(10-17-2022, 02:41 PM)F Gump Wrote: I agree with Scott. I think JB continues to be way better than some of you realize -- and that his ability and impact in DAL was very instrumental to how far they progressed. (I also think he will continue to improve.)
That's not to say they CAN'T somehow move forward after losing him. But we can't just blithely whistle past the graveyard and assume it will happen. He became such a KEY cog in their ability, especially on offense, because he was a very efficient creator of offense. Can bring the ball up the floor and initiate the offense, very effective production, elite shooting percentages, incredibly few turnovers, ability to score under pressure, can get to the rim and break down the defense. That took a lot of pressure off of Luka.
I'm still not a fan of the JB fit as I think his strengths and weaknesses overlap with Luka too much but it's hard to not realize his importance to the team last year and we certainly aren't better off without him. We might be able to achieve the success we enjoyed last year without him, but I think that's the best case scenario. I'm still not sold on Dinwiddie's consistency (something JB excelled at) and we are putting a lot of faith in him staying healthy.
That said, he didn't want be here. That's in large part thanks to how the organization mishandled him and I think it's fair to say that he didn't want to play next to Luka. That's not a shot at their relationship, it's more about styles and JB looking towards his next contract.
As I mentioned in the other thread, I wish we'd have figured out a way to keep him just so we'd be flirting with that ~$200M payroll too.