MAVS NEWS:

[mvossman]

I don't think there's anything amiss with the thesis of how Nico sees on-court window (ie it not being that long), just the claims that Nico sees himself as a short timer by choice. 

And I actually agree with Nico on the window to win being relatively short. The CBA forces constant turnover, and teams prospects don't necessarily last very long. That was Cubans stupid thinking in 2012. He wasnt smart enough to know that if you can win a title, get it now, not down the road, because tomorrow can be eroded or other teams can rise and get in the way. 

For example, look at this season, which started with BOS the strong favorite, and OKC and maybe DAL also on the cusp. But who saw any real threat from CLE, HOU, MEM? 

To speak to Luka, we have worked with an assumption that one day he will win a title. He started out way ahead, at 19. But the league has kinda passed him -- yes, the STATS are still flashy, but the efficiency and lack of defense are as bad as ever. We see him as the source of unstoppable offense, but in the Finals the Mavs lost because Luka's heliocentric offense was not unstoppable after all.

I like Luka, but that style has NEVER been good enough. To be real, Harden was the same player with about the same everything, and same results -- Harden never got a title, and is no one anymore.

So much to disagree with here.

Cuban's failure was that he thought the solution was plan powder (which may have really just been an excuse to be cheap after he got his title) as opposed to accumulating assets.  

We have seen all of the teams that operate under this concept of small windows trying to build super teams as Nico appears to be trying here.  Since the dream team, they have all been failures and left those franchises in disastrous state.  

The teams that succeed have had long processes of building up roster/assets, and the ones who have been really good at have lasted several years.  The Mavs seemed to be on that path.  There would definitely been some concern with replacing Kyrie eventually, but with Luka combined with the quality of asset accumulation we had done the last two years there was still reason to hope.

And if the window is small, tell me how trading Luka for AD helps with that?  We got less talented, less continuity and less overall fit.  

But I probably disagree with your Luka take most of all.  The reason they lost that series is because Boston had significantly more talent (it also didn't help that Kyrie was terrible).  That Boston team was one of the most dominate in NBA history based on net rating.  But Dallas had closed the gap some this offseason, Boston has bigger age concerns and who knows what could happen when you have Luka.