DAL OFFSEASON: Trade & FA | Mavs "mostly done...but you never know."

[omahen]

As I've said before.  There are three potential paths.  1.  Plan Powder.  2. Plan Have it Both Ways and 3. Plan Go for it now (and Powder be damned).

If you said with certainty that we are going through door #3, then yes, there are better ways to spend money.  But reclamation projects on expiring contracts are exactly the idea with Door #2.  Frank doesn't have to be a star.  He just has to be close to as good as Wright and make Wright's contract go away in Plan Powder or Plan HIBW's.  Or, as good as Jackson (low bar) and maintain the same cap flexibility.

So, is the issue you have with Frank or with the idea of not going for it now?  I'm not advocating HIBW's.  But, we've spend a good bit of time on Go for it Now plans.  With Giannis sounding somewhat open to change, I thought it was time to think about alternatives. 

Perhaps you have missed my previous answer about HIBW. It may be tricky in situation with a lot of unknowns. What if you don't have any expiring offers on the table? Do you go for (for example) THJ-Gordon straight up or do you say no thank you, I rather do nothing and basically wait a season? Or you get the Young for Wright offer on the table and you don't have anything else. Do you take it, because it will make us better or reject it because it might make us less flexible? A question I have is, is HIBW really possible or will it just swing to Plan Powder or Plan go for it now, based on what it opens on the market? Fortunately, most of the players we are looking at are actually expiring.

Despite the above, going after Frank is far from the only HIBW option. Richardson, Schroeder, Oubre and some vet meh options like Snell or Johsnon are theoretically possible to be had for a combination of Wright, Jackson and picks. And I claim all of these (plus several others) come before Ntilikina for me. If really none of those options work, than I take Frank as consolation prize. 

Idea of Wright as a free agent signing should have worked, but it didn't, as Cato put it nicely in his last piece. I think there is at least same level of uncertainty with Frank. In theory it could work. But will it in reality? I would be disapointed if Franky Smokes and (for example) one year rental of Jamaychal Green would be our only offseason moves. And to add - if Mavs really believed Frank is the right piece, they could have traded for him long ago. It wouldn't cost much.