TDL Archived: The 2nd Rnd Pick Yankee Swap

[omahen]

Cato, if you're listening, the condescending tone makes reading you often unbearable. 

The lede for the article is "Identifying the biggest need for all 30 teams," and 29 other reporters followed the script. 

You give us the same tired narrative: the Mavs supporting cast stinks and Dallas won't win a championship this year. Way to go out on a limb. 

No, their Fate is sealed. You bury them in January while making sure to drive a nail in the coffin, noting there is nothing the front office can or will do to change this teams' fortune. 

What's more, you suggest the team should take a step back. Throw in the towel. Give up. Quit. 

You may be smart, and a halfway decent writer, but I don't think you have the first clue about what it takes to build a champion, and you clearly have no idea what the Mavs should do at the trade deadline.

Below is Cato text and I agree with every word about it. If anything, Cato was always too positive about this team and its FO. Now he can't deny the obvious anymore. Mavs only strategy so far it seems it was to get a little better by making the moves around the edges spending some assets for it and then some more to clear their mistakes. 

Plan for the future: In Luka Dončić, Dallas has the hardest part of building a title contender: a top-five player who’s signed for several more seasons. But it’s become increasingly clear this season — not that it wasn’t before — that the team doesn’t have enough talent around him. The Mavericks won’t make a game-changing trade that vaults them into contention status this deadline, but they need to decide whether there are sideways moves that can prepare them for such deals in the future. Perhaps the Mavericks should even consider taking a calculated step back this season better prepare for a bigger swing in the future that can provide Dončić with the teammate(s) to allow the franchise to reach its highest aspirations.