IZTOK DIAGNOSES DECLINE OF MAVS OFFENSE

[fifteenth]

Wish we could trade KP for someone who doesn't mind being called a center, can defend the pnr, hit 3s, and set picks.

[cow]

Wish we could trade KP for someone who doesn't mind being called a center, can defend the pnr, hit 3s, and set picks.

I don't think we should have a heart set on any position as we have holes at every position.

[mvossman]

@"mvossman" you, yourself, said you had a hard time envisioning a good outcome to the DFS/Brunson situation.

You don't have to agree with this, and I'm sure there are 100 ways it could go that would be better than this, but if it comes down to these two, simple choices:

1) DFS/Brunson gone, KP here

2) KP gone, DFS/Brunson here

GIVE ME #2. I believe the Mavs would be a BETTER team in scenario 2 than 1. Either option is subtractive in nature, but again, we pretty much know he's not paying the tax next year, so...we have to pick the least of all the evils, right? 

If this can be accomplished by moving Powell/Bullock, or any other creative way, GREAT, but from reading your responses, I'm left thinking that you are somehow still invested in the Luka/KP dream. I am not. I am out on that. It's not going to work. It's a dead end. Wheel spinning. Waste of time. My enthusiasm for the team will be renewed the exact second he's gone, and I think his value must be at the highest level since the Mavs got him! Now is the time.

So I don't think that is the trade off.  I think in every scenario I have us keeping DFS.  Assuming we are staying under the tax, here are the options:

1) Trade Brunson/Powell for expiring, keep KP/DFS

2) Love the idea of Brunson/Bullock+ for kemba and our pick

3) Trade Brunson/KP for an overpaid quality player.  Not sure who this would be and we would still need to make room for DFS

4) trade KP for mostly expiring??  Who is going to do this?  Not sure if this is possible.

A lot of this depends on what we can get in these trades.  I know Brunson is an asset and I don't think KP is.  I also am not sure Brunson stays here regardless of cost.  I think he is a flight risk, or a risk of costing more than 15 mil a year.  Because of this, he is generally the guy I have going out.

[KillerLeft]

So I don't think that is the trade off.  I think in every scenario I have us keeping DFS.  Assuming we are staying under the tax, here are the options:

1) Trade Brunson/Powell for expiring, keep KP/DFS

2) Love the idea of Brunson/Bullock+ for kemba and our pick

3) Trade Brunson/KP for an overpaid quality player.  Not sure who this would be and we would still need to make room for DFS

4) trade KP for mostly expiring??  Who is going to do this?  Not sure if this is possible.

A lot of this depends on what we can get in these trades.  I know Brunson is an asset and I don't think KP is.  I also am not sure Brunson stays here regardless of cost.  I think he is a flight risk, or a risk of costing more than 15 mil a year.  Because of this, he is generally the guy I have going out.

Other than #1, which I feel wastes Brunson (unless some picks are coming back this way), I could live with most of these scenarios and call them "good outcomes."  So, we're not as far apart on this, after all.

[omahen]

Mavs really screwed up the Brunson situation, that is all I have to say. Still not clear if he is actually a fit that makes sense longterm at the money he will require. Great games but question remains if it will translate into playoffs. Trade value not high because he will be UFA. Can walk for nothing because he is UFA. I said already at beginning of the season - Mavs need to make a decision. He has made his opinion quite clear he wants to be a starter (actually run his own team, but lets hope starter is ok). So either give him that and create reasonable confidence he will want to stay or decide he is not a great longterm fit and trade him at TDL. Money whipping someone you see as a reserve because you can't afford to lose him makes little sense. Losing him for nothing makes even less sense in Mavs situation.

[fifteenth]

Mavs really screwed up the Brunson situation

They made a great draft pick. They helped him to develop into a really good player. They have a chance to sign him to a second contract. We shouldn't mistake our amature cap management for the real thing.

[omahen]

They have a chance to sign him to a second contract.

And here is where the problem is. They only have a chance. If at least his contract would be such that he would be RFA, which would give them much higher level of control (original big mistake they made). Are you even certain Brunson is worth what will likely be his market value (lets say this is 15 mil per)? At the end of the day, Mavs are building around Luka. 

They made a great draft pick. They helped him to develop into a really good player. They have a chance to sign him to a second contract. We shouldn't mistake our amature cap management for the real thing.

I agree they made a great pick and that he is a good player. But I think it was clear without expicitly saying it, that my comment relates to the team building perspective, not judging their draft ability or Brunson as a player. I think it also should be clear that what I write is my opinion and you are free to disagree. I think I am allowed to have my opinion, even if I am, according to you, an amature cap manager. And my opinion on this specific topic is, that Mavs put themselves in a situation, where there are a lot of possible bad outcomes for them in the long term and only a couple of good ones.

[fifteenth]

I think I am allowed to have my opinion

Of course!!! I love reading your opinions. You're a great poster and one of the folks that makes this place go. But we talk about each other's opinions here, right? 

even if I am, according to you, an amature cap manager

That wasn't about you. It was about all of us. I didn't even aim at you! I said "our" because I meant it. Do you disagree? Are any of us not "amature" capologists? Even the best among us? 

I mean, I'm the worst. I don't even try. Maybe because I calculate things at work (I don't know), that's just not what I do with this particular hobby. But my point about mentioning that WE are amatures was connected to my mention that evidently Nico hired an expert (one of the best). 

So I want the expert capologist and our expert relationship builder and our savant basketall mind to figure out how to keep our good players, and get more other good players. I understand that might involve trading some of our good players to get better players. But...

I just don't get that Brunson is the guy that needs to go (my opinion). He's ours, he's really good, he's growing, and he's growing into a role that we've said we desperately need.

[omahen]

That wasn't about you. It was about all of us. I didn't even aim at you! I said "our" because I meant it.

I thought you meant me, my bad

[KillerLeft]

He's ours, he's really good, he's growing, and he's growing into a role that we've said we desperately need.

Yeah, I think the vast majority of us agree with this. I just think that maybe you're not fully appreciating the significance of next year's salary commitments. This team isn't going to pay the tax next year. They MIGHT go over the tax line over the summer and then try to dump salary at next season's TDL, but I doubt it. 

Can they dump salary at this season's TDL so that Brunson can be paid to stay here? Sure, it's possible, but will they pull it off? Do they even think that's the way they should go? These questions are key.

[fifteenth]

I thought you meant me, my bad

No worries!! My bad of making you think that! 

[fifteenth]

Yeah, I think the vast majority of us agree with this. I just think that maybe you're not fully appreciating the significance of next year's salary commitments.

Pal, I'm sure that's true. 

I choose to delegate the job of figuring all that out to that expert capologist that Nico hired. 

Thatss the disconnect. You guys are trying to figure out how to make the cap work. And I don't think we have the expertise to do it. Not that y'all shouldn't try. I'm just not going to. I have limited "Mavs" time, and I can't go down that rabbit hole. We watch non-Mavs teams go from "in cap trouble" to "improving their team" all the time. So I'm calling on the Mavs to figure it out.

[ballsrchr]

Mavs really screwed up the Brunson situation, that is all I have to say. Still not clear if he is actually a fit that makes sense longterm at the money he will require. Great games but question remains if it will translate into playoffs. Trade value not high because he will be UFA. Can walk for nothing because he is UFA. I said already at beginning of the season - Mavs need to make a decision. He has made his opinion quite clear he wants to be a starter (actually run his own team, but lets hope starter is ok). So either give him that and create reasonable confidence he will want to stay or decide he is not a great longterm fit and trade him at TDL. Money whipping someone you see as a reserve because you can't afford to lose him makes little sense. Losing him for nothing makes even less sense in Mavs situation.

I think the bold above will be the major problem with JB.