notice that we're back on our game.

Language needs to be less offensive and obvious alias/troll accounts meant only to be angry and to make others miserable will be edited, warned and banned, if necessary.

[WildArkieBoy]

Before Luka was dealt, I worried about Grimes. For me, Grimes' talent exceeded his minutes, but, either JKidd didn't agree or knew they weren't keeping him. Is he gone because he didn't sign an extension, they had no intention of signing him to a large contract or because they traded for a better player?

[Ghost of Podkolzin]

No one is keeping you from saying "merry christmas". No one is treading on you. No one is hating on Max Christie.

[Ghost of Podkolzin]

Before Luka was dealt, I worried about Grimes.  For me, Grimes' talent exceeded his minutes, but, either JKidd didn't agree or knew they weren't keeping him.  Is he gone because he didn't sign an extension, they had no intention of signing him to a large contract or because they traded for a better player?

I think Nico is delusional enough to think he traded for a better player.

It was pure nonsense (edited for language - first warning).  Grimes/Simmons >>>> Martin

[audiosway]

Before Luka was dealt, I worried about Grimes.  For me, Grimes' talent exceeded his minutes, but, either JKidd didn't agree or knew they weren't keeping him.  Is he gone because he didn't sign an extension, they had no intention of signing him to a large contract or because they traded for a better player?

I had a feeling Grimes would be gone once he didn't sign and extension. Very talented but likely was going to get more expensive in the offseason than Dallas is after for that role.

I really liked Grimes but he is working himself into a low tier starter salary. There just isn't a role for him in Dallas at that price.

[LukaMVP]

Martin is a playoff performer I think that's a big reason they traded for him and I believe/hope that is true. the heat were underdogs that year, also with a handful of good players down injuried, yet they managed to make the finals after beating several good teams in the eastern playoffs including the C's in ECF, and Martin played a significant role therein. no one knew if Grimes would turnout to be a playoff folder, while Martin is a proven contributer in the playoffs. Martin's playoff experience will be helpful for us tbh, but we have to make the playoffs first.

[F Gump]

Before Luka was dealt, I worried about Grimes.  For me, Grimes' talent exceeded his minutes, but, either JKidd didn't agree or knew they weren't keeping him.  Is he gone because he didn't sign an extension, they had no intention of signing him to a large contract or because they traded for a better player?

In a way, it was all 3 imo....
1 Is he gone because he didn't sign an extension --- an extension for the number they felt was the right one? Yes
2 they had no intention of signing him to a large contract --- Yes
3 or because they traded for a better player? --- Probably, but at least a player they felt was worth having on their payroll, who could fit in that $9M or so salary slot
I think there was also reason 4 - they felt Christie was a better player, who would be replacing Grimes and getting his minutes, at about half the expected price for Grimes.

They are working to stay under the Apron 2 line, and it's going to be hard. The MLE of 14M would essentially make it impossible, so they proactively found a player they like who can be on the payroll for 5M less. Hopefully Martin will also prove to be a better player than Grimes.

[Ghost of Podkolzin]

Even if they win the title this is nuts. You can literally trade Luka the next draft for the #1 pick and more.  This is making no sense

nope.  Securing a championship is the aim.  If we win a championship with AD it's all worth it.

[Jmaciscool]

nope.  Securing a championship is the aim.  If we win a championship with AD it's all worth it.

I agree that winning a championship is the ultimate goal, but I don't know if it would make the trade worth it. 

For instance, if OKC traded SGA for Durant and won a championship would that be worth it? Would it be a good trade?

Personally I would say that would be a case of a trade happening to work out but still wouldn't be a good trade.

[KillerLeft]

I agree that winning a championship is the ultimate goal, but I don't know if it would make the trade worth it. 

For instance, if OKC traded SGA for Durant and won a championship would that be worth it? Would it be a good trade?

Personally I would say that would be a case of a trade happening to work out but still wouldn't be a good trade.

It's an interesting thought experiment. 

Your SGA/Durant thing is a good, extreme example, but even then, we all have a built-in bias that SGA is going to win a championship with OKC at some point. And, we really don't KNOW that. In your scenario, we'd NEVER know that, but it would sure feel to OKC fans that they were trading away tons of chances at it.

I think the difference here is that there's a plausible reality in which Luka would never have won a championship here, and some of us have had that sneaky feeling for a while. Is the club giving up on him confirmation that the feeling was fair, or is the club giving up on him "Stockholm syndroming" us into forgetting how great Luka really is? I have oscillated back and forth for the past two weeks, but what's clear is that for some, Luka winning multiple championships here seems to have been a "when" more than an "if." Those are the people struggling the most with this, I think.

[audiosway]

nope.  Securing a championship is the aim.  If we win a championship with AD it's all worth it.

I agree. I think the Mavs are in a great position to win a title. Let's be real, we would love to draft a guy like Luka and win 6 titles. That stuff just never happens anymore. The league is working to prevent that and you can tell by the results. The Warriors were likely the last dynasty. 

If this team is close 2-3 times and gets a title I'm happy with the result. Yes I miss Luka and I'm going to catch Laker games (since I live in the San Francisco area anyway) so that I can watch Luka. But, if you are looking to get the BEST chance to win a title. That's defense. The 04 Pistons won a title strictly by being defensive dogs.

Not only that but this team also has a young core of legit 2 way players in Lively (22), PJ (26), and Christie (21). I totally understand why Nico said now and in the future.

Luka is a blast to watch and seems like a great kid. But, to say he was perfect is just not true. His diet and conditioning will end his career unless he changes it. That's just the truth. If I had to guess, continuing on his current path, he will be done by 31-32. That's if he doesn't turn it around.

[Larry Legend is my favorite all time player. I thought about it after going to bed and just didn't come back and edit it. Larry was a workout warrior in his offseasons. The cake eating thing like FGump brought out was from him during the injury year being bored at home. Larry was all defense a few times. Bad comparison for Luka] Carry on...

MJ played 15 years and LeBron may play 30 at this rate. MJ retired for a year, came back and played 4, retired for 3 years and came back for 2 more (both as an all star).

Guys that don't take care of their body are fine until around 28. Then, it starts showing up. Luka has already lost a good bit of speed and is constantly injured. He will be great in LA because of showtime. He is flashy and fun. But, let's not pretend he is perfect. 

The return for Luka was actually not bad considering the situation. If Nico let's teams talk to Luka they may get nothing in return. That was a real possibility. He would likely say where he would go and who he would sign with. Then, the return quickly goes south. He may just stop the trade all together. Wait until the summer and walk. We got a superstar/DPOY type player in return, Max, and a first round pick. Yes, AD may be injury prone but we just saw Luka miss several months at 25. Do you really think that was going to get better?