TDL Archived: The 2nd Rnd Pick Yankee Swap

[audiosway]

He's not going to be Steve Nash or Chris Paul...but he's good enough to be the second best player on a championship team, and they had him here. They drafted him and developed him. He was a significant part of the culture and direction of the team.

He's good enough to be a 3rd-4th player on a championship team. He got swallowed up pretty good during that GS series. He won't lose you a game. But, I think he wins you very few games on his own. He's a very smart heady player with some skill and a very good work ethic. I have no doubt he'll continue to improve. But, I don't see him being an all-star unless it's a fluke year. Fan Fave? Absolutely.

The part where the Mavs messed up is either not trading him at the TDL or not structuring his contract so that he would be restricted this year. They missed a huge opportunity to have a home drafted/grown player that they could get assets for. That's my only regret. He wasn't a fit with Luka but he definitely would have been useful in a trade. I would have locked him in sooner and gotten a bounty of picks and/or players from NY for him. But, then again I was pushing for that last year to trade him for a wing.