(06-04-2021, 01:03 PM)StepBackJay Wrote: I don't think so. In my view the KP you see now is kind of what you get. Pretty good offensive player but not a great fit in Mavs system that really just wants rim rollers or shooters from the 5 position offensively (no post-ups, at least not from KP). Defensively he probably won't be. any worse than he is now but I am not expecting much improvement and that's a big issue. Finally he doesn't want to be here and gets paid way too much for his production. Even if he's healthy now, chances are he won't be healthy later so Mavs should cash in while they have a chance. He is not going to be an all-star player for the Mavs anytime soon.
I'm not sure why you would think that. He was a much better player last year (mostly due to defense) especially as the year went on. We see players all the time have a rough year due to injuries and then come back the following year looking like they did prior, especially at his age. It's possible that he has reached some accumulation of injuries such that he will never be the same again, but you would not expect that to be the case from a standard meniscus tear on a 25 year old. I realize his size presents a fairly unique situation but I would argue it more likely that next year (after a full healthy off season) he is closer to second half last year than this year.
That player is still not a perfect fit with Luka and may not be worth the max, but a much better (defensive) version than we have seen this year. I agree with the original post that his value will likely go up next year until/unless he incurs another significant injury.
All that being said, it still might make sense to trade him this off season. It will depend on how disgruntled he is and how much we can get for him. I think he will go up in value next year (at least for a while) but we will have more options to move him this off season as we can operate under the cap if necessary.