Kamm, imo the idea that they definitely HAVE something else lined up to do, I think the entirety of what he said and how he said it makes that more wishful and speculative than certain. Skin kinda said they had a plan (past tense) more than they have a plan (present tense).
"I know for a fact they have a plan they feel good about that entails losing Jalen. They had [past tense] a second plan in which if they lose Jalen, we've got an alternate plan. Now that may have been muddied by the Kevin Durant news [iow it's already dead as we speak?], but they wanted [past tense] to get assets for Jalen Brunson. They didn't want to pay him more than 22. They knew that they were probably going to lose him. And it sucks. It sucks to lose an asset."
Getting assets "for Jalen Brunson" as a plan B sounds like the backup plan was to use him in a trade, either sign-and-trade him or sign him now and trade him later, with the idea that he wouldn't choose to leave, and the bidding wouldn't make him so high-salaried that he stopped being an asset.
Skin added that JB wasn't the prize, he was only an asset to get one. Clearly he was talking about the Mavs pulling in a Robin for Luka in the next year or two, an all-in move of some sort (which would fit with his assessment that JB was lost as an asset because of the salary demand -- ie, making him not that desirable anymore to a team willing to let go of a star.)
So as i understand him, that plan B was nothing that they had in their hip pocket, it was just something to try. And now it's already a failed plan B.
And other than that one brief sentence, Skin was opining on what HE sees that makes sense, nothing more, and opining on how he thinks it might go, with the same evidence we opine with. He did it on air exactly like that.
My takeaway? Of course they had a plan B! They always have a plan B (and C, D, E, etc). They try hard. But we have seen this tease before. So I'm not getting excited when they tell me they missed out on the obvious, but still have ideas. While I guess it's good they are still big-game hunting, I'm going to assume same-ole same-ole until they have a plan B that actually brings home a prize.
"I know for a fact they have a plan they feel good about that entails losing Jalen. They had [past tense] a second plan in which if they lose Jalen, we've got an alternate plan. Now that may have been muddied by the Kevin Durant news [iow it's already dead as we speak?], but they wanted [past tense] to get assets for Jalen Brunson. They didn't want to pay him more than 22. They knew that they were probably going to lose him. And it sucks. It sucks to lose an asset."
Getting assets "for Jalen Brunson" as a plan B sounds like the backup plan was to use him in a trade, either sign-and-trade him or sign him now and trade him later, with the idea that he wouldn't choose to leave, and the bidding wouldn't make him so high-salaried that he stopped being an asset.
Skin added that JB wasn't the prize, he was only an asset to get one. Clearly he was talking about the Mavs pulling in a Robin for Luka in the next year or two, an all-in move of some sort (which would fit with his assessment that JB was lost as an asset because of the salary demand -- ie, making him not that desirable anymore to a team willing to let go of a star.)
So as i understand him, that plan B was nothing that they had in their hip pocket, it was just something to try. And now it's already a failed plan B.
And other than that one brief sentence, Skin was opining on what HE sees that makes sense, nothing more, and opining on how he thinks it might go, with the same evidence we opine with. He did it on air exactly like that.
My takeaway? Of course they had a plan B! They always have a plan B (and C, D, E, etc). They try hard. But we have seen this tease before. So I'm not getting excited when they tell me they missed out on the obvious, but still have ideas. While I guess it's good they are still big-game hunting, I'm going to assume same-ole same-ole until they have a plan B that actually brings home a prize.
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