(12-06-2019, 06:55 AM)ItsGoTime Wrote: The discussion is around giving credit for Donnie’s performance in the last off-season. Not about what he can do with the assets he got
I would contend that an off-season where we didn’t sign Curry, Wright and Boban and instead signed Brogdon and acquired Favors (doesn’t actually have to be these two specific names, just better players) by trading Lee and the Utah and GSW seconds for air (similar to the Favors trade) that our team outlook with Luka’s unprecedented rise would be so much better. Add to that that Green sees the moves and decides he wants to join without wondering about the Kawhi decision and we move THJ with our 2025 first rounder for air to another team and sign him. We then have some exceptions for possible further coat-tail riders.
Better players are just better.
With the availability of so many better players to add to our roster, players that probably wouldn’t mess with our chemistry, I cannot give credit to Donnie for his performance in the off-season. I’m ecstatic that he was able to scramble yet again after multiple plans fell through and got RC a team that he is able to get to do what they’re doing to this point.
I disagree with your initial premise. It is a good GM who is able to pivot when Plan A or B don't pan out and sometimes that means picking up assets that you can LATER do something with. To ignore that "potential energy" from the off-season is in and of itself denying him credit. I am not making a value statement on whether or not they are good tradeable assets, just disagreeing that discussion of such is beyond scope of consideration when judging the off-season moves. If he had used the space to acquire bad contracts along with picks, the clear value there is the future potential. In this case, the Mavs used the space to acquire younger, less expensive assets that could either grow into valuable contributors (had growth potential), or could be more easily packaged in other trades. While I tend to think that we may have used some space to get in on the Iggy salary dump - and used it to pick up a player that we now are rumored to be interested in AND a pick, losing out on that type of deal was the opportunity cost of going after primary targets.
As far as comparing what we got to what we potentially could have gotten? Who knows if players we think they should have gotten (or that we strongly think that the Mavs wanted) actually wanted to come here or were obtainable?
Players I think that if they had chosen us, would have been Mavs, and have been good this season:
Kemba is having a great season and has been on the fringes of the MVP discussion. By all accounts, he was signed, sealed and delivered to BOS by the opening bell of FA. There is still the fit question, but it is safe to assume that if he had wanted the Mavs, he would be here.
Brogdon has come back down to earth and his efficiency from 3 has waned a bit as he has become a primary offensive player. I still view him as a nice fit in Dal, but he wouldn't be the player he is in IND here. At 20M, I don't know that he would be viewed as a bargain here.
Players I think that the Mavs got better value with our pickups than if we had acquired them:
Danny Green is a boat I am actually happy that sailed. At 14.6M, he is 5y and 5M more expensive than Wright. DWarp has a better off/def/WAR rating than green, and has been much better from deep than I initially thought that he would be. Obviously, you would look at the Mavs now and take Green over Curry, but he chose the Lakers.
Favors has been injured and/or away from the team for the passing of his mother. This is a difficult asset to quantify for a couple of reasons - 1) his availability, 2)Dallas' actual interest in him. I haven't heard reports that Dallas was looking to acquire him outside of fans saying we should. If we have revisionist vision and could see that THJ would become the starting designated shooter over Curry, then the case could be made that rather than getting Curry/Bobi you acquire Favors. But I don't think the Mavs viewed THJ in that light. They viewed him coming off the bench. And probably more importantly, they viewed Powell as a starter. If not, you would have heard noise about acquiring him and they wouldn't have extended powell.
While there are plenty more players that could have ended up as mavs (I still wish we could have gotten in on the TJ warren trade from PHX) I think these are the usual suspects. My conclusion is not really a unique one - there are a couple of players that would have been mavs if they had wanted to be. We all know that. I think that the Mavs got a good one in Wright, and that Seth was a solid pickup. With hindsight they may have focused more on getting a big (or picking up Iggy or another asset) instead of Curry. But adding shooting around Luka was a consensus requirement of the offseason, and it is hard to fault the Mavs for adding him. If the mavs get Green to say yes instead of Curry, I think no one is complaining at all today, which is why the importance of 2way players can't be understated. As for Favors, you might have to point to RC rather than Donnie on this. His value for Powell, whether anyone else agrees or not, is VERY high. He likes what he does for the team - in production, in the way he facilitates the flow of the schemes, and in his approach, attitude, and "force" he brings with his intangibles.
It is very hard, even with hindsight, to not credit the Mavs for finding players that were able to align with organizational goals. We can moan about the Mavs not being able to attract the exact players that we would choose. Get in line. Part of being in the NBA - and a reason why '21 needs to be kept available since the odds would be in our favor to an extent that last off-season's uncertain future did not entice the "big fish".
As my final opinion on "should we give donnie credit?" I give him a B. I don't think he blew it away, and I don't think he did anything negative. He acquired good pieces on reasonable contracts that I feel can equally contribute and be assets if necessary to continue shaping the team. I have a general desire to spend capspace on only the best difference makers (all max contracts are not equal - paying middleton and Giannis the same is not the same thing) and filling up a roster with players that AREN'T difference makers limits upside. However, in absence of said difference makers CHOOSING to come to Dal, (we can't kidnap them), I am happy with what we have or if we had flipped space for assets... either way. In hindsight, with how good Luka improved, it is hard to say that I would have been happy sitting with some cap ballast vs wright and curry!