BRUNSON BURNER: to NYK for 4yrs/$104M (no SnT) | NYK docked 2025 2nd for tampering

[omahen]

One of the rules I use when hiring people is if you want to find people who will be successful in the future, find success in their past.  Success is a pattern and we are on a better roll right now than some want to give credit for.

This is an interesting quote. Based on it. Would you hire Kidd, who didn't really have coaching success before?  

Regarding KP return and Mavs results. There were numerous factors that lead to increased success, imho, that happened around same time, so it is very difficult to pinpoint this to just the KP move:
- Luka was getting in form (was also injured in the first part of the season, which had a factor in success)
- they stopped playing the "makes no sense" two center rotations, that looked horrible
- shooting started to improve, everyone was shooting horrible in the first part of the season
- THJ injury also contributed to better balanced lineups by placing more defensively oriented players next to Luka

I still claim KP return was bad. We can all see that supposed "increased flexibility" that was mentioned so many times as main reason for the trade by Mavs themselves, didn't really bring any benefit. If Dinwiddie is the guy they wanted, he was a FA in 2021. With a little creativity they could sign him and probably be also be able to keep THJ and bring Bullock. Everyone knew Mavs badly needed another creator in 2021. Mavs included, since they targeted Lowry.

I think sleeping on last year success is the last thing we should do. It was great, but it was an one time thing since 2011. I am far more concerned by the obvious low success rate in nailing the transfer windows (summers and TDLs). I will just point out the big picture how I see it:
2018: Luka draft - could took 20 mil of Bazemore (I think expiring at the time) but rather gave up the pick
2019: had possibility for max cap space, targeted Kemba and lost. Didn't bring in anything (paid to get rid off Wright a year later) and didn't use cap space for assets. 
2020: huge miss in key draft
2021: another max space possibility, targeted Lowry and missed. Improved around the edges.
2022: Lost second best player for nothing, didn't replace the ballhandling lost and didn't bring in the hugely needed wing. They did improve at center.
overall: with all those misses, Mavs totally failed in acquiring any top end talent or assets and we are constantly hearing how they lack the ammo for trade. Roster is also getting old as all key players enter their thirties this season. 

I think it is fair to say that FO is not doing a good job, to put it mildly. I think the success is mainly coming from improvement of some key players (Luka, Brunson and DFS) and not from good work done by the FO. It pains me to watch how Atlanta, Phoenix, Denver, Boston are building around their stars and how smart franchises like Toronto or Memphis are run. Dallas is no where near in that regard.


To end, here is the West picture as it looks now (in order from last regular season): 
1. Phoenix: same team, all picks available
2. Memphis: same team, a bunch of young guys added, all picks available
3. GSW: same team, young ones (Wiseman, Moody, Kuminga) might improve, 2 picks available
4. Dallas: same at best, 2 draft picks available
5. Utah: imploded
6. Denver: moves around the edges, Murray and MPJ will likely return, no picks
7. Minnesota: added Gobert, no picks
8. Pelicans: Zion will likely return, added McCullom at TDL, all picks
9. Clippers: Kawhi likely returns, added Powell and RoCo at TDL to already stacked team
10. Spurs: tanking
11. Lakers: on verge of imploding
12. Sacramento: got what seems like good pick, but likely not much better
13. Portland: will likely be better, but not by much
14. OKC: tanking
15. Houston: tanking

So basically, Utah is out and Denver, Minny, Pels and Clippers are likely better. Phoenix, Memphis and GSW all have much better assets than Dallas to further improve team if they want to.