Why the Mavs are Potentially Much Better Already...

[mavsluvr]

Right, the team as a whole wasn't transformed but a significant piece was removed. 

The data suggest this MIGHT make a huge difference:





So the data suggests that the Mavs without JR this past season were REALLY good. Of course, it may not be as simple as removing him, BUT removing COULD get the team a good chunk of the way to where they need to be.

P.S. I still 100% agree that KP is the elephant in the room that we all need to watch.

I guess I am not doing a good job of making my point. 

Which is, the current on-court team is not any better or any worse for dumping JR. Even if he were still on the roster, taking him off the court altogether was a choice they would  have as a coaching matter. Trading him didn't eliminate some kind of requirement to play him, since there was no such requirement. 

The team didn't acquire any new player as a result of the trade, other than Moses Brown. According to some reports, the Mavs did not independently want Moses, and determined at the time of the trade to keep him around in case he was useful as trade filler, but did not plan to use him in summer league or training camp to protect against his being injured and becoming untradeable. Even if he ends up playing after all, he will be a very minor piece. Bullock and Sterling Brown were obtainable without respect to the JR trade. So they just have a trade exception to show for him -- not a player. 

The ROSTER-BUILDING situation is a little better for trading JR. Instead of an ill-fitting player, they have a TE. But, as we have learned with cap space, trade exceptions don't win games. The ON-COURT situation is exactly the same, whether JR was traded or just benched, with the minor exception that they now have another player they didn't really want in Moses Brown. Nothing was solved as an on-court matter by moving JR. They need a new player who can do what they hoped he was going to do -- maybe they will still get one with the TE, who knows?