(02-21-2021, 03:20 AM)Dundalis Wrote: To be fair though, if he had listened to Donnie, we would have Giannis, while the Luka acquisition probably only happens with Donnie around also. Donnie isn't perfect and maybe we could do with someone else as the GM, but I do think he adds plenty of value when it comes to player acquisition with his time in the game and his international connections. He's also always been very good at getting value in trades.
Donnie and the MBT are good with international scouting, do pretty good with trades and pretty good with undrafted free agents. They are abysmal when it comes to the draft and signing free agents. They've also had a history of trading for players that their head coach has had little use for.
Drafting Luka (Brunson too) was great. Even if KP doesn't work out, that was a great trade. The problem is that when you only draft well once a decade, can't attract free agents and spent all of your assets on Luka/KP, it's going to be really hard to field a contending team around them. And if KP doesn't work out, their shortcutting of the rebuild process is going to leave them even more hamstrung.