MacMahon: Mavs to explore trade market for Davis, „plotting to pivot to the future“

[KillerLeft]

I really hope people are viewing this recent team hot streak for what it should be:

What It Shouldn't Be: The Mavs wins, even against very good teams, shouldn't fool anyone into thinking this is a true contender, as fun as that might be. That's Fool's Gold. Even if this team does hit it's stride, it's far closer to a lottery team than a squad that's going to beat OKC(psst...no one is). Buying short-term assets against the future would be disastrous. That said, enjoy the wins right now because they're very fun!!!

What It Absolutely Should Be:  This winning streak should absolutely be used as leverage in trade discussions. It's easy for other teams, when your team sucks, to say, "Your players are garbage. Your team is garbage. So just make a trade out of desperation."  Instead, the MBT can say, "Look how well these guys look. We think we're on our way now. But if you want to buy us out of our ticket to the dance, especially before Kyrie comes back, it's gonna cost you."

I think the team's success improves its bargaining position as much as AD and others' play does.

Yeah, an injured AD on a bottom 5, rudderless team is much easier to vulture off of than one that suddenly looks like it's figured things out.

But make no mistake, this team should still be selling, even if as a fan base it would hurr.

I have been thinking about this as long as everyone else. The range of desirable results and stakes are pretty clear. I just can't get past the idea that getting bottom-5 odds might require too much "trying," as in decimating the team too much to make sense, and might not even be possible, end of day. Conversely, earning the "6 seed or above" status that would be necessary to make anyone feel good about going the other direction seems basically impossible as well. 

My conclusion, right or wrong, is that this will all sort itself out, and probably near the end of the season. The NBA has gone to extreme measures to make things like last year's nabbing of Flagg possible, and those types of things seem to be happening more and more often. I don't for one second buy any harebrained conspiracy theories about that - I think it's all chance, and that's exactly what the NBA wanted. Further, they've contrived things SPECIFICALLY to encourage teams in the exact circumstances the Mavs are in now to try and right their season as long as they possibly can. End of the day, I'm not sure it's even worth being as bad as possible anymore. Imagine being Utah last summer, for example, and then imagine that's us around here after selling AD for peanuts in a desperate attempt to lose games. AD, who might be a major part of next season's success, if things break right and a few good decisions are made. 

I do agree with the consensus that the 9-10 seed range should be avoided, if possible, and if it's looking like that's the best the team can do with a couple of weeks left, I suppose I'd try to finish worse, given the specific circumstances of this season. But, I see no real difference between 11-12 and worse, so I don't think extreme measures need to be taken. They've been losing plenty while trying to win, and the best way to encourage rapid growth from Flagg is to for the team to be played the right way. If it works out faster, it works out faster. They just need to let the chips fall where they may (within reason) and nail the pick, wherever the pick lands. 

The one caveat I'd put on all of this, personally, and why I wish they'd just hire Lindsey already and get Finley, Ricardi and especially Cuban out of the driver's seat is this: no matter how this turns out, I don't want any "win now" trades. If they find a trade that makes the team immediately better, fine, but it had better be for a YOUNG player. If they find a (good) trade that adds young assets, clears cap pathways, adds picks (whatever) and makes the team slightly worse in the very near future, that's fine, too, but it has to be a good, productive trade, and not just something done in the name of increasing the odds for this one, upcoming pick. All of that is fair game for me, just no win now 30 year olds, at least not right now. If they just avoid anything like that, I think there's an acceptably wide range of positive outcomes from here.