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

[KillerLeft]

So to wrap-up, I see a lot of chatter ab the Kemba pursuit last year being interpreted to mean that Mavs are hot after a star secondary ball-handler. In my view, that pursuit was much more about getting a 3rd star than getting a ball-handler. 

Jay, when people use the word "star" they are, by definition, almost exclusively talking about a ball-handler. Those two terms don't HAVE to mean the same thing, but the way the media uses the word "star" does mean that. One almost never becomes a "star" WITHOUT handling the ball. 

The Mavericks absolutely DO need people other than Luka who can make DECISIONS with the ball. This is a fact. That's why they wanted Kemba. 

I don't think this necessarily has to come from a guard. If your other guard is Beverly, for example, then you'll need a forward who can handle (like Hayward, who you like). DFS, Kleber, Curry and THJ are all nice SPACERS, but not one of them is scary if the defensive rotations are done well, so there has to be more than one player on the court at all times who can put pressure on the defense. To this point, the Mavs have struggled to make KP that player. For the most part, he has just been an INSANELY good spacer, a pretty good cutter, and a pretty good roll man. 

Again, this is why Carlisle played Burke, who you insist is a situational player, as if he was the 3rd or 4th most important player on the roster during the Clippers series. Because he WAS. They were unbelievably lucky he played as well as he did, or they might've gotten their asses swept. 

I 100% promise you that the Mavs are hoping to fix this, one way or another. There wasn't a single team who even made the second round who didn't have multiple playmakers on the floor. Not one. The SMALLEST amount of playmaking for any of those 2nd round teams was Houston, who literally plays two All-Star point guards at the same time.