MAVS NEWS:

[F Gump]

I agree with all of this. Every word. 

But, I still hate this. I know you're against cashing in with the mindset of going for draft capital as the primary goal, and I can see where you're coming from there, but...I can't shake the feeling that what they've done is the worst of the three choices in front of them. 

If they had chosen to continue trying to maximize this short window, but WITH Luka, I would have had the next window in the back of my mind. 

If they had really, really thought it best to get out of the Luka business before giving him that Supermax, I'd have been ok with that, but would've preferred a young piece or two, along with as much draft capital as they could carry, probably followed by selling Kyrie and Thompson. Lively, Gafford, PJW, Exum, Grimes, Hardy, O-Max, etc, is not a bad place to start a rebuild, if you have enough draft capital to aggressively search for gap filling talent in the near future. 

But, the road they chose...artificially imposing Kyrie's window by mirroring it with Davis, just because they were in the finals last year (which never would've happened had Luka not been a catalyst for this entire reboot in the first place)...I don't know. I mean, it's not like I think they'll be a bad team without Luka, exactly, but I just don't feel like there's really a way to win without that Luka-type piece, no matter how good the roster is. I get that Harrison thinks AD is that piece, and idk, maybe he's right. I know he's a heck of a player, but I just don't see it. 

Just seems like there's so little hope at a championship during that short window now, and before it felt like they were circling it, just needed a couple of things to break right. PLUS, it feels like there's little hope for them finding a way from this window to the next with any sort of efficiency due to emptying the coffers to build a team around Luka.

You are correct that I would never have wanted them to trade Luka for a pile of picks. That having been said, LA didn't have enough picks anyhow, but the Mavs should have insisted on ALL of what they have along with AD and some talent.

I think Nico botched the negotiation badly, and I would have demanded Knecht as well and think that AD-Christie-Knecht-2029-2031 should have been the bare minimum. Nico exuded desperation to sell, rather than looking for a favorable deal "if" we let you have him.

In spite of that, I do think they did land a good young piece in Christie, like you say you wished they had. And I wouldn't do a sell off. I think people are sleeping on just how good Davis is, because he's been playing in Lebron's shadow. 

The idea that they CAN'T win without Luka, I don't buy that. At least not yet - let's see what it looks like when they add AD and PJW into the mix. It won't look the same as it did with Luka, and there will be some weaknesses they didn't have before that they'll have to figure out how to resolve, but I also think they'll have some new strengths that we aren't yet thinking of. I think this could indeed be a really good team. With the players they have now, I can see potential for a scrappy team that wears you out, and that teams wont want to play.

As for having "empty coffers," nah I don't buy that in the least. There are 3 veteran star players (AD, Ky, Klay) on the roster to build around for now, with the vast majority of the team still quite young with some excellence in the youth (PJW, Lively, and I wonder if Christie is going to be good enough to be seen as a starter-in-waiting). They have draft picks, excellent contracts, and the hard cap world is creating lots of player movement when you decide you need someone.