FA: JaVale McGee 3yrs/$17.2M to DAL | will indeed start at center

[mvossman]

Explore? Why do you think McGee isn't the result of exploring for what is available at their price, and taking the one who best fits a need?

Clearly there were a lot of players THEY would have wanted to get with their MLE too, and found out it was not possible. I have looked at the list. I see lots of names we hoped would be taking txMLE, and all of them got bigger deals. I see some they pursued, who either have taken a bigger deal already or are talking to others with bigger numbers than Mavs could offer.

When that happens, ya gotta move on to players who ARE available and can fill a need. And if you wait, they sign elsewhere instead.

There are a lot of names that have not signed yet that I would much rather sign. 

This is the same mentality we used to sign Burke.  The similarities are striking.  Carve out a chunk of your exception for a player most thought would be a vet min because you witnessed a small sample of him playing well.  Give them a player option in the third year, which seems crazy but given there is literally no chance that player will be worth their contract in year 3, it doesn't really matter.  

Mcgee is a better player than Burke, but he is 34 year old 270 pound 7 foot center whos game is predicated on his athleticism.  He is due for falling of the cliff performance wise, and it very likely will happen during this contract.

My other issue is I see this as a potential net negative to the roster.  If Kamm is right, and we are sending out Powell in a trade and using Mcgee as a backup bruiser, then fine.  But I am worried that Dan is right, and he was told he would be the starter because that is the plan.  If they are going with primarily two bigs and McGee and Powell are going to be getting 40+ minutes a game, then I see that as a real problem.  They are the 8th and 9th best players on this roster at best (9th and 10th if we sign Dragic unless this contract fucked that up).  I think we will be a worse team with those two getting the majority of the 5 minutes.  Wood is much more interesting to me as a 5 on offense.  If he is going to be playing with McGee and Powell, then we are not going to see a lot of P&R from him.  Given that the only offense that has worked in the playoffs is 5 out, it seems like that should be a big part of our regular season plan.  Also, one of the few good things about Brunson walking is that it clears up some minutes congestion for the kids to get a little development time.  Now it looks like we are going to give most of those minutes to a 34 year old backup center and Powell.