Some really great stuff in here. I'm still not over the Luka trade. I do find myself more glued to X, discord, and this board - but it's probably part of the grieving process.
Reading some of the well thought out opinions of others here, I find myself agreeing with bits and pieces of most everyone. The biggest thing that would get to me was the media saying the Mavs are a better team now, this year, And I couldn't wrap my head around it. You can't trade a top 3 player for a top 15 player and get better, right? But I read and listened and researched here and there and see that there's something to it. Luka hasn't been "great" this year. Davis has been. There are several advanced stats that show Davis as a Top 5 player in the NBA this year. Luka somewhere in the mid 20's. And maybe Max Christie is legit.
Yes, I know injuries and fitness and different teams, different roles; they all factor into it and it's more complex than that. But maybe I won't call the retired NBA players in the media brain dead anymore when they say stuff like that because maybe, just maybe, they're right.
The trade on its own is crazy bad, the worst in all of sports even. The fact that they didn't get every positive asset they could from the Lakers is inexcusable. This is a team of hired guns now and will be while Nico is here. Those of us on this board are diehards, so we'll still watch. Time will pass and the wound will never fully heal but I bet most of us will be rooting for the Mavs in a Finals rematch, if that's where they find themselves again this year. For Kidd and Nico's sake, they better.
Reading some of the well thought out opinions of others here, I find myself agreeing with bits and pieces of most everyone. The biggest thing that would get to me was the media saying the Mavs are a better team now, this year, And I couldn't wrap my head around it. You can't trade a top 3 player for a top 15 player and get better, right? But I read and listened and researched here and there and see that there's something to it. Luka hasn't been "great" this year. Davis has been. There are several advanced stats that show Davis as a Top 5 player in the NBA this year. Luka somewhere in the mid 20's. And maybe Max Christie is legit.
Yes, I know injuries and fitness and different teams, different roles; they all factor into it and it's more complex than that. But maybe I won't call the retired NBA players in the media brain dead anymore when they say stuff like that because maybe, just maybe, they're right.
The trade on its own is crazy bad, the worst in all of sports even. The fact that they didn't get every positive asset they could from the Lakers is inexcusable. This is a team of hired guns now and will be while Nico is here. Those of us on this board are diehards, so we'll still watch. Time will pass and the wound will never fully heal but I bet most of us will be rooting for the Mavs in a Finals rematch, if that's where they find themselves again this year. For Kidd and Nico's sake, they better.
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