(06-24-2022, 09:48 PM)Branduil Wrote: I think you are greatly underestimating how much losing their #2 scorer for nothing (or S&T table scraps) would hurt the Mavs. It would take years to recover from that. Wood is not a Brunson replacement, he's a potential fix for a major problem area in the front court. And Hardy is a project who will take years to become a productive NBA player, if he ever does.
More importantly, losing Brunson would be a sign Cuban still isn't serious about winning, and if he isn't serious now, he never will be.
Brunson can literally be replaced internally. You move Dinwiddie up and sign someone like Dragic to fill that void. AFAIC on the court it would probably be more difficult to internally replace what someone like DFS brings than Brunson.
However Brunson the commodity is something that can't easily be replaced, because our roster is straight up old with pieces that just aren't that valuable compared to other teams as good or better than us around the league. That would be a big loss. Saying Brunson on court is so irreplaceable that it would take years to recover from is just straight up overrating his actual production. THJ/Wood can replace the points, and Dinwiddie can replace the ability to give Luka a rest from ball handling, and you can backfill him. The on court loss would be minor at best.