TDL Archived: The 2nd Rnd Pick Yankee Swap

[mvossman]

Hard disagree on this point. 

Murray is available specifically because he's not good enough as a lead guard to play that role for a playoff team. I think he's pretty valuable for the right team as a top-end role player, but not 3 firsts valuable. I think that's ridiculous. At the same time, multiple teams are fawning over Brunson because they believe he's their lead guard of the future. I get that the most serious of them is NY, who doesn't have the best track record, and he might not be good enough to right that sinking ship, but what Brunson offers is objectively the most valuable thing in the league right now. 

Again, you could convince me that Murray is a better fit for Dallas if his off-ball game is good enough, but at this time I'm not sure that it is. My point was about the better overall player, and I'm sorry - the offensive creator is always going to be the most valuable. I can't take Murray seriously in that role because the Spurs haven't been a good team, despite him having several chances to lead them in that capacity. 

Remember how quickly it was evident that Luka was making this team better? I'm not holding either Brunson or Murray to that ridiculous standard, but I strongly believe that the reason Brunson is such a hot commodity right now is that teams without lead guards know he's about to be one of the best.

This is a strange argument.  Murray is not as good as Luka, I will give you that.  He can't carry a team like Luka can.  Neither can Brunson.  The reason they are shopping Murray is that he is not Luka, they are in total rebuild mode, and he is the best asset they have by far.  Murray is a better scorer, distributer, rebounder and wildly better defender than Brunson.  Brunson is more efficient offensively, but Murray is better at just about everything else.  I'm afraid you are going to be on an island to think Brunson is the better player.