MAVS NEWS:

[F Gump]

What is left now?  The picks were already mortgaged to win now with Luka and Kyrie. Now no Luka. Most picks are also gone. 

This is equivalent to the SMU death penalty. It will take a long time to recover.  But hey Nico said he doesn’t think long term. What happened with getting a Luka immediately after having a decade of Dirk is not normal.  Even bigger market teams liken the Bulls and the Knicks (until recently) have struggled for two decades or more after an Ewing and a MJ.

If they had a highly-skilled GM, the picks could be replenished much faster than you realize. Lindsey had them getting 2nds as throw ins in almost every trade, and when a pick was outgoing another would be incoming. 

But you gotta know how to play the game (along with having a decently good eye for talent), so that when a GM badly wants a deal (and that's most of the time there's a trade, because otherwise they wouldn't be doing a swap at all), you let him pay YOU a bit extra, rather than the other way around. 

Nellie was an expert at it. Lindsey too. Cuban had no clue and was the one routinely tossing extra picks and cash into deals because the other guy knew Cuban would pay if he just held out a bit.

The talent loss, that's the part that's hardest to recover. Getting a roster full of talent is hard to build, and once you have it, it's a real big thing if you let it get away, because it takes FOREVER to build from the ground up. Years. Usually many. So once at or near the top of the league, you gotta make sure you find a way to keep bringing good talent in each time some good talent goes out.