(07-13-2022, 03:53 AM)omahen Wrote:
1 I think, both Mavs and New York knew well before FA and draft where Brunson is going. It is their job to know and it was reported Mavs knew. NY not only dumped Kemba on draft night, but also sold their #11 for future FRP, to open cap space. They bought #13 in a separate move to dump Kemba. I don't think NY would go through all that troubles if they didn't know why they need to dump him. That Kemba move was extremely complicated so I can't agree the Detroit part was easy for NY.
So, working under assumption they knew,
2 They could/should convince NY to work with them.
3 Burks as highest salary could go into TPE.
1 There is no way to know when the Mavs knew, or thought they knew. After the fact, it's a face-saving move to say "Well, we already knew it for a while." But in real time, is that what they were thinking?
In addition, relative to this discussion, at what point exactly did they really concede, in their own minds? IMO it was the clearing of the cap room - not just trying to get more, but actually having it in hand, that would have started to be persuasive to see NY's level of commitment to getting room. But that happens AFTER those DET deals occur, not before.
2 "They could/should convince NY to work with them."....I think that's a reasonable expectation when (a) you are the ONLY potential trade partner, and (b) what you are willing and have available is far better and easier for the other team than doing nothing. But when there are other teams who are able to offer different competing deals, and might offer a better deal and an easier deal, it's too simplistic to say that you should have just waltzed in and done it instead. That's the discussion mantra here many times, but it just doesn't work like that, to assume that "we could have had that deal." Other teams have their own agendas and it is NOT about including the Mavs.
3 Not true. There was no TPE to use on a July deal. It died back around the draft, back when the reports and consensus were that Brunson was coming back to Dallas. You can't do a Brunson deal of any kind back in June. And NY wanted to be shed of Kemba 1st, not last -- he was the most useless player they had.