Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[KillerLeft]

To each their own. Windy is a gem. Many of us disagree that AD for Luka makes this team better right now. Most GMs would too. Theoretically it sounds good. You are getting a terrific player who plays both sides of the ball. So you lose some points with Luka but gain more efficiency and defense 

The flip side is who replaces Luka’s ball handling, usage rate, passing, and the on demand shot creation. It’s easy to say Kyrie but we saw Kyrie after the OKC series literally shaking and saying how it was the toughest hurdle he had to cross.  This from a guy who had won a title. Luka took so much burden off him and vice versa. He was rejuvenated here.  Now you are asking him to do things he probably even can’t without breaking down. Plus you had centers as position of strength and athleticism. You might have to trade one of those to fill that gap. 

Plus AD while healthy the last two seasons is also suspect always given his overall history. Healthy or not he  also tends to disappear at times.

Trading Lively (though I would hate to give him up) for AD would have made the most sense. Sure the Lakers hang up the phone but so be it.  Looks like Nico was over his head in how to deal with Pelinka and was behaving like a friend while Pelinka behaved like a GM.  

This was only talking about the immediate future and most fans and GMs won’t agree that AD makes this team better than does Luka. Now factor in the next 7-8 years and there is no way this trade should have been done. 

The deal should have been open to all bidders. If nothing got done and the end result was even the AD deal fell through because the Lakers feel they have more leverage, then you just don’t do the deal. I would have taken the chance of Luka going for nothing. Reality is with the backlash Nico would have been fired and Luka would continue here. 

A process was not followed. The evaluation of the short term betterment is also suspect. 

None of this is a slight to AD and Christie. As a Mavs fan and just as a human I know they are not at fault and caught up in a terrible situation.  At the same time I can’t ever again cheer for this franchise or pay a single dime for any of their tickets or merchandise as long as Nico and the Adelsons are still ther.

I might be misunderstanding you, but Windhorst wasn't saying HE thinks the trade makes them better this year, he's saying THE MAVS (meaning Harrison) believe that. 

As far as I can tell, nobody but the Mavs' inner circle, Kendrick Perkins and Charles Barkley believe this. But, I do think Windhorst successfully cut to the heart of why the Mavs did what they did. He's just trying to find and explain the thought process, which I felt he did pretty well and pretty succinctly.