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

[KillerLeft]

@"KillerLeft" I just didn't understand your statement "more ruthlessly than many other teams"....I just don't see that. My read over the last 20 years plus is that the Mavs are VERY mindful of their players as people and even when business needs to happen, tend to do it with a level of grace (even thinking of Donnie's kind comments about Seth and his wife).

Well, just like anything else in life, it’s probably all a matter of perspective. Dennis Smith Jr. and Harrison Barnes probably think they were not treated fairly here, regardless of what we think about how they were treated. I would be shocked if either of them doesn’t believe that “if they were given more of a chance” they could’ve made it work here. Now, I don’t agree with that, personally, but if I were one of them I am absolutely positive that is how I would see it.

So, it really is just a matter of who you are talking to.

My “more ruthless” comment was really just about how they’ve historically made more trades than some other teams. I agree that Donnie usually says nice things about them on their way out the door, but I doubt it really matters to the players, especially in the moment. Again, I don’t think it’s a big deal. 

What I think IS a big deal is WE, the community members needing to remember that whatever our personal axe to grind might be, there are reasons for all of these things pertaining to the fact that these are all PEOPLE.

Incidentally, i listened to another podcast yesterday in which Brian Demaris claimed to have knowledge that Seth Curry was “kind of a complainer” and “kept to himself in the locker room.”  This is another example of what I’m talking about. Every team has to deal with varying degrees of the “human being effect.” If this was a BIG distraction, I feel like we would’ve heard about it. Instead, it was just a throw away anecdote about player as he exits. Interesting, but not worth discussing here, really...just like the comments on Simmons’ podcast. 

For whatever reason, there appears to be a portion of the Mavericks fanbase so scared of being let down in free agency next summer that they’re constantly searching for reasons the team is stupid for even trying. That’s where this discussion comes from, people searching reasons it won’t work. Those arguments don’t interest me at all, because it’s so clear that it’s something they SHOULD try.