Mavs rotation

[soog]

THJ: "Hey so of course I want to come back, but the Pelicans are offering me more money. I've got that starters spot locked down here, right?"

Ok, now I want to get back to these imaginary negotiations, let’s assume that was actually Timmy’s position.  If I were the Mavs I would have responded with something like this:

“Tim, do you remember when you came here 2 years ago?  Man we were so excited we got the knicks to send you here.  And you know what?  Even though you had never played here before, it felt like you were finally home.  Your heart, your effort, your pursuit of excellence - you embody what we’re all about here.  I know you have had a lot of success other places in this league, but it just feels like you were always meant to be a part of our family.

Now we really have the opportunity to build something special here and you are a huge part of that.  We want you to be one of the cornerstones of this franchise for years to come.  What you bring to the court is exactly what we need.  Not only do you thrive on the court next to Luka, you also have the ability and mental fortitude to take over a game and lead a team yourself.  Not many people in this league, or in the world for that matter, have the ability to do both.  That’s one of the things that makes you so important to our franchise, to our family.  

When we look our team now we have two star guards, you and Luka.  We expect both of you to log heavy minutes every game.  We will try to get you rest when we can, but we may need you to put in 36 minutes a night.  We know you have the ability to handle that and we know you are the sort of player that loves carrying that sort of burden.  

Now as the team is currently constructed our weakest point is what happens when both you and Luka leave the game. We immediately lose the shot creation and scoring that makes you two so amazing together.  Our thinking now is that you could be the drum beat that keeps our offense rolling by staggering you with Luka to start the game, this way we have no big drop off when we start our rotations.  We’ve looked at your numbers, over the last 134 games you’ve played with us you have shown the amazing ability to be just as efficient as the first man off of the bench as you are when you start.  Not many people in this league can do that.  So we think one key to our success this season is moving from strength to stretch; from Luka to you.  We’ll need you to come in and take over games when Luka comes off the floor in that first rotation.

Now here is where we’re really going to ask a lot of you - we also want you to finish out games to.  Like we said, you’re one of our cornerstones, one of our best players.  So we want need you on the court in crunch time.  We need you on the court to close out games because you are one of the best in the league at doing that.

Tim, we want you to be featured throughout every game, we want you to be 6th man of the year, we want you to be our Ironman, we want you to be a closer, we want to build a championship team around you and Luka, we want you to be a part of our family for years to come.  And we promise if you choose to be a part of our family long term, we’ll make sure you are well compensated.  What do you say? Want to build something special here?”