Why the Mavs are Potentially Much Better Already...

[HAguiar95]

I think trading JRich was the thing to do -- among other things, believe he affirmatively wanted to be traded. So, good for the front office. 

However, I have to strongly disagree that the presence of Richardson was this team's biggest problem, and that we should credit Cubes for transforming the team by turning him into a trade exception. 

One could argue about just how good or bad Richardson was. I did not think he was a good fit, but I didn't think he was the roster's worst player, by any means. The Mavs had already demoted him to the bench. If their biggest issue was removing him from the court altogether, all they had to do was not play him, which was never even considered, as far as I am aware. By dumping him, they removed an unhappy player, and acquired a trade exception that they may or may not end up using. Cool. 

But I would submit that move, without more, was just more tinkering around the edges. The enormous issue for the Mavs, it seems to me, was turning KP into a player who is productive on both ends and fits into the system. Either through rehabilitating him, using him in a different fashion, or trading him for good value. WAY more important than taking JR off the court. 

They have addressed this, so far, by replacing the coach, although that was Carlisle's decision, rather than something they had planned to do. A new coaching system may help the situation, may not. It seems to me that the main issues with KP are defensive, and his own physical limitations are likely to be much more determinative than any change in the defensive system. 

They still need to address secondary playmaking (which turning JR into a TE didn't do), rim protection (which a 3&D guy doesn't directly address), and wing defense, which at least has a chance to be a little improved with Bullock. 

Imho, Cuban hasn't addressed any of the club's primary problems. Maybe he still will, who knows?

Exactly my thoughts. J-Rich was not a great fit in the secondary ball-handler role (good D, bad 3 in his case) but removing him is far from the solution. We need someone to take this task and run away with it. Currently, whoever get this reponsability will turn into J-Rich (THJ/Bullock/Brown/DFS) 2.0 (or Delon 3.0) and have bad numbers. Because they literally can't dribble/pass/penetrate. This hole will still haunt us untill we nail it. It's like having a bad worker, you don't solve your problems by just firing the guy, you gotta find a guy that can do the job as well.

I'm suspect about Bullock's defense and I'm hoping he can at least be neutral. But I'm confident he can't be that secondary ball-handler. He'll be another C&S guy that can't dribble waiting for Luka to find him (like DFS/Maxi/THJ/KP). To me it's clear his impact on offense is negative just like Maxi's. DFS can still fake the 3 at least and try to dunk/cut to the basket/offensive rebound.

As you've said, that's without mentioning the other glaring issues (rebound/defense frontcourt, forcing turnovers) this team has showed for the last couple of seasons. If this is our offseason, I really can't see a reason to give a grade better than a C given the money we had (AGAIN). Timothy is present in almost every bad lineup/pairing we had and still got re-signed to a fat contract and people CELEBRATED. His on/off numbers were also bad. Bullock should be in place of Hardaway, not and addition (C&S bench guy).

Nothing is lost. As most have said KP is the key to having a chance to go past the 1st round.