Trade & FA 2024-25:

[SleepingHero]

You guys remember the anonymous informant that called basically every summer move before it happened last year, droppingdimes?

Well he's back:

@droppingdimes50
Portland Trail Blazers and Dallas Mavericks are in the midst of trade negotiations.


For what it's worth, some other tweets on this account:

From June 4th!!

@droppingdimes50
Lakers hire JJ Redick. They got their guy.

And then again on June 8th when Dan Hurley was mentioned as the true Lakers coach by Woj he said this:
@droppingdimes50
The coach is J.J. Redick… Hurley is using the Lakers as leverage to get UConn to give him more money.



And in December of 2023:
@droppingdimes50
klay thompson linked to orlando magic

[KillerLeft]

On paper both PJ and Harris are PF/SF types but we’re not talking about 7ft behemoths as both are very mobile. I agree to the extent that the defense would suffer a bit but the offensive flow would also improve. I’d happily live with the tradeoff here.

Maybe I’m still underselling DJJ but I don’t quite think he’s good enough as a floor spacer here in the halfcourt. At least not until you get more shooting from somewhere else in the starting lineup.

I agree with the second part, about improving on his Jones’ floor spacing. I agree with that a LOT. 

But I do think you are underselling his defense quite a bit, and that’s coming from someone who took until the playoffs to be convinced DJJ would continue to play well.

I think it’s possible that PJ Washington could play three a little, but I think he is much better suited as a complement to a slighter, quicker forward. And I don’t think Tobias Harris has any business even thinking about playing the three at this point. That’s just where we disagree, no big deal.

[Chicagojk]

There is a clip of Jake Fisher telling Nate Duncan that he’s heard Dallas has a way of clearing room for Jones without using THJ or Maxi.  Duncan kind of talks over him and Jake doesn’t finish his thought on the clip I heard on X.  I think the insinuation is Green goes out to create the room for Jones Jr. (and brings back an asset).  Then, we are free to trade THJ or THJ/Maxi for someone.

I’ve already pointed out that Green fits neatly into the NT MLE which can be used for trades starting this summer.  Another way that this could happen is Green could be traded into a current TPE and it could happen in June as long as the TPE is big enough to defeat his PP status.  CBA Mavs wrote about trading Green’s PP contract for Mav’s Moneyball back in February.  He puts the number needed at $11.44mm (the average of Green’s 23/24 salary and all of his extension salary).

Currently, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Memphis and Washington have a TPE that large.  The one I find interesting is Washington.  They have a late first, a need for someone like Green and enough room to take him in without getting into the tax for 23/24.  They also have the 2nd pick, so trading #26 doesn’t mean they are going without a pick.  For Dallas, the deal is basically Green for #26 and Jones Jr. as the deal provides the pathway to keeping DJJ.

The salary for #26 is $2.6mm, so not really much more than filling a roster spot with a vet min (assuming you make the pick and keep it).  The pick could also be packaged with THJ (and 2025) in another deal to try to attract a starter that pushes Jones Jr. into Green’s bench role.  The moment we sign DJJ to more than $5.2mm, we are hard capped at the first apron.  So any THJ+ deal we make needs to have returning salary that is very close to the outgoing.  It doesn’t have to be less than 100% of the outgoing since we are already hard capped.  But, depending on what DJJ takes, we don’t have much room under the apron to work with.

A few thoughts.  I mentioned a few days ago, I have my eye on Grant.  His contract, style of play and position flexibility gives me pause.  Can he be on the closing lineup with PJ?  Can one of them guard the elite scoring guards and small forwards?  

How you propose it though, we can resign DJJ.  I think this is key.   I think in time one of DJJ or Josh will be one too many.   Because i think we will look for a higher tier wing eventually and also hope OMAX makes one expendable.  So moving Green, Hardaway and a future first and ending up with Grant and a re-signed DJJ appears to be a pretty good move thinking we would eventually most likely move Green anyway in the future.   A little risk though because I don't believe we have seen the best Green yet.


edit_ quick question...can you end up with the same result if it was Kuzma coming back rather than Grant? I may be on an island and I am certainly not all in on Kuzma, but I think he would look pretty good with the rest of our team. I would have some of the same questions I have with Grant too.

[Chicagojk]

Just looked at Grant's stats, better three point percentage than I thought. But wow, those rebounding numbers are awful for a PF. Why is he such a poor rebounder? 3.5 rebounds last year in 33 minutes per game?

[Mavs2021]

You guys remember the anonymous informant that called basically every summer move before it happened last year, droppingdimes?

Well he's back:

@droppingdimes50
Portland Trail Blazers and Dallas Mavericks are in the midst of trade negotiations.

As long as it is not for Brogdon. 

You know who I´d want from that team besides Simons: Toumani Camara.

The defense he played on Luka reminded me of White on the Spurs or McDaniels on the Wolves against Luka. So I followed my eyetest to the stats. Def RTG on/off +7.6 last season as a rookie.

Given that he started 49 games as rookie, played almost 25 MPG  I assume he´s part of the reason Portland will desperately try to move Thybulle, maybe even Grant. But asking can´t hurt.

[mvossman]

edit_ quick question...can you end up with the same result if it was Kuzma coming back rather than Grant?  I may be on an island and I am certainly not all in on Kuzma, but I think he would look pretty good with the rest of our team.  I would have some of the same questions I have with Grant too.

The difference is that Grant actually played high level defense when in that role where Kuz has never demonstrated he can play at that level.  He is definitely not as mobile/quick as Grant making a pairing with PJ more awkward.  Kuz island is a scary place to be.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

No Tobias Harris. Gross. He’s Harrison Barnes. Empty stats. I legit get angry watching him sleepwalk through games.

[dirkfansince1998]

Assuming that Grant is going to cost at least THJ + Green/Kleber + 1st I would rather have Thybulle. THJ for Thybulle is a legal trade. Mavs probably need to throw in all available seconds or a pick swap but I think in hindsight the Blazers wouldn't have matched the Mavs offer last summer. Would be happy to cash in on his remaining value.
Would clear space for DJJs contract and offer the opportunity to use Green/Hardy/1sts to search for another scorer/creator.

[SleepingHero]

@MavsFilmRoom
Marc Stein reports that the Mavs are resuming their search to find a trade partner to take Tim Hardaway Jr. & his $16.2 mil expiring salary.

Mavs need to do that to be able to maximize what they can pay Derrick Jones Jr.

[KillerLeft]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you used to say the same thing about Jones…that he was a four.  I had that conversation with someone a while back and I thought it was you.

Yeah, that was me, except that was a completely different situation. This was all part of the conversation that we had back then, but I will recap:

DJJ obviously has the body/athletic profile of a 3, but he had really never gotten a chance to play that position in his entire NBA career, and instead was relegated as basically a backup BIG (this is true). Seriously, he was being used as a screener off of the deep bench. Why? Because he could not shoot.

Now, that’s a completely different situation than the one we are talking about now. Drastically different.

What it took me all year to believe is that Jones was going to keep making his wide, wide, open shots from the perimeter. I never believed the sample size until he kept doing it in he playoffs. Basically, he finally found a way to stay on the floor at the three on offense, giving the world a chance to see his defense consistently. Kudos to him.
 
Having all just witnessed that, what is it that we are trying to improve upon with him right now? It’s still his shooting, because the same people who were arguing with me back then have now realized how important that is. In other words, he shot way, way better than I ever imagined he could, but it was STILL a problem for most people here. 

However, what is undeniably true is this: what worked for the Mavs is BOTH forwards having plus foot speed and athletic ability for their position. I knew Jones offered that, but I didn’t get excited about the signing because I didn’t think he would play (because of shooting). I was wrong about that, but so was the rest of the NBA, remember? He signed at the minimum like a week before training camp if I remember correctly. My take back then was that he had almost fallen out of the league because his offensive skillset only allowed him to be played out of position. Leading up to that time, that information was correct. That IS how he had been used in past. 

So, what has changed is that Jones has continued to improve his offensive skillset. 

What I am saying in the context of this current (Harris) conversation is that the forwards, especially with Luka at guard, need to be athletic pluses at their positions. In my opinion, BOTH of them need to be quicker, faster, and more athletic than Tobias Harris, but I think he’d be fine coming off the bench. Washington is quick and athletic, but not relative to Jones. However, he is stronger than Jones. 

They both need to be able to defend up in size. They both need to be able to defend down in size. But, you need a little bit of difference in those two guys so that you can extend the entire spectrum of matchups that are possible on either end. So, one of them needs to be able to defend more up in size than the other, and the other needs to be able to defend more down in size than the first one. to my mind, PJ and DJJ just accomplished this balance BEAUTIFULLY, and exactly the way I have been begging the Mavericks to try for literally over a decade now.

Some people look at Washington and think he is wanting for size, so they say “he must be able to play the three.“ While, that’s technically true, and you can put them out there at any position you wish relative to the other players, I have worked very hard to get past that type of thinking, as I believe it is extremely sophomoric and surface level analysis. I don’t think Washington is undersized at all, and when he goes up against slightly bigger players, I believe that is a huge advantage for him. I don’t believe he is really all that capable of playing small ball five, which is something I had hoped he would be able to do coming into his time here, but I think he is PERFECTLY suited as the 4. He is bigger than some of those matchups, not as big as others, but quicker and faster than almost all of them. That’s where you want your matchups to be.

Jones is special as the smaller, quicker forward spot (again, if he can shoot well enough to play at the same time as a center) because he is so much longer than 99% of the guys he’s going to match up with there. I think people see him shut people down in certain matchups and think it is ONLY his length making that possible, but his foot speed and agility are what puts the length in the right position. This is exceedingly rare in combination. I have tried like heck to think of someone who might be available who has some chance of replicating this, only with better shooting, and the only possible person I can think of is Jeremi Grant, who might need to play PJ’s role at this point, himself. 

While I was wrong about Jones’ shooting making him unplayable, I think the way those forwards played off of each other, defensively, pretty much proves the point I’m trying to make (and have for years). It was the best defense this team has had during the Luka era. 

So, I was wrong… But really, I was right. Different parts of the same conversation.

And for what it’s worth, I personally would not put it past Jones to improve as a shooter before next season. He certainly shot better this season than I ever thought he would. Given the choice between hoping that happens, or hoping some dude like Tobias Harris can keep up… I know which I would choose.

[SleepingHero]

Assuming that Grant is going to cost at least THJ + Green/Kleber + 1st I would rather have Thybulle. THJ for Thybulle is a legal trade. Mavs probably need to throw in all available seconds or a pick swap but I think in hindsight the Blazers wouldn't have matched the Mavs offer last summer. Would be happy to cash in on his remaining value.
Would clear space for DJJs contract and offer the opportunity to use Green/Hardy/1sts to search for another scorer/creator.

This for sure. 

Thybulle's defense is top 5 for a guard in the league. He also shouldn't cost an arm and a leg. 

Selling high on Green by getting a first for him, and then going and getting Thybulle for THJ gives us the cap needed for DJJ and we replace Green's contract with Thybulle.

The rotation is largely similar except Green is replaced with a worse shooter but much better defender.

I'd then go shopping with Maxi+Hardy+Powell+ our 3 FRPs to get a strong bench scorer.

[KillerLeft]

If they can move Green for a pick, I'd be pretty happy to package that pick with THJ+Kleber+25 for Cam Johnson. I think he makes more sense than Grant as he would be willing to come off the bench and his contract doesn't hamstring you to the same degree.

Kyrie/Hardy
DJJ/Exum
Luka/Omax
PJ/Cam
Lively/Gafford

If you can re-sign Jones, which you have suggested here, I am all for a Cam Johnson addition. I don’t think he is as good of a player as Grant now, and in fact, I don’t think he is even a good defender, really, but he is much closer to the timeline we are all excited about with the team, and he can shoot. If you can do all of what you accomplished in that post and convince him to come off the bench, you really got something. Heck, you could even start him, probably.

Just really need to keep an option to play those two defensive forwards the way they did this year.

My pining after Grant is really more about an eventuality where Jones is not back, however we think that might happen. Until Dan‘s post a second ago about using Green, I had never imagined both Grant and Jones on the team at the same time, and while that would be amazing, if Jones is back, I think I’d rather go younger like this idea.

[loki]

Yeah, that was me, except that was a completely different situation. This was all part of the conversation that we had back then, but I will recap:

DJJ obviously has the body/athletic profile of a 3, but he had really never gotten a chance to play that position in his entire NBA career, and instead was relegated as basically a backup BIG (this is true). Seriously, he was being used as a screener off of the deep bench. Why? Because he could not shoot.

Now, that’s a completely different situation than the one we are talking about now. Drastically different.

What it took me all year to believe is that Jones was going to keep making his wide, wide, open shots from the perimeter. I never believed the sample size until he kept doing it in he playoffs. Basically, he finally found a way to stay on the floor at the three on offense, giving the world a chance to see his defense consistently. Kudos to him.
 
Having all just witnessed that, what is it that we are trying to improve upon with him right now? It’s still his shooting, because the same people who were arguing with me back then have now realized how important that is. In other words, he shot way, way better than I ever imagined he could, but it was STILL a problem for most people here. 

However, what is undeniably true is this: what worked for the Mavs is BOTH forwards having plus foot speed and athletic ability for their position. I knew Jones offered that, but I didn’t get excited about the signing because I didn’t think he would play (because of shooting). I was wrong about that, but so was the rest of the NBA, remember? He signed at the minimum like a week before training camp if I remember correctly. My take back then was that he had almost fallen out of the league because his offensive skillset only allowed him to be played out of position. Leading up to that time, that information was correct. That IS how he had been used in past. 

So, what has changed is that Jones has continued to improve his offensive skillset. 

What I am saying in the context of this current (Harris) conversation is that the forwards, especially with Luka at guard, need to be athletic pluses at their positions. In my opinion, BOTH of them need to be quicker, faster, and more athletic than Tobias Harris, but I think he’d be fine coming off the bench. Washington is quick and athletic, but not relative to Jones. However, he is stronger than Jones. 

They both need to be able to defend up in size. They both need to be able to defend down in size. But, you need a little bit of difference in those two guys so that you can extend the entire spectrum of matchups that are possible on either end. So, one of them needs to be able to defend more up in size than the other, and the other needs to be able to defend more down in size than the first one. to my mind, PJ and DJJ just accomplished this balance BEAUTIFULLY, and exactly the way I have been begging the Mavericks to try for literally over a decade now.

Some people look at Washington and think he is wanting for size, so they say “he must be able to play the three.“ While, that’s technically true, and you can put them out there at any position you wish relative to the other players, I have worked very hard to get past that type of thinking, as I believe it is extremely sophomoric and surface level analysis. I don’t think Washington is undersized at all, and when he goes up against slightly bigger players, I believe that is a huge advantage for him. I don’t believe he is really all that capable of playing small ball five, which is something I had hoped he would be able to do coming into his time here, but I think he is PERFECTLY suited as the 4. He is bigger than some of those matchups, not as big as others, but quicker and faster than almost all of them. That’s where you want your matchups to be.

Jones is special as the smaller, quicker forward spot (again, if he can shoot well enough to play at the same time as a center) because he is so much longer than 99% of the guys he’s going to match up with there. I think people see him shut people down in certain matchups and think it is ONLY his length making that possible, but his foot speed and agility are what puts the length in the right position. This is exceedingly rare in combination. I have tried like heck to think of someone who might be available who has some chance of replicating this, only with better shooting, and the only possible person I can think of is Jeremi Grant, who might need to play PJ’s role at this point, himself. 

While I was wrong about Jones’ shooting making him unplayable, I think the way those forwards played off of each other, defensively, pretty much proves the point I’m trying to make (and have for years). It was the best defense this team has had during the Luka era. 

So, I was wrong… But really, I was right. Different parts of the same conversation.

And for what it’s worth, I personally would not put it past Jones to improve as a shooter before next season. He certainly shot better this season than I ever thought he would. Given the choice between hoping that happens, or hoping some dude like Tobias Harris can keep up… I know which I would choose.

Great summary of why PJ/DJJ worked so well defensively. I've been penciling Jones in as the 2 and Luka as the 3 in all my lineups lately because of this. You can't just plug in a typical "starting SF" and get the same result.

I do have some doubt that Jerami Grant can fill that role though. I actually wanted him over PJ at the deadline because he's a legit 3rd option (and I didn't realize that PJ would be a game changer on defense). But what I remember reading from Portland fans is that many viewed Grant as purely a PF at this point in his career. They didn't want to call him a 3 because he wasn't quick enough. I guess the hope would be that it's more a lack of effort from the offensive burden he's carrying than a lack of footspeed.

[KillerLeft]

Just looked at Grant's stats, better three point percentage than I thought.  But wow, those rebounding numbers are awful for a PF.  Why is he such a poor rebounder? 3.5 rebounds last year in 33 minutes per game?

He is a poor rebounder because:

He plays above the break with the ball in his hands on offense (imagine Luka’s role, except for only about 60-70% of the time, with others initiating the rest of the time). When he’s not the ball handler, he hangs out on the wing, kind of like Hardaway’s role. He has been playing a COMPLETELY different role than the Dallas forwards on offense (then again, that was true of PJ before he got here, too).

Defensively, he is so quick and agile for his size that he almost exclusively guards DOWN in size, meaning he is usually at the perimeter on the defensive end, nowhere near the paint. This is similar to the Jones role from this season. Notice that Jones was not that great of a rebounder.

I don’t know that Grant would magically become a better rebounder here, but I do know that he can play the Jones role on defense and a variety of roles on offense. If he’s here WITH Jones, I believe he is also more than capable of playing Washington’s defensive role, too. I think that would probably result in better rebounding from Grant, but I’m not sure. What I am sure about is that rim protection would get much better in that eventuality. Grant is a tremendous shot blocker when he is helping in the paint.

People who have been begging for more ball-handling should welcome the idea of Grant. He’s so good at it he has been given the chance by two teams now to be the main offensive initiator. He was not good enough at it for those teams to win, but next to Luka and Kyrie, and constantly matched up against dudes his size or bigger (not what he has been facing as his team’s focal point), I think he’s going to WOW some of you guys on offense. 

Honestly, I would not be concerned about the rebounding, because that is sort of role dependent. When it comes to rebounding, it’s not about the players so much as it is about where the player is on the court when shots go up. I also wouldn’t be very concerned about him on defense, because he clearly has the athletic ability and defensive IQ to do, defensively, what Jones did this year (maybe not quiiiiiite as well) AND/OR what PJ did this year (probably even better). I promise that if you were somehow able to put the three of them into the same rotation, your defense would be STELLAR. Hell, you could literally play them all at the same time if you needed to. 

If I were FORCED to make an argument against bringing Grant in, it would be this: 

1) I am not sure he is going to be all that interested in being third fiddle behind two huge stars. He might be happier losing and being on ball. I sure hope not.

2) even if he’s OK with the hierarchy of point number one and understands that his playmaking will be tertiary, I’m not sure he’s going to be super thrilled about what that means, which is that here he will have to be a SCREENER to be involved in the offense. This is probably my biggest fear with the target, because this is a level of physicality on the offensive end that he hasn’t had to endure for a few years now. He’d have to want to do it. But if he did, he would be amazing. AMAZING.

3) he is a little old for the timeline of everyone on this team except for Kleber and Kyrie Irving. Doesn’t bother me, because at least he is not LeBron or Paul George age. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s younger than Irving. 

4) His contract is CRAZY for a team’s third best player. That’s because since he left Denver, he has never been a team’s third best player. He has always been first or second since then. This is the closest thing to a “third star” you are going to get here in Dallas, given the assets on hand. That’s not a mission I am particularly interested in accomplishing, personally - I like Grant here for fit reasons. But, for those who are hoping to add offensive talent to the mix, Grant is the best, most to gettable delivery system for that I’ve seen mentioned here so far.

[F Gump]

BTW, for those wanting J. Grant, this could be a path to getting him without sending multiple guards to a guard heavy team.  Green to Washington for #26 as outlined.  THJ/Maxi/#26/2025 for Grant/#34/#40.  DJJ doesn’t quite get the full NT MLE here, but I don’t have my spreadsheet to plug in the numbers.

This is not the answer if you want DJJ and think the smaller end of the scale for his salary (the scale being from 5.2M to 12.9M) is insufficient (and isn't that the point of the Green trade?).

You only can pay DJJ somewhere in 8 - 8.5M range with the above moves.

The idea of using Green to clear space OR to be a trade chip has been well discussed here, and probably will continue to be. But we have to factor in that THJ is gone for sure, so if Green is outgoing, then it's both THJ and Green outgoing, and in the big scheme of things, it doesn't matter which you do 1st (THJ or Green) or which one yields a player and which one yields room -- either way you end up with the ability to sign DJJ and add another player with a salary total between the 2 of about 28.6M.

In the above, adding Maxi to the outgoing only nets another 9M (11M salary, but you have to refill that slot at 2M cost). Grant's salary is right at 30M.

[mvossman]

DJJ obviously has the body/athletic profile of a 3, but he had really never gotten a chance to play that position in his entire NBA career, and instead was relegated as basically a backup BIG (this is true). Seriously, he was being used as a screener off of the deep bench. Why? Because he could not shoot.

Its interesting because during the regular season he only improved his 3 point shooting by roughly half a percent from the previous year.  He did raise his attempts per 36 by almost 50%, and he did shoot a little better in the playoffs (with less attempts per 36).  I do like that he has shown a small but steady improvement throughout his career.

I'm curious if this changes your views on Thybulle.  You had the opinion that he was also unplayable due to his limited shooting (and he does not have the alternative of playing like a big that DJJ does).  But the last two seasons Thybulle has taken more 3's per 36 at a better percentage than Derrick.  And that might have a bit of an uptick playing with Luka.  Given he is an elite perimeter defender are you more open to taking on that contract?  I kind of like Timmy + 2nd for Thybulle idea brought up, although I don't know if that is going to generate enough room for DJJ.

[KillerLeft]

The difference is that Grant actually played high level defense when in that role where Kuz has never demonstrated he can play at that level.  He is definitely not as mobile/quick as Grant making a pairing with PJ more awkward.  Kuz island is a scary place to be.

Plus, and I can’t believe we are still having to talk about this, HE LITERALLY SAID PUBLICLY, IN THE MEDIA, THAT HE DOESN’T WANT TO PLAY HERE. Stop and think for a second, how stupid do you have to be to commit to a position like that publicly, in the media. Think about how shortsighted and void of thinking that is.

I know the counter will be something like “but he said so because he didn’t think this team was as close as it was.” That’s false. That was his polite excuse to use, publicly. The dude does not like Dončić, and there’s a long history of evidence. 

Guys, Kuzma is a clown who thinks he is a superstar. He didn’t want to come here because he wants to be his team’s best player. This is a horrible, horrible target for the Mavs.

[KillerLeft]

Assuming that Grant is going to cost at least THJ + Green/Kleber + 1st I would rather have Thybulle. THJ for Thybulle is a legal trade. Mavs probably need to throw in all available seconds or a pick swap but I think in hindsight the Blazers wouldn't have matched the Mavs offer last summer. Would be happy to cash in on his remaining value.
Would clear space for DJJs contract and offer the opportunity to use Green/Hardy/1sts to search for another scorer/creator.

Yeah, I got really excited when I saw the Portland rumor, because my first thought was about Grant.

Then, my second thought was about DeAndrea Ayton, and that excitement turned to terror in an instant.

Then, I remembered the Thybulle thing, and it’s very likely that he is what this rumor is about, if it’s true. VERY likely. My take on Thybulle is well documented around here, so I wouldn’t love it, but I would like it a hell of a lot more than Tobias Harris. As a bench player, I’m not sure he can really hurt you that badly. Worst case scenario is he gets played out of the playoff rotation, just like Hardaway did. No harm no foul there (unless you give up a pick or Hardy or something stupid). And, he probably makes your defense a little bit better during the regular season as he eats innings. Who knows, maybe he will shoot better than I think, just like Jones did, but he is definitely not a solution to what got the Mavericks bounced out of the finals, that’s for sure. Still, I don’t hate it as much as I hated penciling him in as the starter at the three last season when that offer went out.

[KillerLeft]

Its interesting because during the regular season he only improved his 3 point shooting by roughly half a percent from the previous year.  He did raise his attempts per 36 by almost 50%, and he did shoot a little better in the playoffs (with less attempts per 36).  I do like that he has shown a small but steady improvement throughout his career.

I'm curious if this changes your views on Thybulle.  You had the opinion that he was also unplayable due to his limited shooting (and he does not have the alternative of playing like a big that DJJ does).  But the last two seasons Thybulle has taken more 3's per 36 at a better percentage than Derrick.  And that might have a bit of an uptick playing with Luka.  Given he is an elite perimeter defender are you more open to taking on that contract?  I kind of like Timmy + 2nd for Thybulle idea brought up, although I don't know if that is going to generate enough room for DJJ.

I think what happened is that in combination, Jones improved, both in accuracy and willingness to shoot, AND finally found a team/coach so desperate for athletic ability that they were willing to live with him on the floor for an extended period of time and HOPE he’d shoot and make enough of them. It took them all season to settle on that approach, but it was the right decision in the end, and I believe it took the perfect storm of both of those things happening for this to work out.

Relative to Thybulle, maybe I am a glutton for punishment, because I don’t see it happening twice in a row with two different players, but I also am less worried about it than I was last summer, because I highly doubt they are looking at Thybulle as a starter. I don’t think adding him solves anything that was truly problematic for the Mavericks in the playoffs or finals, but I do agree that that’s a pretty good value for Hardaway in a second, if that’s the deal that ends up happening.

I’ll tell you this: I would rather have Green in the rotation than Thybulle, I think.

[JamesConway912]

https://x.com/anthonyvslater/status/1804...02592?s=46&t=-bN4oD2OLU_Ue80HIM_CZQ

Looks like Klay is done in GS.