MAVS NEWS:

[KillerLeft]

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.  

I don't think I came anywhere close to suggesting the emboldened above. I definitely don't see him that way, at all. I only think he'll be here until his current contract runs out, more than likely. 

I'm just saying he plays center. It doesn't matter what he says he wants, he has been basically a full time center for years now. If Kidd decides to play him there, that's where he'll play, and since it's basically factually accurate that he's best there, at this point, I'm hopeful that even Kidd sees it. If they sign PJW to an extension, rather than trade him, I'll feel pretty confident that the plan is for AD to play quite a bit of 5. I feel like that's highly likely to become the plan, no matter what happens. 

No issue whatsoever with trading AD to make the team better, just not because he doesn't "fit" with Daniel Gafford. That's the part I think is bass ackwards. Gafford is pretty good in the regular season. A role player, best in pick and roll, which is now not going to be spammed here like it has been the past 7-10 years in a row. Lively is two levels above as a player, bringing much more skill to both ends of the court. Davis is levels above Lively (currently), but I think Lively can eventually affect games in similar ways, particularly after having the opportunity to see Davis do it. Of the three, it's really obvious to me who's superfluous. But hey, opinions vary. 

Again, if there was a trade for AD proposed that I thought made the team better, I'd be all for it. We don't have an emotional attachment to him like we did with Dirk or Luka, and I don't even think of him as "Batman," to use your words. I never will, because he's not an offensive creator. They need an offensive creator (again, my opinion). I just think using Davis as a means to get that guy would be overkill, as the players talented enough to be a match in trade aren't getting traded. The kind of guy you can get at all is probably gettable with your excess front court players...which, to my thinking, is a match made in heaven. But, either I'm wrong about that or the Mavs don't think they need that guy as much as I do. 

Totally agree about the Davis injury concerns.