Sup pals. AD Sucks.

[fifteenth]

He who should be fired didn't want a fat Luka so now we got a fat AD. 

I really want to like this team. There are so many players here that I like. 

Grain of salt... I've just watched highlights... but all the other team's baskets include AD's man taking a 3 while AD is holding up a hand while standing in the lane. If y'all tell me that he plays good D in all the plays I haven't seen, then I'll consider hating (sports hate) him less. 

Mostly, just hi. I miss y'all. I miss good Mavs basketball. 

But hey, in shape Luka highlights are fun to watch these days. That means I've gotten less bitter over the months.

[SleepingHero]

Honestly whenever I see fat AD lumber up the court thus far I just laugh.


Because if I don't laugh then I would just cry.

EDIT:

At least we got this dude:

[fifteenth]

Honestly whenever I see fat AD lumber up the court thus far I just laugh.


Because if I don't laugh then I would just cry.

Hey SH. Always good to see ya. 

I have this memory of AD being the most athletic player in the league. Did I just eat too many nachos one night a decade ago and dream that? Is early 30's really that old for the NBA?

[fifteenth]

At least we got this dude:

True! I mean, I like Lively, PJ, Naji, Christie a healthy Kyrie as well. I might think differently if they end up winning a lot, but it feels like it would be more fun if we were just young, fast, exciting and growing along with Cooper rather than pretending that AD can make us a contender.

[Benskix2]

He's been training with Pat Dumont

[ThisIStheYear]

AD is a good player, even overweight. He’s a dated archtype as an offensive engine, though great as a compliment, and employs a boring, archaic style of play. But a team would generally be lucky to have him. For the Mavs, the main problem is their 4th and 5th best player essentially play the same position and don’t work so good together when sharing the floor. That’s a lot of wasted, high quality minutes. The other even bigger problem is that the cost to acquire him was Luka.

[JamesConway912]

Trading for AD was actually somewhere relatively high on my wishlist but I would have viewed him as the final piece alongside Luka and Kyrie. At this point in his career he is a guy who needs his workload managed cautiously or his body breaks down immediately. With Luka you had a dependable perennial MVP candidate in place who could take over the majority of the burden on a nightly basis while Kyrie and AD fill into the spots around him. With LeBron being on the verge of retiring I am sure there would have been a time and a place for a trade like that. It would have been a great fit for a few years.

But here we are doing the dumbest trade in NBA history with an insanely fast collapse of a team that had just gone to the finals a few months earlier. Still absolutely insanse how this all went down. What is the teams record since the trade? Must be somewhere in the bottom 6-7 of the entire league. 

Nico Harrison and Patrick Dumont are literally the dumbest GM / decision maker pairing in NBA history. Two absolute clowns.

The worst thing is tha it will all go downhill even further once AD and Kyrie have gotten older and the team will be enter the years without their own draft picks. Things look bleak right now but their first round pick offers a safety net. From 2027 on that wont be the case anymore.

[DL2RimRocker]

Trading for AD was actually somewhere relatively high on my wishlist but I would have viewed him as the final piece alongside Luka and Kyrie. At this point in his career he is a guy who needs his workload managed cautiously or his body breaks down immediately. With Luka you had a dependable perennial MVP candidate in place who could take over the majority of the burden on a nightly basis while Kyrie and AD fill into the spots around him. With LeBron being on the verge of retiring I am sure there would have been a time and a place for a trade like that. It would have been a great fit for a few years.

But here we are doing the dumbest trade in NBA history with an insanely fast collapse of a team that had just gone to the finals a few months earlier. Still absolutely insanse how this all went down. What is the teams record since the trade? Must be somewhere in the bottom 6-7 of the entire league. 

Nico Harrison and Patrick Dumont are literally the dumbest GM / decision maker pairing in NBA history. Two absolute clowns.

The worst thing is tha it will all go downhill even further once AD and Kyrie have gotten older and the team will be enter the years without their own draft picks. Things look bleak right now but their first round pick offers a safety net. From 2027 on that wont be the case anymore.

Sadly, the best thing that could happen this season is to be the worst team in the league by Xmas and Dumont does the smart thing and fires Nico. AD plays every game and averages 25-10 and is all-star material by the TDL. The new GM comes in and trades AD at TDL and receives a young player with an upside and multiple picks in the process. Mavs tank the rest of the season and end up with a top 3 pick.

I still like the idea I read (I think it was Mavs MoneyBall):
Ivey/Harris/LeVert/2027 (1st)/2029 (1st) for AD

Imagine a lineup of: Kyrie/Peterson/Flagg/PJ/Lively with Ivey/Christie/Klay/Naji/Gafford coming off the bench.

Not sure if the numbers work to make that deal but maybe FG or someone can provide some input.

[Smitty]

Sadly, the best thing that could happen this season is to be the worst team in the league by Xmas and Dumont does the smart thing and fires Nico. AD plays every game and averages 25-10 and is all-star material by the TDL. The new GM comes in and trades AD at TDL and receives a young player with an upside and multiple picks in the process. Mavs tank the rest of the season and end up with a top 3 pick.

If this exact scenario played out, I'd be on board. I rarely if ever root for my favorite teams to lose, even if I think it's best for the future. Tomorrow isn't promised and I like winning. I'd accept it if this exact scenario were promised.

[Mavs2021]

If this exact scenario played out, I'd be on board. I rarely if ever root for my favorite teams to lose, even if I think it's best for the future. Tomorrow isn't promised and I like winning. I'd accept it if this exact scenario were promised.

I think this upcoming draft is at least six deep with studs and that´s the reason Indiana and Boston are using the injuries to tank this season. If the Mavs allow these already staked contenders like Boston, OKC to further scam the system to add more star level players, they can just just become the Sterling Clippers, cause Flagg and Lively won´t even sniff a conference finals by themselves against the rosters building elsewhere.

[SpaceGuard]

Luka is the better player clearly but as far as health concerns go, I think you guys should look a little closer at the stats. 

Comparing those 2 through all games played up through last season since their starting year, only counting regular season. 

Anthony Davis
13 seasons 
787 games played
Avg Games played per Season: 61

Luka Doncic
7 seasons
450 games played
Avg Games played per Season: 64
 

Other notes:
Last 2 seasons, Anthony Davis has played more games than Luka. 

Comparing AD's first 7 seasons vs LDs first 7 seasons only and these are ADs stats

466 games played
Avg 67 games a season

AD has 3 seasons of most played games in a season over Luka. 76, 75, 75 vs luka: 72, 70, 66. 


I think the one thing that should stand out here is that Luka is not looking to be long in the tooth and his trajectory is he will miss even more games than AD in his next 6 seasons. 

Not justifying the trade by any means, but I hear a lot of talk about how unhealthy AD is. Want to make sure people are comparing apples to apples.

[KillerLeft]

Luka is the better player clearly but as far as health concerns go, I think you guys should look a little closer at the stats. 

Comparing those 2 through all games played up through last season since their starting year, only counting regular season. 

Anthony Davis
13 seasons 
787 games played
Avg Games played per Season: 61

Luka Doncic
7 seasons
450 games played
Avg Games played per Season: 64
 

Other notes:
Last 2 seasons, Anthony Davis has played more games than Luka. 

Comparing AD's first 7 seasons vs LDs first 7 seasons only and these are ADs stats

466 games played
Avg 67 games a season

AD has 3 seasons of most played games in a season over Luka. 76, 75, 75 vs luka: 72, 70, 66. 


I think the one thing that should stand out here is that Luka is not looking to be long in the tooth and his trajectory is he will miss even more games than AD in his next 6 seasons. 

Not justifying the trade by any means, but I hear a lot of talk about how unhealthy AD is. Want to make sure people are comparing apples to apples.

There's some good stuff here, and full marks for the bravery of offering it. But...

I think the issues with this line of thinking are tied into the facts that the trade happened months after the Mavs were IN THE FINALS, and, even worse, Davis is almost exactly 6 years older than Luka. 

I definitely think AD is being undervalued by this board currently, and likely by many Mavs fans, but it's tough to blame them.

[KillerLeft]

By the way, welcome, SpaceGuard!!!

More you!

[omahen]

Luka is the better player clearly but as far as health concerns go, I think you guys should look a little closer at the stats. 

Comparing those 2 through all games played up through last season since their starting year, only counting regular season. 

Anthony Davis
13 seasons 
787 games played
Avg Games played per Season: 61

Luka Doncic
7 seasons
450 games played
Avg Games played per Season: 64
 

Other notes:
Last 2 seasons, Anthony Davis has played more games than Luka. 

Comparing AD's first 7 seasons vs LDs first 7 seasons only and these are ADs stats

466 games played
Avg 67 games a season

AD has 3 seasons of most played games in a season over Luka. 76, 75, 75 vs luka: 72, 70, 66. 


I think the one thing that should stand out here is that Luka is not looking to be long in the tooth and his trajectory is he will miss even more games than AD in his next 6 seasons. 

Not justifying the trade by any means, but I hear a lot of talk about how unhealthy AD is. Want to make sure people are comparing apples to apples.

All of this is correct, but also cherry picked a bit. Davis 2023-24 season was a huge outlier for him with 73 games played. 5 season before that he played 62 games most with a 36 and 40 games season and the season after that he played 52. Luka is basically the other way around. Last season was an outlier for him and that calf strain was his only serious injury up to now. Other than last season, he was over 60 games in all other seasons.

Not sure why you think it is given Luka will be more and more injured. While his playstyle can lead to constant minor contact injuries, I don't see it as something leading to major ones. His game relies on skill, not athleticism.

[FireNicoHarrison]

Those are the same stats that i read (maybe here too) after the trade. It's nice.

But the reality is AD played 10 of 45 games and he is still injuried.

Doncic played almost all games.

The fact that AD is 6y older than Doncic will make the things worse. And worse.

[fifteenth]

Luka is the better player clearly but as far as health concerns go, I think you guys should look a little closer at the stats. 

Comparing those 2 through all games played up through last season since their starting year, only counting regular season. 

Anthony Davis
13 seasons 
787 games played
Avg Games played per Season: 61

Luka Doncic
7 seasons
450 games played
Avg Games played per Season: 64
 

Other notes:
Last 2 seasons, Anthony Davis has played more games than Luka. 

Comparing AD's first 7 seasons vs LDs first 7 seasons only and these are ADs stats

466 games played
Avg 67 games a season

AD has 3 seasons of most played games in a season over Luka. 76, 75, 75 vs luka: 72, 70, 66. 


I think the one thing that should stand out here is that Luka is not looking to be long in the tooth and his trajectory is he will miss even more games than AD in his next 6 seasons. 

Not justifying the trade by any means, but I hear a lot of talk about how unhealthy AD is. Want to make sure people are comparing apples to apples.

Notice that I said we traded a Fat Luka for, what showed up for this season, a Fat AD. See any irony there?

Also note that it appears that something convinced Luka to start taking care of himself. IF Luka continues that trend, I imagine his tendency towards injury will resolve a bit. 

Last thing. When I posted, Nico was still here. My post was really just venting over the insanity of the trade, and the fact that the perp was still in the building.

[fifteenth]

I definitely think AD is being undervalued by this board currently, and likely by many Mavs fans, but it's tough to blame them.

Your take is surprising to me, on one front, but not on another. 

1. The surprising part: AD seems like a player that doesn't fit into your ideal brand of basketball. As he has gotten older, he has gone from dynamic to fairly slow moving. And he's a big that doesn't want to play center!!

2. The not surprising part: The dislike of AD's game around here is most certainly, and greatly, impacted by the emotional baggage that many of us opinion spouters have regarding how AD got here. In that sense, undervaluing AD is baked into the Mavs fandom due to trauma. If Luka was still here, and AD was added to the team because Luka said, "get me AD (which wouldn't make sense to me, but my point still works), then the board might actually overvalue AD. 

What say you?

[KillerLeft]

Your take is surprising to me, on one front, but not on another. 

1. The surprising part: AD seems like a player that doesn't fit into your ideal brand of basketball. As he has gotten older, he has gone from dynamic to fairly slow moving. And he's a big that doesn't want to play center!!

2. The not surprising part: The dislike of AD's game around here is most certainly, and greatly, impacted by the emotional baggage that many of us opinion spouters have regarding how AD got here. In that sense, undervaluing AD is baked into the Mavs fandom due to trauma. If Luka was still here, and AD was added to the team because Luka said, "get me AD (which wouldn't make sense to me, but my point still works), then the board might actually overvalue AD. 

What say you?

He's played almost exclusively center this year, as he had been for most of his career. I think that "doesn't want to play center" bit is overblown, and ultimately, because he IS a center, that's what he's going to play most of the time. He's the ideal center, in point of fact, at least my ideal.

He's moving a bit slower right now, because of the weird summer he just had with his eye injury. He was very up front about it on media day, but it's not the norm for him. Just unfortunate timing. I'd say his ability to move quickly and run is still among his primary assets when playing center. 

He's a great, great player. He's too old for this team, and he's injured too much.

[michaeltex]

FWIW, AD has not done much to ingratiate himself to the DAL fans. I know the injuries are the public cause, but the lack of conditioning in the offseason is extremely disappointing given the Luka criticism.

[fifteenth]

He's played almost exclusively center this year, as he had been for most of his career. I think that "doesn't want to play center" bit is overblown, and ultimately, because he IS a center, that's what he's going to play most of the time. He's the ideal center, in point of fact, at least my ideal.

He's moving a bit slower right now, because of the weird summer he just had with his eye injury. He was very up front about it on media day, but it's not the norm for him. Just unfortunate timing. I'd say his ability to move quickly and run is still among his primary assets when playing center. 

He's a great, great player. He's too old for this team, and he's injured too much.

Good stuff. Thanks!