08-10-2022, 09:12 AM
(08-10-2022, 12:13 AM)F Gump Wrote: Tyler, I certainly agree that the Dragic approach made no sense. One reaction would be to assume they have all the playmakers they need, as you say.
I just don't buy that, especially when I see that they plan to play them 2 at a time, which was so important to their success last year. The coaches have already shown that's their intent with SD starting alongside Luka, rather than being his backup. So they need 96 minutes filled, and they have about 60-65 maybe.
So with Dragic, I see the job described to him, and it sounds just like he was getting offered the replacement for Burke (4th playmaker, emergency guy, plays when someone is out, gets DNP-CDs a lot) rather than Brunson.
When Brunson bolted, why wouldn't they offer him the Brunson job? It makes me wonder if they smugly assumed they had some sort of snt deal worked out with NY that would solve that issue, without having the deal truly closed, where they ended up with a big bag of nothing instead. That's what it felt like to me as things played out, like they were waiting for something they were confident in, that they whiffed on. The 15th slot was for that guy, but they didn't get him. Oops. Now what? Don't know. Leave the space open and hope we find an answer.
But I don't think the gaping hole has gone anywhere. I just think they screwed up and found themselves with a big issue that they could have avoided, but didn't plan for properly. It's still there.
My tea leaves on the Dragic issue are not that a) they thought they had a better option than Dragic available to replace JB, but rather b) they gauged Dragic at this point in his career to be a Burke-level player who couldn't replace JB.
I think it would be calumnious to assume that the MBT are so cretinously moronic as to not see the absolute binary essentiality of the three + playmakers roster construction after last season. It's just that they can't do it at this point. Can't convince anyone to give them treasure for trash, and don't want to mortgage what little treasure they have.
Sadly, before all's said and done, I'm afraid that the then-preposterous-to-the-MBT-Dragic-in-the-JB-role is going to look pretty good in comparison to what's actually at hand when we enter the season.