MAVS NEWS:

[Scott41theMavs]

KL, thanks for the long reply. It looks to me like I assess AD (and his value on this roster) very differently than you. You clearly see him as this team's franchise player to build around, and a necessary difference-maker for this team and its upside. So you would plug him into what you see as his best position © and make everything else fit to that.

Makes sense, for how you see AD.

In contrast, I am way less married to AD in my vision - ie I see him as more of one "asset" among many right now (rather than the set-in-stone foundation to the Mavs' best upside possibility) and someone who might prove to be our Batman in a title run, but who might instead be a key trade piece to building a team with higher upside. IOW I don't buy in on the idea that his best use for us is definitely going to be as our new "Luka" or "Dirk" for a decade, necessarily, even though he came here to be that in Nico's vision. 

My biggest issue with a commitment to AD is his lack of dependability. I can use an oft-injured guy as a valuable piece, but if up to me, I would not ever make him The Guy I build everything around, since I don't know when (if) I will have him on the floor. And it's a long long grind - perhaps 110 games - to a ring. I need The Guy to show up every night.

Re Gafford, I clearly value him as a player way more than you do - so what you see as a "problem" to try to be rid of is what I see as a "big help" to the team and its future. And in this iteration of the roster, I think he is very needed, not a surplus.

"The guy" is clearly Cooper, but it's hard to gauge how long it will take him to be that guy. He will be interesting to build around because I believe he will be a perennial all-star and frequent at-least-2nd-team-All-NBA-guy, but probably never the scoring champion. He will always need to have two or so other players next to him who can create their own shot, with at least one being one of the top guys in the league at it. TLDR: our rich man's Scottie needs a poor man's Jordan. Kyrie can probably be that for a while if he can come back at anything close to his pre-injury skill level.

The front office and coaching staff (sorry Rick) goofed with Luka because, while they clearly valued him, they failed to see and establish to the roster that he was the guy from day one, leading to the abject idiocy we saw from Wes and DAJ (and, to a lesser extent, Harry and DSJ) until they were traded. Cooper isn't the guy like that, but will hopefully be according strong respect by the vets and be a major focal point from day one. 

In the debate between the two of you, while you two are probably my favorite posters here, I'd have to lean toward F Gump on this one.