Trade & FA 2024-25:

[cow]

Counterpoint: KD habitually contradicts "defense wins championships" tweets by replying "offensive wins championships."

Experience makes you wise and we'd get to see what experience is stronger:  championship or big 3

[F Gump]

As for where [Grimes] goes, I will be curious.  My guess is its going to be for roughly the MLE and (assuming he doesn't stay) Philly is probably going to get an asset for him.

I think PHI will either simply sign him to MLE or will end up with a choice to match or don't match an MLE. I think that would have been Mavs choice as well.

There's a very small chance of a SNT from a team without an MLE, but in the hard cap world, that almost certainly means PHI takes back MORE than MLE salary. Way more likely to see him simply sign with someone.

There's a gamble he won't get an MLE offer from anyone, and he can be retained for less, but obviously it wasn't one the Mavs were willing to take.

[SkenfromLMF]

I think PHI will either simply sign him to MLE or will end up with a choice to match or don't match an MLE. I think that would have been Mavs choice as well.

There's a very small chance of a SNT from a team without an MLE, but in the hard cap world, that almost certainly means PHI takes back MORE than MLE salary. Way more likely to see him simply sign with someone.

There's a gamble he won't get an MLE offer from anyone, and he can be retained for less, but obviously it wasn't one the Mavs were willing to take.

My problem is the cost the Mavs paid to get out of that gamble...
I think I would rather have No Grimes and the Philly 2nd rather than Martin.
The criminal aspect of this is that there was a 2nd chance to get the pick back and instead we got a less valuable pick and confirmation that Martin is the less healthy player.

[F Gump]

My problem is the cost the Mavs paid to get out of that gamble...
I think I would rather have No Grimes and the Philly 2nd rather than Martin.
The criminal aspect of this is that there was a 2nd chance to get the pick back and instead we got a less valuable pick and confirmation that Martin is the less healthy player.

The question is Grimes (that ends in no Grimes) versus Martin.

Yes the negotiation was botched. I agree that the bird-in-the-hand of a high 2nd-rounder is more desirable than the future 2nd (even though that future 2nd may also be a good one). But that doesn't bear on what Grimes is or isn't worth. To be fair, they may not have roster room for TWO rookies, so there's that, but I do think it had potentially good value for a trade in June. But that pick being included, not sure that's a real reflection of Grimes value, but rather of Nico's stupidity in trade negotiations.

Yet I keep coming to the question of the value of Martin (with a multi-year deal cost certainty, but that some think is too rich) versus nothing. And I don't think any of us can reliably answer that yet. If Martin turns out to be a very useful player for this team, and locked down for the future at a modest price, it's a great deal. If he's a scrub with a bad contract, it's an awful one. Gotta wait and see how he looks.

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

@esidery
The Suns are currently the 11th seed in the Western Conference at 26-28.

Phoenix has the second-highest payroll for any American sports team at $408.9 million.

Unless the Suns pull off a miracle, this will go down as one of the most failed super team attempts in NBA history.

When Isiah Thomas left the Knicks they had the highest payroll in the league and the second worst record so seems like he's improving!

[Ghost of Podkolzin]

Doesn't seem like a realistic possibility to me.  Even getting up to someone like Markkanen's level takes out a good bit of the depth. Given the age of our stars and what is happening right now, I suspect they will continue to prioritize depth.

For better or worse, I think they build around Kyrie/AD/Klay for now.  To me, the tea leaves say Lively and Christie are key components.  If you think D wins championships, you probably keep PJ (plus he swings nicely between starting SF and takes the non-AD minutes at PF).  If you think AD is a four, you keep both centers. I get that you have decisions to make on PJ and Gafford, but there is too much sunk cost there to not retain them. 

So, if we want to design trades, the better use of time IMHO is probably to eliminate the top seven...Kyrie, AD, Klay, Christie, Lively, PJ and Gafford (and maybe Marshall too) and work with what's left.

Astute.  Yes, our strength now is the frontcourt.  

The lineup I want to see is Kyrie, Klay, PJ, AD, and Lively.

[DanSchwartzgan]

 
Ugh. Maybe I’m just beating a dead horse over and over. Y’all let me know if I’m overdoing it. I’m still grieving.

Thanks for having the self awareness to even ask the question.  It is going to take some work on all of our parts to keep this board a place of intelligent conversation.  We know from the C Wood and Brunson conversations of years past how easy it is to snipe at the 'misinformed' or beat our chests anytime something happens that 'proves' our well established positions.  And this SOOOO much bigger than those situations.  

Hopefully we are all trying to read the room and understand that people are going to be hurting for some time to come.  Hopefully those still hurting will be tolerant of those who have moved on and want to talk about something other than how dumb Nico is.

[KillerLeft]

Thanks for having the self awareness to even ask the question.  It is going to take some work on all of our parts to keep this board a place of intelligent conversation.  We know from the C Wood and Brunson conversations of years past how easy it is to snipe at the 'misinformed' or beat our chests anytime something happens that 'proves' our well established positions.  And this SOOOO much bigger than those situations.  

Hopefully we are all trying to read the room and understand that people are going to be hurting for some time to come.  Hopefully those still hurting will be tolerant of those who have moved on and want to talk about something other than how dumb Nico is.

Lol, for sure. 

Heck, I've got 1,000 words on Brunson loaded in the chamber 24/7 still, to this day.

[mvossman]

Lol, for sure. 

Heck, I've got 1,000 words on Brunson loaded in the chamber 24/7 still, to this day.

Legit question.  Which was a bigger hit asset wise, losing Brunson for nothing or the Luka trade?  The Luka trade was clearly the biggest emotional gut punch (partly because there was no warning) but you could make the argument that not extending Brunson was a bigger loss from an asset standpoint.

[Reunion Mav]

Thanks for having the self awareness to even ask the question.  It is going to take some work on all of our parts to keep this board a place of intelligent conversation.  We know from the C Wood and Brunson conversations of years past how easy it is to snipe at the 'misinformed' or beat our chests anytime something happens that 'proves' our well established positions.  And this SOOOO much bigger than those situations.  

Hopefully we are all trying to read the room and understand that people are going to be hurting for some time to come.  Hopefully those still hurting will be tolerant of those who have moved on and want to talk about something other than how dumb Nico is.

Even some of us who are still totally grieving would still rather process that grief by watching are incredibly hard playing guys and having awesome intelligent conversations on here. The other stuff prolongs grief which may be fine for some for awhile but hanging on to hurts in general is oh so bad for our health and happiness.

[KillerLeft]

Legit question.  Which was a bigger hit asset wise, losing Brunson for nothing or the Luka trade?  The Luka trade was clearly the biggest emotional gut punch (partly because there was no warning) but you could make the argument that not extending Brunson was a bigger loss from an asset standpoint.

You could make a strong argument, in fact. Agreed.

[vfromlmf]

Moving on to Christie. I thought it was notable the Mavs PR department had his image at the top of their gameday art yesterday. He's got an extremely bight future in Dallas, (hopefully .... if you'll pardon the snark).

I remember thinking after his first game, he reminds me A LOT of our own PJ Washington in terms of just being in the right place on the floor. He's got extremely advanced basketball IQ. He may never average 25 ppg but if he can consistently put up 15 PPG at this level of efficiency, while being a plus on defense, he will be a starter for a long time. And he's obviously capable of getting hot and putting up 25-30 on any given night. You have to guard him, and like with PJ, everything just seems to function better when Christie is on the floor. I'm super impressed.

It's not hard to see a young core of Christie, PJ, Lively and Gafford anchoring this team with high-level - albeit not quite superstar - level performance moving forward.

[Chicagojk]

Man, I really wish Exum would have worked out. His body just take nba basketball. Maybe he can stay healthy for the rest of the year. You just can’t count on him. So I don’t think you can bring him back. I also don’t think I would bring back Dinwiddie for a regular rotation role. So I was thinking what do you think happens with Fred VanFleet this summer? He has a team option for over 40 million. Does Houston pick up? If not, what is market value?

[mvossman]

Man, I really wish Exum would have worked out.  His body just take nba basketball.  Maybe he can stay healthy for the rest of the year.  You just can’t count on him.  So I don’t think you can bring him back.  I also don’t think I would bring back Dinwiddie for a regular rotation role.  So I was thinking what do you think happens with Fred VanFleet this summer?  He has a team option for over 40 million.  Does Houston pick up?  If not, what is market value?

I have always been a big Fred fan and he fits the new timeline, but I don't see how you make that work and I am skeptical Houston has any interest in letting him go.

[LukaMVP]

Houston will have to either pick up his team option of 40 million or let him walk imho. while he's still a good player, 40m/yr is probably too much for him tbh.

[DallasMaverick]

Houston will have to either pick up his team option of 40 million or let him walk imho. while he's still a good player, 40m/yr is probably too much for him tbh.

Absolutely.  

To apply the Peter Principle (everyone eventually gets promoted to their level of incompetence) to the NBA: 

NBA players eventually get paid beyond their level of production.  FVV seems like he's well past that point.

[LukaMVP]

Houston may pick up his team option but that doesn't mean they want his service at a price of 40m for another year. Houston have the assets and they may use VanVleet as a salary match to get a superstar. a 40m expiring contract by itself is also sort of an asset imho.

[SleepingHero]

@TheMavsBlog
Per @TheSteinLine

The Dallas - KD conversations were “overstated”.

[DallasMaverick]

@TheMavsBlog
Per @TheSteinLine

The Dallas - KD conversations were “overstated”.

Agentspeak

[KillerLeft]

@TheMavsBlog
Per @TheSteinLine

The Dallas - KD conversations were “overstated”.

My relief is "understated."