01-14-2021, 01:34 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-14-2021, 03:27 PM by HanspardsShowerVoice.)
(01-14-2021, 01:11 PM)F Gump Wrote: You can make out your wish list any way you want. Of course, the more stellar the criteria, the higher the salary, the more it will take to acquire them, and the less you will have at other positions.
I'm not saying that J Rich is perfect. Just saying that I don't think that replacing him with a "better playmaker" is the route to an improved team -- Luka is going to be doing the vast majority of the playmaking, which renders that upgrade mostly unused, and you're probably left much worse in other areas by the change.
I think a lot of Mavs fans have this vision of ideal basketball where Luka dribbles the air out of the ball while 4 other players hang around the 3 point arc which is extremely rudimentary and easy to defend by NBA standards and a style that probably won't get you beyond the 2nd round of the playoffs, as the Rockets showed. Mavs resorted to a lot of that style of play last year when they needed basket at end of game situations after play stoppages when defenses had time to gameplan and set up ... and the results were pretty horrific.
As I said, Lebron is the best point forward to ever play the game. Likely the best combination of off the dribble rim finisher and floor chessmaster we've ever seen. And he's at his best when paired with Playoff Rondo, Kyrie or prime/healthy Wade to balance the offense and keep defenses honest off the dribble and defend from endline to endline. When he didn't have that guy, his offenses stagnate in the playoffs. Just like the Rockets went from bullying the Warriors to abysmally predictable when CP3 pulled his hamstring and they had to go back to 1 dimensional Harden Ball. I know the CP3s and Kyries don't grow on trees and I'm not expecting that caliber of player, but I don't know why you wouldn't want to give Luka something somewhat resembling that kind of supporting player to take that role, rather than a guy with a career 12.6 PER and a negaitive OBPM in that role. Especially now when NBA defenses are commonly start sending guys at the high end playmakers as soon as they cross at the half court line to get the ball out of their hands. You really got to have two guys who can get a basket off the dribble on the floor at crunch time in the playoffs, and I would say that has been a big issue for the Bucks in the playoffs as well.