AROUND the NBA: Pat Bev Suspended 4 Games Next Season| PHX Fires Vogel

[hakeemfaan]

Narrative twisting to 1) seem right and 2) bash Cuban. 

Cuban absolutely made mistakes in the JB situation, but by the time fans themselves really came around on JB it was already too late for the Mavs. The ship had sailed.

Fans are not management.  Fans are not paid to be shrewd and judicious with assets.  So saying the fans too came around only later is irrelevant. 

JB is an iso scorer but at the same time he is an unselfish player as well. At no time here or during his stint in NY has he looked like a chucker and seems to play well within the confines of the team.  If either RC or Kidd or any other coach cannot figure out how to integrate another very efficient scorer around Luka’s game, then we are never going to win a championship with Luka. So yes part of selling that vision to a player that he can get his while playing next to Luka has to be done in words and through plays designed to get that second scorer his touches. If Luka objects to that then he too needs to change. 

Brunson is gone and we got nothing. While it totally sucks the next step more than the Wood bashing that Kidd gets, is to see how Hardy is brought along. He has the confidence and ability to get his own shot. He is not defering to Luka.  Those things cannot be taught. There will be some bad things as a result of that. The coaches and Luka have to live with those. It’s not as if Luka doesn’t do some frustrating things on the court. If the Mavs are to win a title the coaches and Luka have to know that without another player(s) like that this team is not going to be a legit contender.  So instead of saying JB could never have done this here, the question should be what do the Mavs and Luka have to do to convince another elite player that they can play alongside Luka while still getting their touches and praise.  Any elite scorer is not going to come here if they are just asked to defer to Luka most of the game.