TDL Archived: The 2nd Rnd Pick Yankee Swap

[Mavs2021]

I share your concern about item 1, but I think item 2 is typically overstated.

1 I would expect the Mavs are looking for The Trade, because isn't that Cuban's pattern? Try to find that magic trade that will solve everything. They can find a splashy "all-in" type of trade, eventually, but it more often than not turns out to be a disaster.

Rondo. KP. Both would have been better to decline. Who's next?

2 On the idea that other teams can outbid, that sort of idea always assumes the whole league (a) is going to want the same trade DAL does, and (b) will spend "whatever it takes" to outbid the Mavs. Sure, other teams might have pieces that would look good in a trade. But the reality is that those might prefer to KEEP what they have. It's not what you have, but what you would be willing to offer.
.... Also, we have a really skewed idea of trade values - sometimes ours are too low, but other times way too high. I promise that no one here would have expected the Mavs would be able to land Wood for a scrub 1st-rounder and a platter of pure junk that they desperately wanted to get someone to take off their hands.

Funny you say this. Cause Mr. Negative Nancy made this exact point in regards to the Porzingis trade. Everybody was like: "Mavs pulled a fast one on the whole league - SLAYED" and I raised concerns that the Knicks simply jumped on it, because two bad contracts plus three first round picks was a lot more than they ever expected for a player that they evaluated as 1. injury-prone 2. difficult 3. not a #1 option (proven in Washington again).

So why drag out the process and negotiate with other teams? Maybe it comes down the league grapevine that other teams only evaluate him at one bad contract and one 1st round pick. Suddenly the Mavs get second thoughts. Also Porzingis' agent might have found out that other trade teams would just dangle him in RFA without the full max guarantee and certainly not without any injury protections like our genius in charge.

If we complete a trade, it´s usually not because we have the most assets (whether it´s picks, young or/and talented players). It only means nobody chose to outbid us. We are always in the bottom 5 in the league in terms of pure trade assets (unless you put Luka on the table, then we are #1). So any trade the Mavs make, it usually means at least 25 other teams were not that interested at that price.

That´s already a bad position to bargain from. Gets worse when you only do trades for PROVEN TALENT like Odom, Rondo or Porzingis. The chances that you outsmarted 25 other teams are very slim.