Trade & FA 2024-25:

[SleepingHero]

I am not a fan of Simons.

But I don't think the assets in the cupboard (or lack thereof) matters at all IF you have the top level talent on the court. If you have a sucky team, then yes, definitely keep the cupboard as full as possible as you try to build up the talent base to where it can win big. But if you have a team that is one player away from being top tier and a threat to win a title over the next few years, AND YOU HAVE IDENTIFIED AND CAN GET THAT PLAYER, then you use whatever assets it takes.

That IF you have in your first sentence is a pretty big IF. And vague as well. What is top talent? All-stars 1-5 like Boston? A well fitting supporting cast of players ala 2015 ATL who won 60 games or this current ORL squad? A superstar+star and solid role players like Dallas? How many teams are ever seriously in contention at a time? Six? Seven at most? Are the other 23 are just supposed to bide their time? Building a team is complicated and there is a lot of luck. Having a full cupboard ALWAYS matters since it gives you all the flexibility in navigating the NBA. Like OKC at the moment can go and grab literally any player (barring maybe 3) they want if they really wanted to. That kind of power is always important. 

Identifying the player that takes a top team (or a non-sucky team) over the edge is rarely consistent. I doubt ANY of us here thought the Gafford+Washington additions at the TDL made us finals bound. I mean heck you had a thread in January calling the season a wash! Conversely, remember when the Mavs traded for LaFrentz? He was hardly the guy that took the Mavs over the top (and was picked apart by SAC) and yet Cuban doubled down and gave him 70 mil in the offseason only to be traded a year later. 

Point is, it's easy to say "once teams identify the player needed, then it makes sense to empty the cupboard" as you're ignoring the very real risk that IF that player does not work out, your team is essentially screwed for YEARS. RE: Porzingis, Kristaps. That is why I'm saying ORL should not prioritize C-list players (like Simons) just because they MAY fit well and pay a premium to do so. 

If I'm ORL, that player looks more like Klay than Simons, by a sizable margin. Or probably any number of other players. But an up-and-coming team with some talent has a shelf life on the talent base, and the time is now if they are on the edge of being a real contender if they fill that hole.

To apply that to the Mavs, I believe the Mavs current "empty cupboard" is irrelevant, because they have amassed the talent to contend. Talent is what matters, not "cap room" and "future picks" (which are only a possible route to MAYBE getting talent some day.) If you have acquired the talent to truly contend, that was the point all along.

I agree that the Magic are more keen to add a guy like Klay than Simons. There were rumors dating back to December last season that ORL was interested should Klay become available. They targeted KCP this summer as well. But the "empty cupboard" comment was less admonishing the Mavs and more so a comment on the reality of punishment if you misstep acquiring talent. Once you spend your assets on the guy, you better make sure he's correct. As with this new CBA and just general price of talent, a misstep could end an era. And we saw the outcome of that given the Mavs had to basically tank 1 season to refuel their cupboard just enough (and have some extraordinary scouting/luck on their side). 

 

"Full cupboard" doesn't play games against "empty cupboard." It's talent you can put on the court now. As a case in point, when DAL played OKC in the playoffs, OKC won the cupboard game by a wide margin. But so what? And what if they used a pick or 2 (of which they have so many) for PJW at the deadline, instead of settling for the carcass of Hayward, or any other number of moves that would have made a diff?

Of course but who said I was saying otherwise? ORL as a team is almost complete as is and they have one of the deepest rotations in the league.

Suggs/Black/Joesph/
KCP/Anthony/Harris
Franz/Howard/Da Silva
Paolo/Isaac/Houstan
WCJ/Mo Wagner/Goga

That team is at least 10 deep. They shouldn't feel rushed to overpay (which is assumed what it'd be given that POR was demanding 2 FRP on top of young players for a guy like Jerami Grant) for a guy like Simons.