02-10-2022, 08:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-10-2022, 08:14 PM by hakeemfaan.)
(02-10-2022, 07:22 PM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: I think that is where we disagree. I just don´t see KP as a 2nd or 3rd level star. Would argue that Brunson is more likely to fill that role than KP ever was. Mavs losing two close games doesn´t change that when the overall body of work is as big as the Mavs without KP. 40-28 without him over the last 3 seasons. Or more recently 9-3 since new year. Including the "best" wins of the season against the "best" teams in the league (Chicago, GS, Memphis, Philly).
Only brought up RC to emphasize that this isn´t a recent development. Concerns about KP´s impact and role aren´t new. That´s why many of us wanted to trade him at the last deadline or in the summer. Mavs decided to swallow the pill and move him today.
Maybe the Mavs aren´t better but I don´t see a scenario where losing KP makes them worse. I am not happy about the return but it just confirmed what I already thought. League isn´t buying into the hype or into his numbers. Other teams aren´t blind they are seeing the same things that we used to complain about.
Let us talk about the 3 years. That first year in the bubble we would have beaten the Clippers if KP had not got hurt. He was having a monster series.
Last year was definitely a step backwards and a lot of negativity towards him comes from that. However he was coming off an injury, took longer to heal and there was a lot of dysfunction going on around the team. You keep talking about RC but do we know what RC really wanted to run. It was Luka’s show and everything you heard from Donnie ( post season first mention was about Luka needing to facilitate more) to RC ( all the stories about Luka not listening to him and not respecting him). Plus KP too sulked and pouted as he probably felt that Luka was having too much of an influence on everything. Whether he was correct to feel that way or not, it was a bad move to pout.
So I am throwing the whole last year away. The team had a new start this year and KP was playing better defense and moving better without the ball as well. I know you keep diminishing his overall talent but you don’t put the numbers he was putting up on both ends of the court with just being an average player. That’s where we disagree.
Yes valid question why no one in the league valued him much then. That contract and injury history would scare off a lot of teams. That’s why all of us kept hoping that he would have a 10-20 game staying healthy stretch. We were confident that if healthy he could fill up the stat sheet and we were hoping to sell high. So while yes he did not have a go to move and had certain weaknesses, I would not just say that he was low on talent. He was pretty productive and impactful when healthy. Plus again we got two players also with serious past injuries, on not so great contracts, and having bad years while not even being as good defensively.
We will disagree on this. As I said it would have been a bit more palatable if we got a FRP and didn’t just blink so fast. IMO even if Bertans and Dimwiddie play well we took a step backwards today.