07-12-2024, 01:23 PM
(07-12-2024, 12:21 PM)Winter Wrote: While I think all of this is true, I'm not sure we are appreciating what we have in these two centers. I just don't believe, based on what I've seen, that we can improve our center position much on the open market to any significant extent.
It's entirely possible that Gafford's asking price may eventually be too much for us, but we are currently in possession of probably the best tandem of players for the Dallas Mavericks at any one position. It's truly a luxury considering where we were just over a year ago.
Nice thoughts. We need to remember this was Gafford's first run in the playoffs (several other guys first runs too). I would label his playoffs some really good, some ok and some not good. We will see how he responds as he gets more playoff runs.
For the regular season though, our center combination was a home run. Some thought Mavs going big was the wrong answer. After seeing the run they had, I don't know how you can say they are not a great pairing. We will see if that continues. I think Gafford is a backup center. If we can get him in the 15-18 million dollar range or so moving forward, I think that is a good number. Still plenty of time to see where we are in two years though.
I hope next year, we see a similar rotation pattern with Gafford and Lively. I hope as the year goes on and later in the season, that Lively slowly takes more minutes and is close to a 30 minute a game player in the playoffs.