08-25-2021, 03:09 PM
(08-25-2021, 02:53 PM)mavsluvr Wrote: Once more, the on-court situation is exactly the same with or without the trade. No talent has been added as a result of his departure.
They could have played JR as much or as little as they wanted to if he were still here. You are arguing that the Mavs would potentially be much better if they played JR less. They had the option to play him less, whether they traded him or not. Even if we acknowledge that he was bad in some of his lineups compared to the alternatives, the trade did not help or hurt in terms of their on-court options. Whether JR was a good fit, and whether the Mavs are better on-court as a result of his trade are separate issues.
Tbh, it seems like you are straining to come up with an argument that the front office has made the team much better and solved their "worst problem" simply by dropping a player they didn't want and not acquiring talent that can fill that position.
1) The on-court situation is only FIVE players at a time (while TEN sit on the bench and are off-court). The on-court situation last year involved 1790 minutes of JR and 1671 minutes of no-JR. This year there will be ZERO minutes of JR. Hence the on-court situation WILL be different. To say it is the same, makes absolutely no sense. And like I have been saying the on-court situation was REALLY good when JR was not one of the five. You continue to ignore this fact.
2) The Mavs traded for JR hoping he would be the answer at guard next to Luka. They INVESTED in him. They tried that investment out and as the minutes piled up they started to realize that basically every variation with JR wasn't working. It eventually got to the point where RC cut his minutes drastically. Even with a lesser role his team impact wasn't improving. But the Mavs didn't "really" have a choice to just bench him. They had an obligation to Duffy (his agent, same as Luka's) to try to salvage the situation. The Mavs had to preserve relationships as best they could, because they arent' playing NBA2K.
3) I am not "straining" at all. I am simply presenting concrete data. You have presented no concrete data and it seems you are "straining" to ignore what the data is suggesting about the possible impact of removing JR from all lineups next year.