Naji Marshall Signs Extension W/DAL

[F Gump]

I don't remember the specific timeline very clearly, but I seem to recall a growing sentiment after 2019, when Kawhi Leonard didn't re-sign, that he also held onto his players too long instead of moving them to take a slight step back in order to open the way forward, too. All of those guys were shopped constantly, but the only one he pulled the trigger on was Annonuby, and that was probably because he got a king's ransom from a highly motivated NY team in exchange. 

Don't get me wrong - you don't want to give good players away, but holding onto a roster that doesn't fit together because teams aren't offering what you want is a little like cutting off your nose to spite your face in my book. Maybe the Mavs' plan will make sense soon, but the TOR plan from back then got stuck in a waiting game and I kind of feel like that's eventually what got him fired.

While I have these kinds of concerns too, as with Naji, isn't there's a degree of being "unrealistic" when idly bashing "holding onto a roster that doesn't fit together because teams aren't offering what you want"?

Because, what was their alternative - just toss all their players in the trash because other teams won't give them what they need in exchange? If you can't find the right trade to make your roster better, it seems to me you have what you have and are in a find/draft & develop world. Forcing trades and working from the mindset of desperation is a good way to just get worse imo. 

MU had to trade (and pay dearly) for Batman, but he got a title out of that trade for TOR. However the criticism comes because he couldn't find that trade again to get another Batman. It looks to me like he's starting this time with a much different challenge - he has the Batman, and a Robin too.

Now if he can only find another Lowry, VanVleet, and/or DeRozan to be the engine.