Poll: How long before fans' emotions return to normal?

[F Gump]

Looking back as I evaluate what has happened --
1 I would not have traded Luka at all.
2 I am willing to defer to Nico/Dumont decision on giving up on Luka (even if I think it was wrong), but if you are going to trade your franchise star who is a generational attraction, you have to win the trade. Taking such a beating on value is inexcusable.

Looking forward as to what's ahead, I really am not emotional ---
1 Where I am, however, is that going forward I lack trust in Nico to negotiate PLUS deals for the Mavs. At all. This was such an Abomination of Negotiation on multiple levels, that it revealed a level of incompetence that should not be trusted for positive results. The Mavs lack an expert, not only to keep him from doing something doltish, but to actually win on the details (extra picks, side assets, etc) when it comes to trades. The biggest concern is that neither he nor Dumont seem to have a clue as to how badly this was botched, and how bad a negotiator Nico is showing to be when on his own. They think they won! Ugh.
2 Until Nico is gone or another Dennis Lindsey is hired, I will be quite pessimistic that we will see any good trades done. That's depressing because it means we have no way to better the team's future via trade.
3 I do like the aggressive new-look Mavs. I'm still not fully sold that this initial undermanned success can last or be an elite team (which needs to be the outcome, since that's what we had), but I am interested to see how far it can go. Obviously their future's ceiling rides on the availability of AD - if he plays, they can be very good - and I will have interest in that. Even without AD, this is a MUCH MUCH MUCH better style of play to watch, and I am firmly convinced that Team Ball has way better upside than Hero Ball. 5 is better than 1.
4 Even if they win a title somewhere, I still think Nico botched this negotiation BADLY and is the wrong person to handle GM things.

[Razzmatazz_Hopskidillydoo]

If the team can finally be healthy with everyone around there's a good chance they'd win it all.
On paper, it looks to me that way.
AD along with a healthy Lively and Gafford is a menacing frontline.

But I can never trust AD to be healthy, or Kidd to be good enough to win the coaching battle at the higher levels, or even Kyrie not to be shut-down.

AND even if they WIN the championship, sure I'd be happy for them, but it's not going to feel the same. It would feel like buying a trophy than actually winning one.

Now as to when I think Mavs fans could move and be Mav fans again, a combo of things need to happen:

1. New ownership needs to happen, I can't support a team with that Dumont guy as the boss.
2. Nico needs to go.
3. Mavs need a home-run pick (doesn't need to be a generational Luka type of talent, or even Dirk's -- just a Josh Howard type of draft pick to get me excited about, and I'm pretty sure I'd be having unrealistic expectations and would be rooting for the new guy and the Mavs regardless if that new guy isn't really good enough to be a franchise player.

[david75090]

I'm still pissed about how the NBA cheated the Mavs in the 2006 Championship Series. I was really pissed about this Luka trade. I've mentally compartmentalized the trade now. I'm going to watch the games, for the basketball, care if they win, just not as much. I had forgotten how the NBA rigs the league. I'm reminded.

[ballsrchr]

Looking back as I evaluate what has happened --
1 I would not have traded Luka at all.
2 I am willing to defer to Nico/Dumont decision on giving up on Luka (even if I think it was wrong), but if you are going to trade your franchise star who is a generational attraction, you have to win the trade. Taking such a beating on value is inexcusable.

Looking forward as to what's ahead, I really am not emotional ---
1 Where I am, however, is that going forward I lack trust in Nico to negotiate PLUS deals for the Mavs. At all. This was such an Abomination of Negotiation on multiple levels, that it revealed a level of incompetence that should not be trusted for positive results. The Mavs lack an expert, not only to keep him from doing something doltish, but to actually win on the details (extra picks, side assets, etc) when it comes to trades. The biggest concern is that neither he nor Dumont seem to have a clue as to how badly this was botched, and how bad a negotiator Nico is showing to be when on his own. They think they won! Ugh.
2 Until Nico is gone or another Dennis Lindsey is hired, I will be quite pessimistic that we will see any good trades done. That's depressing because it means we have no way to better the team's future via trade.
3 I do like the aggressive new-look Mavs. I'm still not fully sold that this initial undermanned success can last or be an elite team (which needs to be the outcome, since that's what we had), but I am interested to see how far it can go. Obviously their future's ceiling rides on the availability of AD - if he plays, they can be very good - and I will have interest in that. Even without AD, this is a MUCH MUCH MUCH better style of play to watch, and I am firmly convinced that Team Ball has way better upside than Hero Ball. 5 is better than 1.
4 Even if they win a title somewhere, I still think Nico botched this negotiation BADLY and is the wrong person to handle GM things.

I was going to write my feelings and opinion, but I don't need to.  This is close enough.

[ThisIStheYear]

If healthy, this Mavs roster would have had a great chance at a title with Luka. With a healthy AD instead, not as great because AD essentially makes the DLive/Gaff center combo obsolete. If in the off-season the Mavs can deal one of those two centers, and make other moves, to acquire a starter quality playmaker and stretch big, they have a shot next year, if AD and Kyrie stay healthy.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

If they win a championship before Luka does. I think the ownership would be vindicated. At least in their mind.

[Jmaciscool]

If they win a championship before Luka does.  I think the ownership would be vindicated. At least in their mind.

I agree that the Dumont/Nico pairing would feel vindicated for the trade in the event the Mavs win a title in the next few years. Some fans would agree with that too probably. 

Personally, even a title would not absolve Nico for the return he got in that trade. To me it's similar to if I took out all my life savings, used it to buy lottery tickets, and then won the lottery. Just because it happened to work out doesn't mean it was a wise decision.

[Kidnova]

Seems like it took a couple of weeks for most.

Or maybe it was 4 wins.

Just because I'm still rooting for my favorite NBA team on the court, doesn't mean I am over the incompetence of the front office.  Nico and the new owners are clowns for making the trade the way they did, and their treatment of fans after their blunder was even worse.  I was a Mavs fan before this regime, and I'll probably be a fan after, but I will never have any love for this GM or owners, even if they do stumble their way in front of a championship at some point.

[Scott41theMavs]

When the trade happened, I said I was done with the NBA. What a drama bitch I was to say that. I stayed through Zaccanelli, the Montross debacle, the original Kidd trade, Nellie stripping the team down to brass tacks so that we'd get good draft picks to rebuild, throwing away Nash, tearing down the championship team, the Rondo trade, throwing away Brunson... There has always been a Waldorf and Statler element to being a Mavs fan ("Why do we always come here? I guess we'll never know. It's like a kind of torture to have to watch the show!"). Nico has taken things to a whole new level which adds up to all of the earlier crap combined, no doubt. But the fact of the matter is, I'm a MFFL. It's really funny how pro sports fandom has so little, in the end, to do with owners, GMs, et al. 

In reading the discourse here and reading the tea leaves, I am not sure that Nico and the ownership weren't right on a certain level to move on from Luka. The guy might actually be done, or heading toward done, a la Shawn Kemp post-Sonics. He always said that he wasn't going to play nearly as long as Lebron, which would have been necessary for him to get those 3-5 rings his talent level suggested he would eventually win. Would he have accepted less than the supermax without getting super-butthurt? That would have been necessary, I think, to move forward with him as the centerpiece.

That said, he was the player with arguably the highest trade value in the league. How do you dump him for a trade which doesn't even recoup half his value?

I also see what others see - the superior ball movement, the defense and astoundingly competent coaching, the talent we didn't know was there in Christie, Edwards, and Williams, how Exum has come back, how dominant they looked in the not-even-a-whole-game with the PJ-AD-Gafford lineup... I don't think that a healthy version of this team wins a championship, because Kyrie is the sole go-to guy. But they would be fun to watch in the playoffs. We'll see how the health holds up. Part of me is still hoping they fall apart and get the Cooper compensation. But goodness help me, I'm here for whatever happens.

[WildArkieBoy]

When the trade happened, I said I was done with the NBA. What a drama bitch I was to say that. I stayed through Zaccanelli, the Montross debacle, the original Kidd trade, Nellie stripping the team down to brass tacks so that we'd get good draft picks to rebuild, throwing away Nash, tearing down the championship team, the Rondo trade, throwing away Brunson... There has always been a Waldorf and Statler element to being a Mavs fan ("Why do we always come here? I guess we'll never know. It's like a kind of torture to have to watch the show!"). Nico has taken things to a whole new level which adds up to all of the earlier crap combined, no doubt. But the fact of the matter is, I'm a MFFL. It's really funny how pro sports fandom has so little, in the end, to do with owners, GMs, et al. 

In reading the discourse here and reading the tea leaves, I am not sure that Nico and the ownership weren't right on a certain level to move on from Luka. The guy might actually be done, or heading toward done, a la Shawn Kemp post-Sonics. He always said that he wasn't going to play nearly as long as Lebron, which would have been necessary for him to get those 3-5 rings his talent level suggested he would eventually win. Would he have accepted less than the supermax without getting super-butthurt? That would have been necessary, I think, to move forward with him as the centerpiece.

That said, he was the player with arguably the highest trade value in the league. How do you dump him for a trade which doesn't even recoup half his value?

I also see what others see - the superior ball movement, the defense and astoundingly competent coaching, the talent we didn't know was there in Christie, Edwards, and Williams, how Exum has come back, how dominant they looked in the not-even-a-whole-game with the PJ-AD-Gafford lineup... I don't think that a healthy version of this team wins a championship, because Kyrie is the sole go-to guy. But they would be fun to watch in the playoffs. We'll see how the health holds up. Part of me is still hoping they fall apart and get the Cooper compensation. But goodness help me, I'm here for whatever happens.

I've tried not to be a fanatic or fan of anything, but that effort has been unsuccessful.  From "Baylor scores!" on my crystal set, grounded on the kitchen faucet, listening to Seattle U. games, to the Washington Huskies' '60 and '61 Rose Bowl wins, to listening to Razorback games on a transistor radio while fording Petit Jean River near Winthrop Rockefeller's Santa Gertrudis cattle ranch, I tried again and again to break the hold of fandom.

But, then the scratchy voice of Norm Hitzges, chronicling Nellie's trip to Wurzburg to drink beer with Dirk's dad, as I drove I-35W to work every day, intrigued me, sinking the hook deeply. 

 

Through every game with Dirk, Nash and Finley, the Cuban purchase, the brief Rodman experiment, the crushing 2006 finals loss. . . . to be honest, had Cuban traded Dirk at that point, pre-championship. . I'd have been gone.  

Yet, when I hit "D" on the YouTube search bar, it fills in 2011 NBA finals, knowing my habits.

Now my brain is scrambled: Donnie, the Lithuanian coach with his eye on Europe, this Real Madrid boy playing against grown men, anxiety waiting for the draft. . Atlanta bobbles, Luka switches caps, Hawks to Mavs, 5 all-NBA selections, then to the Finals against the historic Boston Celtics. . . . 

Then, a shoe saleman morphs into GM of the Year, then back to shoe salesman before my eyes after one coffee with Pelinka.  I swear off coffee and short hair combed forward. 

 

A round-faced gambler with a split in his teeth lectures me about culture, JKidd talks about "the player that was traded," Nico hides his face.

Now, my fandom is doing the splits with one foot on MavsForum, the other on LakersGround...77 shirts on every seat, Slovenian ballads in the air, Lebron orchestrates a grand entrance for the newbie. . Jack Nicholson is too old to come, but Dirk is not.  Full circle?????

wab

[U_L]

sometimes it's the lot of a fan's life to root for their team to win the lottery, sometimes to root for the team to make the playoffs, sometimes to root for a championship, and sometimes to root for the team to get new management. I've done all those with the Mavs before. We went from championship hopes to rooting for literally everything on the list very quickly, and it's tough. I'm probably settling in to what might be a long period of rooting to get new owners and management.

[david75090]

Saw a clip of the last 6 minutes of the Lakers/Hornets game. Luka looked like Luka. Looked like he is fitting in to his new surroundings. He's Laker now. Also, he appears to be still injured, but playing through it. Missed every shot, except one. That one was an offensive rebound and put-back.

[DallasMaverick]

The original poll showed most respondents voting “never”.

So far, seems accurate.

[Jym]

The franchise really was saved by a 1.8% shot in the dark
I don't even want to imagine where we would have ended up in 5 years without Flagg around

[Chicagojk]

The franchise really was saved by a 1.8% shot in the dark
I don't even want to imagine where we would have ended up in 5 years without Flagg around

It would have been brutal.   I would imagine we would be in the Kings and Suns neighborhood.    Heck, we may have close to similar records to those two teams next year, but DAllas is a much, much better spot now than either of those teams.

[vfromlmf]

Hate to be a downer but realistically this is the same team that got blown out by Memphis in the play-in with the exception of DLo replacing Spencer. DLo is the better player but he's not going to turn this thing around by himself. I expect Flagg will flash plenty (and be great in the future) but he's an 18 year old rookie. Expect a lot of ups and downs. So let's be honest. This team may not win more than half their games.

There will be excitement for Flagg's debut but interest will fade and we'll probably be talking about tanking again when this team is 3-5 games under .500 by Christmas.

If "emotions returning to normal" means excitement about competing for championships with a homegrown star, my guess is not before '28-29.

[KillerLeft]

Hate to be a downer but realistically this is the same team that got blown out by Memphis in the play-in with the exception of DLo replacing Spencer. DLo is the better player but he's not going to turn this thing around by himself. I expect Flagg will flash plenty (and be great in the future) but he's an 18 year old rookie. Expect a lot of ups and downs. So let's be honest. This team may not win more than half their games.

There will be excitement for Flagg's debut but interest will fade and we'll probably be talking about tanking again when this team is 3-5 games under .500 by Christmas.

If "emotions returning to normal" means excitement about competing for championships with a homegrown star, my guess is not before '28-29.

Can't speak for anyone else, but "emotions returning to normal" for me just means staying focused on whatever the next step is for the Mavs, which I agree is tough to predict with the current info. If they're good, then I want to hope they become great. If they're not, I want to hope for a quick progression and plan to build around Flagg. All of that and anything between will be fine.

[ballsrchr]

Right now, most fans are reacting out of pure emotion:

The sky is falling.

I hope Luka exceeds all expectations and shows Nico for the terrorist he is.

I don't care about the team anymore, and I'll never watch again.

My life is a failure and I have no purpose.

Since they've made this colossal blunder, they should just go ahead and completely destroy the team.

Every move that the Mavs have ever made is the worst possible. There's no hope.

...stuff like that.

So, realistically, how long will it be before emotions subside and rationality kicks back in?

I'm pretty much at normal feelings as far as the Mavs "team" goes.  My feelings for Nico are the same as they were the day after he traded Luka...for a bag of chips--he's gotta go! My feelings for the rest of the team management are...pretty low.  My feelings for the new ownership are not very high either...but I'll give them a little "wait and see" time.

I'm just ready for some basketball...

[Scott41theMavs]

I was just noting in my long post above a February reference to "Cooper compensation." Heh.

[WildArkieBoy]

things I think I know:  Luka was heartbroken to leave Dallas.. . .I come back to this board as an observer because of grownup insights. . . . Lakers boards are populated by 12 year olds. . . . there are no Mark Followills or Norm Hitzgeses among Laker commentators. . . .Las Vegas is overrated. . . my wife booked us a cheap $49.99 room at an aging casino last spring that actually cost about $159 after "fees," but the big screen games of Mavs semi-final playoffs were well worth it. . . . . watching those games in front of controls giving me the opportunity to bet on any aspect of the game only enhanced my smug knowledge of not spending a nickel in the casino during our entire stay. . . . . I do admit being mezmerized by an elderly woman stuffing $20 bills into the Vanna White slot machine. . . . . oh, the Lakers are building a team paying pennies on the dollar for "bought out" folk. . . . . . I'll watch every game Cooper Flagg plays in just as I watched Dirk's and Luka's. . . . the media's focus on the Luka/Lebron relationship is beyond dumb. . . . . I wish I'd copywritten the phrase "the West is stacked." . . . . . . someone should market a t-shirt featuring a Mavs logo and 1.8%