10-06-2023, 09:18 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-06-2023, 10:27 AM by surfpuckmd.)
(10-06-2023, 08:09 AM)omahen Wrote: I think this sentence is great. We can see this impulsive choices all over roster construction, imho. For example our two rookies. Both were slotted much lower at the start of the draft process. But, Lively had a great workout and Omax had a great combine. Not saying they are bad picks, just saying those things imho contributed a lot to how Mavs valued them. Similar patterns can be seen in a lot of examples of trading players - Mavs almost always buy high and sell low (KP, Wright,...). They give contract to Delon Wright only to pay to trade him away 9 months later. Wright remains respected role player in the league (Mavs problem was they wanted him to be more than that) and has value on similar deal Mavs gave him. JRich was a similar case. McGee is the latest one - one summer you give the guy a 3 year deal because he is supposed to be a great vet with I don't know how many rings, next summer it is absolutely necessary to dump him whatever it takes. I remember many cases of end of bench guys who got nice deals because they had a "lucky" streak of good minutes (Chriss, Burke,...).
The Mavericks tend to turn on players and break up poorly. It's been going on for the last 15 years or so. Players like Monta Ellis and Chandler Parsons signed with us as free agents, played well for us then the Mavericks basically told them "good riddance" when they left. We have a tendency to think that a few particular players are the reason we fail every year. We then spend assets to get rid of them. Then we realize that we're not really any better off. This past off-season it was obviously Christian Wood and JaVale McGee who were the reasons we didn't make the playoffs. So, they're gone even though the McGee stretch-waive was an impulsive, idiotic maneuver. Somehow, Tim Hardaway Jr also was announced as a problem for us. I believe he was one of our better players last season and now it's fairly awkward for him to be back knowing they wanted him gone. Also, I agree about Delon wright. Outstanding role player everywhere he's been except for Dallas. It's insane that we attached assets to jettison him away.
Also, imagine having a center who defends the rim, rebounds and hits 3-pointers. We had one named Porzingis but we traded him for a bunch of nothing.
I like the Grant Williams acquisition but I think this even applies to him. I believe we could have simply signed him outright rather than trading a 2030 pick swap to obtain him. I believe Boston acquired only a couple of 2nd rounders in the trade. I am skeptical that they would have matched his contract had we signed him as a free agent. The Mavericks became certain that he was the perfect player to pair with Kyrie and Luka though. The Mavs fell in love with Grant Williams and paid a lot to obtain him when they could have had him for free.
I do think the decision-making was generally somewhat better this past off-season. I think Dennis Lindsay gives us a competent, proven adult in the organizations inner circle. I disagree with your assessment of the draft as I think both players were drafted in the appropriate range and fit our current roster perfectly. They made some nice moves in free agency- I especially like the Dante Exum and DJJ signings. The JaVale stretch waive was idiotic but that's just Mark Cuban flexing. Overall, I do think we had a good summer. We'll see what Kidd can do with a more athletic roster.