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

[ItsGoTime]

@ItsGoTime I don’t follow your line of thought. I don’t think Powell NEEDS to prove he’s worth a big contract. He already has one. He has a job and role here. I assume he’ll get dropped right back into it, provided he’s healthy enough.

In the sense that there is a guy in WCS who, if he opts in, would be nipping at his heals (pun intended) for that job, yes, he NEEDS to prove he's worth the contract he has, that is, if he wants to keep his stay with the team secure (this also doesn't mean that the FO will for sure get rid of him if he doesn't prove it, but it would be the better/more prudent course of action and that will probably be weighing on DP's mind IMO).

If he’s a starter again, that means the team really wants to play with two bigs more often than not, and in that scenario, WCS will absolutely get minutes off the bench. 

Doesn't necessarily mean that at all. DP can start, but that doesn't mean they'll keep with that approach throughout the game. RC kept KP in the game to work with the 2nd unit and get some minutes separate from Luka once he settled into a more consistent rotation towards the end of the year. Any time for KP at C leaves that much less time for DP and Powell at the position, and I don't believe we'll see a lineup for much time whatsoever with DP and WCS in at the same time. When one of the two wins out, that player will in turn get the lions share of the minutes as the season comes to a close so the team can settle into their playoff rotation.

If both of them are coming off the bench, then yeah, WCS may have some lean times to start the season, and at that point, yes, the team might view Powell’s contract in a way that’s more similar to how it’s commonly thought of around here. Does that incentivize them to give WCS burn AHEAD of Powell? I don’t know, but I would think not, since they’d still be paying Powell more, he’s a team leader, etc.

This is what I believe is the concern with those saying WCS is the better player. I believe you in that I think the FO probably thinks that way, and that is pretty dangerous for a team trying to win playoff games. Shouldn't matter what a player is being paid to RC. The headache of figuring out why so and so is paid such and such amount while I'm being paid what I am is Donnie's job, not RC's.

But, and I can’t stress this enough, injuries (and other unexpected phenomena) WILL happen. This will all work itself out. It’s a good thing to be deep.

Yes, injuries n' such will happen, the hope is that they are minimal so as to not disrupt, in any meaningful way, the repetitions the eventual rotation players need to be ready for the playoffs. It will all work itself out, or, we'll cross that bridge...

I think the two guys most likely to lose minutes to WCS are Boban and Kleber. Boban because he’s not as versatile, and Kleber because while I think he’ll keep the minutes he spends playing WITH Powell, he’ll lose some of the minutes he got playing FOR Powell.

Maybe, I just believe one of the two is going to eventually win the lion's share and more importantly, the meaningful minutes over the other. I honestly don't care who it is, although I suspect it'll be WCS. As long as they win it fair and square and not because of who gets paid higher or any other off the court stuff that doesn't matter when we're trying to win a playoff game!