Summer League Game 1: 7pm CST on ESPN

[mvossman]

Interesting point. Consider also that luck is always part of mix for GMs and franchises.  
It was bad injury luck that pretty much shattered any chance for the trade to vindicate itself on the floor last season.  Healthy AD, Kyrie and the roster actually looked pretty good for the very brief time it appeared. 

Good ping pong ball luck came along and trumped bad injury luck by making up the future Dallas franchise player years Nico had so drastically discounted away. Fortune was going to play its part either way.

This point would be stronger if I didn't think Nico incompetence contributed to the injury luck.  He fires the best medical staff in the NBA as a FU to Luka.  He then trades away Luka without any creation coming back in return, forcing Kidd to overuse Kyrie (regardless of whether the actual injury was related to systemic fatigue, he was bound to get injured eventually at that usage).  Then they bring back AD sooner than the Lakers were planning to, and Kidd said they were going to play him 38-40 minutes his first game back (which I believe was the rate he was playing at before he went down).

Personally I think Nico got lucky in both cases.  I don't think this team was in a position to go deep in the playoffs even if healthy.  Not enough creation and too drastic a change to what they do.  Those injuries gave him an excuse/out, the same one you are giving him in your first paragraph.  I wonder if they watch a healthy version of his win now team get bounced in the first round if he is still here?