Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[mvossman]

I mentioned right after the trade happened that I would have looked at moving Kyrie before I would have Luka. However, I'm also being honest about what I see and have seen with Luka.

If you think it was just Kyrie that disappeared during the Finals you need to go back and watch the games. Yes Kyrie disappeared. But, Luka shot 58.6% (17-29) from the free throw line and 24.4% from 3. Boston turned him into a volume shooter. Kyrie shot 27.6% from 3 and was perfect from the free throw line (9-9).

Realistically, Boston just dominated the Mavs. It really wasn't close at any point. Looking back at the game stats there was zero way Dallas could have won those games. They needed more offensive output and more defense.

Kyrie is trying to be a good defender. He was even mentioned as playing D in the all star game. Luka was not playing D against Boston. I think mainly due to him being exhausted. At least that's how it looked. He would rest with his hands on his knees. That's just exhausted.

Kyrie did average 19.8 Points per game against Boston and Luka averaged 29.8. But, the Mavs desperately needed more output from the rest of the cast. They didn't get it.

If you look at that finals series, the Mavs actually won the minutes Luka was on the court, but they got crushed when he was off the court.

The biggest issue with the starting lineup was our two wings shooting 34 (DJJ) and 32 (PJ) from 3 (season stats).  The lack of spacing allowed Boston to be more aggressive.  This season DJJ has improved his 3 to 36% (continuing a multi season trend) and PJ is shooting 38% (rebounding to earlier in his career).  How much better is that starting lineup offensively with those two guys shooting in the upper 30s from three versus the lower 30s?

The issues from the bench were consistent scoring (THJ, Hardy) and playmaking (Exum, Hardy).  Grimes was the perfect replacement for Timmy.  Instead of being a chucker, he is a willing shooter while being more efficient.  He is also a better rebounder, passer and defender.  I don't know what happened to Exum in the playoffs last year, but the version we are seeing now would be the perfect third playmaker.  If he has similar issues (or is not healthy) we have Dinwiddie as a much better backup option than Hardy.

Boston was an incredible team last season.  They had one of the best net ratings in NBA history.  The Mavs simply ran into a buzzsaw after a much harder fought playoff run.  If they were matched against the Heat of the prior finals, they probably win.  But I don't think Boston is the team to focus on long term.  Their owner sold the team due to the tax burden being so insane and that team seems to be regressing already.  Jrue is 34 and is now clearly past his prime.  Horford is 38 and KP is fragile as ever.  There is a good chance that team does not even make the finals and it potentially gets broken up after this season.

If we needed to focus on a team long term it has to be OKC, and we beat that team in the playoffs.  Keeping this team intact with small improvements (THJ for Grimes) and organic growth seemed like the most sensible route.  I think that is where we were headed before Linsey went to Detroit.  Now its build a super team with Nico's guys and then bail when everything goes down in flames.