(11-06-2025, 08:33 AM)Kidnova Wrote: It seems a bit knee-jerk to come to that conclusion after 8 games. The Mavs were 33-49 Luka's rookie year. They improved quickly but were first round outs the next two seasons. I don't think that CF is going to make the same offensive jump from year 1 to 2 that Luka did, but he's already a significantly better defensive player than Luka ever has been or will be.
This discussion is just running endlessly in circles. Mavs were not a finals team one year before Luka joined them. Flagg came into completely different situation, as Nico advertised that his Luka trade was made because they have a better chance to win a title now. He also added that they will be better long-term, which basically nobody believed.
In reality, they failed to reach playoffs in year 1. After that they got lucky and added a number one pick to a team, that is build to win a championship now. One would think that he would see an improvement this year, while in reality Mavs are several levels worse so far. The way it goes, by the time Kyrie will be ready to return, it will not make any more sense for him to return, as they will be so far behind.
This is not on Flagg. This is on complete organizational disaster Mavs have been on all levels. GM makes a trade that is immediately called worst in all professional sports by some analytics. They allienated most of fanbase by a complete PR disaster in days and months after the trade. The dysfunction in the medical staff may or may not be connected to huge amount of injuries during last and this season, it certainly doesn't help. Nico called last year medical team he hired best in the world. Only to fire halg of them a week or two later. He hired new guys, but things don't look any better in this area. No matter who is playing or not playing this season, Mavs offense is becoming a disaster of historical proportions. The injuries are a poor excuse for the offensive fiasco - I have already listed examples of teams missing all their key creators and still posting good offensive numbers against a good defense. Mavs can't score 100 points against 3rd worst defense in the league missing their star player Zion. The disastrous offense is mostly on coaching, imho. Thinking Kyrie can make this team a contender (Nico vision even without lucking into Flagg), looks like huge delusion currently.
Nico has to go and Kidd has to go. The only way for this organization to start healing and playing as a serious team.