02-11-2022, 08:21 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-11-2022, 08:24 AM by hakeemfaan.)
(02-10-2022, 11:36 PM)Jommybone Wrote: The State of the Mavs 2/10/22 (according to Jommybone)
Thank you for those of you who posted thoughtful takes rather than one-sentence reactions. Was hoping we might have a whole thread like that. Oh well.
I see three things that, perhaps, are worth pointing out. I’ve labeled them according to my favorite Spaghetti Western.
The Good
The team can move on. Luka’s offensive explosion tonight, a coincidence? Dunno. But the defense can switch everything. Nobody is too weak to hold their position. The spacing is better. And that two-man game with Dwight is magic. I am not less interested in the team sans Zing.
Perhaps I noticed the lack of rim protection in the 4th. That’s the big worry for me. Only Maxi and Bobi have that skill set. But the defense plays hard. Lots of very athletic, long guys banging hard in there. Not unlike the Clips in that regard.
Especially love Luka saying he’s better defensively this year. I see it. The numbers show it. I’m expecting him to take more and more of that load upon himself. It’s what competitors do. Can the new guys help? I’m not banking on it. But like Gladys Knight herself, just give him some pips and Luka can get it done.
The Bad
The plan to rebuild KP’s image and value fooled no one. Well, maybe me a little. But not anyone who could actually make a trade. I can’t argue with the plan. A trade last summer certainly wasn’t going to bring anything back, so trying to turn it around made good sense. It just simply didn’t work. And finally, today, they gave up.
The Ugly
It’s just sinking in. The mistake wasn’t last summer. That was way too late. It wasn’t the June 2019 max deal. It was already too late back then. Having made the max commitment at the time of the trade, they had to keep their word. And that mistake was over 3 years ago. A package of DSJ, DeAndre Jordan, and Wes Matthews was too high a of a price. Nothing wrong with taking on the contract ballast of THJ and Trey Burke, which was also part of the price tag. But the commitment to Kristaps himself was just a bad, bad choice.
Who knew. I sure didn’t. I rejoiced at what looked like the steal of the century when that trade went down. But with hindsight, that was the error. And it hurts to admit it. Those jokers in New York were right to dump him. And even with the pile of garbage they got from us, it was a good deal. Egg on Dallas faces, including my own.
At least that’s how it appears to me tonight.
This seems like a knee jerk reaction too. None of us know at this point if this trade in the long run is good or not. At the time of the KP trade the correct thing would have been to not give 2. FRPs and I said it at that time. Not in hindsight. I said it then due to his injury history and it panned out that way here too. At the time of this trade the correct thing to do was to not have blinked and demanded pick(s) from the Wiz. The Wiz were even more desperate than us. Moving Bertans so called manageable contract might necessitate a future FRP. So let’s hold off on declaring this a success. KP for all his warts was a productive player here when healthy.
I know you don’t want to wade into other threads and so you started your own. However if you get a chance read @"TXBamanut" excellent synopsis of the trade. It is an excellent post that better outlines the good and bad of this trade while acknowledging that at the end of the day we will root for our boys in blue.