RS 21/22 - Mavs @ Kings part II (Friday. 6PM EST)

[fuller4379]

Brunson does a good job of getting everyone involved in the offense.

[XTraderXL]

What's their record with Luka and without?

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0% with Luka and no Brunson vs 36% after this game with Brunson and no Luka

On/off numbers confirm Brunson has been more positive for the team season as well.

Brunson is playing very good. I still have no clue why people want to trade him. You legit would need to get a really really good player in return.

What do you mean with those %'s? Mavs are 5-9 without Doncic. Brunson missed only 1 game so far, which Mavs lost.

Someone asked about % with Luka and with Brunson. Brunson without Doncic is 5-9, Luka without Brunson is 0-1. So 0.36 with Jalen and without Luka and 0.000 with Luka and no Brunson.

People keep making the mistake of saying when Luka plays Dallas is 0.570. For all those wins Brunson was also on the court with a much better +/- than Luka. Luka is negative for the year, Brunson is positive. And he is positive with Doncic and also in games without Doncic, leading the starting unit. I dont think there is even an argument about who has been the MVP of the team this year. Even without factoring in availability. Brunson only missed one game, Luka missed a third of the season already.

[Archx]

0% with Luka and no Brunson vs 36% after this game with Brunson and no Luka

On/off numbers confirm Brunson has been more positive for the team season as well.

Brunson is playing very good. I still have no clue why people want to trade him. You legit would need to get a really really good player in return.

What do you mean with those %'s? Mavs are 5-9 without Doncic. Brunson missed only 1 game so far, which Mavs lost.

Someone asked about % with Luka and with Brunson. Brunson without Doncic is 5-9, Luka without Brunson is 0-1. So 0.36 with Jalen and without Luka and 0.000 with Luka and no Brunson.

People keep making the mistake of saying when Luka plays Dallas is 0.570. For all those wins Brunson was also on the court with a much better +/- than Luka. Luka is negative for the year, Brunson is positive. And he is positive with Doncic and also in games without Doncic, leading the starting unit. I dont think there is even an argument about who has been the MVP of the team this year. Even without factoring in availability. Brunson only missed one game, Luka missed a third of the season already.

Yeah that makes sense if you put it like that. But you still can't avoid the fact that Mavs also lost more games without him. His presence on the floor alone totally changes how teams aproach in defending Mavs. Creates more room for others, hence why Mavs were one of the best teams in the league at creating open looks, just were shooting poorly, etc...

As you said, early in the season when Luka let Brunson do his thing, he was still on the floor because teams focuse on him. Brunson had way more space to operate in and same goes for KP. +/- show you one thing, reality can be another thing. At the end of the day, Luka still has incredible numbers and Mavs have a winning record with him. But due to his horrible conditioning, his On/Off tank a lot in the 2nd half because he simply runs out of gas. Obviously that's his fault, can't defend him there.

But yeah all in all Brunson is doing great job of stepping in. It's the rest of the team that is even a bigger issue.

[XTraderXL]

Brunson is playing very good. I still have no clue why people want to trade him. You legit would need to get a really really good player in return.

What do you mean with those %'s? Mavs are 5-9 without Doncic. Brunson missed only 1 game so far, which Mavs lost.

Someone asked about % with Luka and with Brunson. Brunson without Doncic is 5-9, Luka without Brunson is 0-1. So 0.36 with Jalen and without Luka and 0.000 with Luka and no Brunson.

People keep making the mistake of saying when Luka plays Dallas is 0.570. For all those wins Brunson was also on the court with a much better +/- than Luka. Luka is negative for the year, Brunson is positive. And he is positive with Doncic and also in games without Doncic, leading the starting unit. I dont think there is even an argument about who has been the MVP of the team this year. Even without factoring in availability. Brunson only missed one game, Luka missed a third of the season already.

Yeah that makes sense if you put it like that. But you still can't avoid the fact that Mavs also lost more games without him. His presence on the floor alone totally changes how teams aproach in defending Mavs. Creates more room for others, hence why Mavs were one of the best teams in the league at creating open looks, just were shooting poorly, etc...

As you said, early in the season when Luka let Brunson do his thing, he was still on the floor because teams focuse on him. Brunson had way more space to operate in and same goes for KP. +/- show you one thing, reality can be another thing. At the end of the day, Luka still has incredible numbers and Mavs have a winning record with him. But due to his horrible conditioning, his On/Off tank a lot in the 2nd half because he simply runs out of gas. Obviously that's his fault, can't defend him there.

But yeah all in all Brunson is doing great job of stepping in. It's the rest of the team that is even a bigger issue.

Take Brunson out for 14 games and see what happens. Probably about the same record (5-9) with multiple non-competitive games. There have benn none with Brunson as the starting PG. Plus Brunson has been playing the whole time during the Covid outbreak with half of the team missing and is still positive while on the floor. One of the most underpaid players in the league at the moment and deserves a large raise. He can be an above average starter on a good team or the best back up PG in the league.

[Bob8]

Someone asked about % with Luka and with Brunson. Brunson without Doncic is 5-9, Luka without Brunson is 0-1. So 0.36 with Jalen and without Luka and 0.000 with Luka and no Brunson.

People keep making the mistake of saying when Luka plays Dallas is 0.570. For all those wins Brunson was also on the court with a much better +/- than Luka. Luka is negative for the year, Brunson is positive. And he is positive with Doncic and also in games without Doncic, leading the starting unit. I dont think there is even an argument about who has been the MVP of the team this year. Even without factoring in availability. Brunson only missed one game, Luka missed a third of the season already.

Yeah that makes sense if you put it like that. But you still can't avoid the fact that Mavs also lost more games without him. His presence on the floor alone totally changes how teams aproach in defending Mavs. Creates more room for others, hence why Mavs were one of the best teams in the league at creating open looks, just were shooting poorly, etc...

As you said, early in the season when Luka let Brunson do his thing, he was still on the floor because teams focuse on him. Brunson had way more space to operate in and same goes for KP. +/- show you one thing, reality can be another thing. At the end of the day, Luka still has incredible numbers and Mavs have a winning record with him. But due to his horrible conditioning, his On/Off tank a lot in the 2nd half because he simply runs out of gas. Obviously that's his fault, can't defend him there.

But yeah all in all Brunson is doing great job of stepping in. It's the rest of the team that is even a bigger issue.

Take Brunson out for 14 games and see what happens. Probably about the same record (5-9) with multiple non-competitive games. There have benn none with Brunson as the starting PG. Plus Brunson has been playing the whole time during the Covid outbreak with half of the team missing and is still positive while on the floor. One of the most underpaid players in the league at the moment and deserves a large raise. He can be an above average starter on a good team or the best back up PG in the league.

In that case Mavs have really easy decision, sign Brunson and trade Luka. The worst case scenario is if they have both with massive paycheques.

May I remind you, that Brunson was disastrous in playoffs and I doubt very much that will change. It's something to play those meaningless Covid games and actually win playoffs series against good team, which prepares against you.

Brunson playing good is disastrous timing for Mavs. They will have to overpaid him or lose him. Another failure of Mavs management.

[Mr B]

NBA is strange... Powell signed a 40M contract and Chriss was out of the league.

Finally a good half game by Bullock, he seems a basketball player.

Green can't shoot, this is a great problem.

Chriss has always had foul trouble. That’s why he’s had trouble staying on the floor in Dallas.

[Darren]

NBA is strange... Powell signed a 40M contract and Chriss was out of the league.

Finally a good half game by Bullock, he seems a basketball player.

Green can't shoot, this is a great problem.

Chriss has always had foul trouble. That’s why he’s had trouble staying on the floor in Dallas.

Still, Chriss is much better than WCS, Powell, Boban, Moses. This speaks volume about the Mavs frontcourt rotation.

Too bad, Ntilikina doesn't play. But at least, Green provide some energy. Lateral quickness and shooting needs work, though. Still, I've Green ahead of Sterling Brown in depth chart. I think Fin should work with Green on the defensive end. Normally, defense doesn't stay straight to play on-ball defense. I think this is the real reason Green has got blowed by. I don't think Green is too slow. But laterally, Green has trouble to stay in front of smaller guard. I wonder if Green guard random PFs better. I think some firm stance (Kung Fu) practice could help out Green and some other Mavs defensively a lot. The lower body quickness and coordination helps out defenders a lot. To Green, playing defense is still the major barrier for rotation minutes. I think shooting performance will eventually come. Defenders normally sleep on Green and simply avoid penetration. Green should be able to shoot better than Delon Wright at least. I think Green could learn some tricks to score in paint and mid-range (or foul line) from Brunson. Then, Green is already rotation player offensively. 3 ball is just not part of Green's strength yet. But driving and scoring or kicking could become one weapon pretty soon. Green could be awful in pick-n-roll situation. The vertical movement is speedy. If Green finish the rim better, this bring opponent team real trouble.

[Darren]

In term of changing speed and handling, Brunson is among elite in the league. Brunson is able to convert layups with either hand. That's a big bonus. Unfortunately, Brunson is always subpar to average on the defense end, especially in clutch time. This makes thing difficult for the Mavs. But make no mistake, some teams are ready to throw a big contract at Brunson. The Mavs would better prepare for it. If Green could somewhat play this style, then Green could become a real small forward. Right now, Green is not fitting in SF/SG very well. I just consider Green an energy player. Maybe that's enough for the team. But surely, it's not enough for Green to make a living long term.

[41Dirk41]

Powell on ..... trade him before the leaves

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Powell is the best player in the world 1vs0, he shoots 100% in that situation.

Unfortunately we have to trade him, but a couple of games like those scrubs team (OKC is awesome for him) and his trade value could be neutral. I hope.

[Mavrelous]

I gave up to sleep after the 1st half, too much alcohol for old me to stay awake.
Brunson is playing great, and KP plays great with Brunson, KP facilitates the offense really well, Luka was aweful to start the season, Brunson actually snatched victory from the jaws of defeat Luka put this team in against SAS, but don't get carried away, we know how limited Brunson is (go back to last Kings and see how he and KP failed to close it), or go to the series against the Clippers, and look at the on/off there, but he did make the jump this year to legit 30+ MPG player in the league, he's getting paid this summer.
The challenge for Kidd is make KP as effective with Luka as he is with Brunson.
I'm glad we finally got a good game from Bullock, all Mavs really need from him is 3-4 3s a game at high % and the ability to save 1 or 2 possessions like at the end of the half, if he is respected as 3pt shooter, it's enough for spacing.
Green is still not a legit NBA player, but he's getting there...

[juanc]

Yeah that makes sense if you put it like that. But you still can't avoid the fact that Mavs also lost more games without him. His presence on the floor alone totally changes how teams aproach in defending Mavs. Creates more room for others, hence why Mavs were one of the best teams in the league at creating open looks, just were shooting poorly, etc...

As you said, early in the season when Luka let Brunson do his thing, he was still on the floor because teams focuse on him. Brunson had way more space to operate in and same goes for KP. +/- show you one thing, reality can be another thing. At the end of the day, Luka still has incredible numbers and Mavs have a winning record with him. But due to his horrible conditioning, his On/Off tank a lot in the 2nd half because he simply runs out of gas. Obviously that's his fault, can't defend him there.

But yeah all in all Brunson is doing great job of stepping in. It's the rest of the team that is even a bigger issue.

Take Brunson out for 14 games and see what happens. Probably about the same record (5-9) with multiple non-competitive games. There have benn none with Brunson as the starting PG. Plus Brunson has been playing the whole time during the Covid outbreak with half of the team missing and is still positive while on the floor. One of the most underpaid players in the league at the moment and deserves a large raise. He can be an above average starter on a good team or the best back up PG in the league.

In that case Mavs have really easy decision, sign Brunson and trade Luka. The worst case scenario is if they have both with massive paycheques.

May I remind you, that Brunson was disastrous in playoffs and I doubt very much that will change. It's something to play those meaningless Covid games and actually win playoffs series against good team, which prepares against you.

Brunson playing good is disastrous timing for Mavs. They will have to overpaid him or lose him. Another failure of Mavs management.

Luka clearly is the Mavericks best player, WHEN HE IS IN SHAPE AND FORM. So far this season, he is somehow more than Westbrook and he doesn't really contribute to winning...

Oh and also the games the Mavs lost without Luka: 2x @ PHX, @LAC, @UTA, MIL, LAL, MEM... All good teams(Well we can leave the Lakers out )

[Mavrelous]

Powell on ..... trade him before the leaves

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Powell is the best player in the world 1vs0, he shoots 100% in that situation.

Unfortunately we have to trade him, but a couple of games like those scrubs team (OKC is awesome for him) and his trade value could be neutral. I hope.

Feed him to drop 20 on OKC, leave him there, and bring back Favors, problem solved.

[Bob8]

Take Brunson out for 14 games and see what happens. Probably about the same record (5-9) with multiple non-competitive games. There have benn none with Brunson as the starting PG. Plus Brunson has been playing the whole time during the Covid outbreak with half of the team missing and is still positive while on the floor. One of the most underpaid players in the league at the moment and deserves a large raise. He can be an above average starter on a good team or the best back up PG in the league.

In that case Mavs have really easy decision, sign Brunson and trade Luka. The worst case scenario is if they have both with massive paycheques.

May I remind you, that Brunson was disastrous in playoffs and I doubt very much that will change. It's something to play those meaningless Covid games and actually win playoffs series against good team, which prepares against you.

Brunson playing good is disastrous timing for Mavs. They will have to overpaid him or lose him. Another failure of Mavs management.

Luka clearly is the Mavericks best player, WHEN HE IS IN SHAPE AND FORM. So far this season, he is somehow more than Westbrook and he doesn't really contribute to winning...

Oh and also the games the Mavs lost without Luka: 2x @ PHX, @LAC, @UTA, MIL, LAL, MEM... All good teams(Well we can leave the Lakers out )

My point is, if this team is not going anywhere with Luka and Brunson on rookie contract, how will it look with those 2 getting 65 mio per year? Add KP with 34 and Hardeway 19 and you're already over salary cap. DFS won't play for peanuts anymore too.

Yes Luka didn't play good, but Mavs didn't beat anyone serious with or without him the whole season, which is total joke anyway, because of Covid. So Luka is not the only problem of this team.

Option 1 is to try to trade everyone except Luka and hope Luka will get more serious with his working attitude, which is kinda risky knowing his father.

Option 2 is more controversial and won't happen that soon, is to trade Luka and get a kingdom for him.

Option 3, which I'm the most afraid of, is to paid Brunson a lot and give very solid contract to DFS. This would have been suicidal unless they traded those 2 after that.

Knowing Mavs, option 3 looks far the most likely.

[Mavrelous]

In that case Mavs have really easy decision, sign Brunson and trade Luka. The worst case scenario is if they have both with massive paycheques.

May I remind you, that Brunson was disastrous in playoffs and I doubt very much that will change. It's something to play those meaningless Covid games and actually win playoffs series against good team, which prepares against you.

Brunson playing good is disastrous timing for Mavs. They will have to overpaid him or lose him. Another failure of Mavs management.

Luka clearly is the Mavericks best player, WHEN HE IS IN SHAPE AND FORM. So far this season, he is somehow more than Westbrook and he doesn't really contribute to winning...

Oh and also the games the Mavs lost without Luka: 2x @ PHX, @LAC, @UTA, MIL, LAL, MEM... All good teams(Well we can leave the Lakers out )

My point is, if this team is not going anywhere with Luka and Brunson on rookie contract, how will it look with those 2 getting 65 mio per year? Add KP with 34 and Hardeway 19 and you're already over salary cap. DFS won't play for peanuts anymore too.

Yes Luka didn't play good, but Mavs didn't beat anyone serious with or without him the whole season, which is total joke anyway, because of Covid. So Luka is not the only problem of this team.

Option 1 is to try to trade everyone except Luka and hope Luka will get more serious with his working attitude, which is kinda risky knowing his father.

Option 2 is more controversial and won't happen that soon, is to trade Luka get and a kingdom for him.

Option 3, which I'm the most afraid of, is to paid Brunson a lot and give very solid contract to DFS. This would have been suicidal unless they traded those 2 after that.

Knowing Mavs, option 3 looks far the most likely.

You don't need to sign players with cap.
Next year Mavs have 25 million in expirings.
They can trade for another Max player.


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[Bob8]

Luka clearly is the Mavericks best player, WHEN HE IS IN SHAPE AND FORM. So far this season, he is somehow more than Westbrook and he doesn't really contribute to winning...

Oh and also the games the Mavs lost without Luka: 2x @ PHX, @LAC, @UTA, MIL, LAL, MEM... All good teams(Well we can leave the Lakers out )

My point is, if this team is not going anywhere with Luka and Brunson on rookie contract, how will it look with those 2 getting 65 mio per year? Add KP with 34 and Hardeway 19 and you're already over salary cap. DFS won't play for peanuts anymore too.

Yes Luka didn't play good, but Mavs didn't beat anyone serious with or without him the whole season, which is total joke anyway, because of Covid. So Luka is not the only problem of this team.

Option 1 is to try to trade everyone except Luka and hope Luka will get more serious with his working attitude, which is kinda risky knowing his father.

Option 2 is more controversial and won't happen that soon, is to trade Luka get and a kingdom for him.

Option 3, which I'm the most afraid of, is to paid Brunson a lot and give very solid contract to DFS. This would have been suicidal unless they traded those 2 after that.

Knowing Mavs, option 3 looks far the most likely.

You don't need to sign players with cap.
Next year Mavs have 25 million in expirings.
They can trade for another Max player.


Sent from my SM-N986B using RealGM mobile app

Did you calculate Brunson and DFS in expirings too? Because...

[XTraderXL]

Yeah that makes sense if you put it like that. But you still can't avoid the fact that Mavs also lost more games without him. His presence on the floor alone totally changes how teams aproach in defending Mavs. Creates more room for others, hence why Mavs were one of the best teams in the league at creating open looks, just were shooting poorly, etc...

As you said, early in the season when Luka let Brunson do his thing, he was still on the floor because teams focuse on him. Brunson had way more space to operate in and same goes for KP. +/- show you one thing, reality can be another thing. At the end of the day, Luka still has incredible numbers and Mavs have a winning record with him. But due to his horrible conditioning, his On/Off tank a lot in the 2nd half because he simply runs out of gas. Obviously that's his fault, can't defend him there.

But yeah all in all Brunson is doing great job of stepping in. It's the rest of the team that is even a bigger issue.

Take Brunson out for 14 games and see what happens. Probably about the same record (5-9) with multiple non-competitive games. There have benn none with Brunson as the starting PG. Plus Brunson has been playing the whole time during the Covid outbreak with half of the team missing and is still positive while on the floor. One of the most underpaid players in the league at the moment and deserves a large raise. He can be an above average starter on a good team or the best back up PG in the league.

In that case Mavs have really easy decision, sign Brunson and trade Luka. The worst case scenario is if they have both with massive paycheques.

May I remind you, that Brunson was disastrous in playoffs and I doubt very much that will change. It's something to play those meaningless Covid games and actually win playoffs series against good team, which prepares against you.

Brunson playing good is disastrous timing for Mavs. They will have to overpaid him or lose him. Another failure of Mavs management.

I am not claiming that Brunson is the better player. What I am saying is he is playing much better than Luka this season and the numbers confirm that. He is more efficient, his on/off numbers are quite a bit better, team plays faster, more fun basketball. If Luka is in shape he is a top 5 player in the NBA but he is not that player currently. He is like Westbrook this year, padding his stats but brings nothing to the team.

Its interesting that Lukas units are consistently negative, Brunsons are consistently positive. Brunsons on/off numbers are also positive when he is a starter even though the Mavs have a 5-9 record in those games. So basically the Mavs lost those games while he was off the floor because they didnt have "a Brunson" coming off the bench to be a backup PG. Its Luka who is not doing his job taking the starting unit to a net 0 or positive on/off and they were winnng many of those games despite him. Maybe the "fat shaming" that happened a few weeks ago got him to start taking his job seriously. It is not all fun and games anymore and the sooner he realizes it the better.

[Bob8]

Take Brunson out for 14 games and see what happens. Probably about the same record (5-9) with multiple non-competitive games. There have benn none with Brunson as the starting PG. Plus Brunson has been playing the whole time during the Covid outbreak with half of the team missing and is still positive while on the floor. One of the most underpaid players in the league at the moment and deserves a large raise. He can be an above average starter on a good team or the best back up PG in the league.

In that case Mavs have really easy decision, sign Brunson and trade Luka. The worst case scenario is if they have both with massive paycheques.

May I remind you, that Brunson was disastrous in playoffs and I doubt very much that will change. It's something to play those meaningless Covid games and actually win playoffs series against good team, which prepares against you.

Brunson playing good is disastrous timing for Mavs. They will have to overpaid him or lose him. Another failure of Mavs management.

I am not claiming that Brunson is the better player. What I am saying is he is playing much better than Luka this season and the numbers confirm that. He is more efficient, his on/off numbers are quite a bit better, team plays faster, more fun basketball. If Luka is in shape he is a top 5 player in the NBA but he is not that player currently. He is like Westbrook this year, padding his stats but brings nothing to the team.

Its interesting that Lukas units are consistently negative, Brunsons are consistently positive. Brunsons on/off numbers are also positive when he is a starter even though the Mavs have a 5-9 record in those games. So basically the Mavs lost those games while he was off the floor because they didnt have "a Brunson" coming off the bench to be a backup PG. Its Luka who is not doing his job taking the starting unit to a net 0 or positive on/off and they were winnng many of those games despite him. Maybe the "fat shaming" that happened a few weeks ago got him to start taking his job seriously. It is not all fun and games anymore and the sooner he realizes it the better.

To be honest Luka has missed 14 of last 22 games, so we have more or less only begging of the season to make some conclusions. The begging in which Luka came unprepared and Kidd didn't exactly help him looking good with his dubious rotations.

The problem I see is, that even if Luka is playing like the best player in the world, last playoffs, Mavs are not winning anything with that roster. Brunson won't change that.

If you give keys to Luka, Brunson is not worth what he will probably get next season. Especially knowing that Luka and Brunson together in closing games are big liability in D. And we still don't know how Brunson will look in playoffs.

If Brunson was under long term contract, his good games would have been great for Mavs. But in this case and Cuban&Co. being clueless mostly, it can be disastrous for Mavs.

[XTraderXL]

In that case Mavs have really easy decision, sign Brunson and trade Luka. The worst case scenario is if they have both with massive paycheques.

May I remind you, that Brunson was disastrous in playoffs and I doubt very much that will change. It's something to play those meaningless Covid games and actually win playoffs series against good team, which prepares against you.

Brunson playing good is disastrous timing for Mavs. They will have to overpaid him or lose him. Another failure of Mavs management.

I am not claiming that Brunson is the better player. What I am saying is he is playing much better than Luka this season and the numbers confirm that. He is more efficient, his on/off numbers are quite a bit better, team plays faster, more fun basketball. If Luka is in shape he is a top 5 player in the NBA but he is not that player currently. He is like Westbrook this year, padding his stats but brings nothing to the team.

Its interesting that Lukas units are consistently negative, Brunsons are consistently positive. Brunsons on/off numbers are also positive when he is a starter even though the Mavs have a 5-9 record in those games. So basically the Mavs lost those games while he was off the floor because they didnt have "a Brunson" coming off the bench to be a backup PG. Its Luka who is not doing his job taking the starting unit to a net 0 or positive on/off and they were winnng many of those games despite him. Maybe the "fat shaming" that happened a few weeks ago got him to start taking his job seriously. It is not all fun and games anymore and the sooner he realizes it the better.

To be honest Luka has missed 14 of last 22 games, so we have more or less only begging of the season to make some conclusions. The begging in which Luka came unprepared and Kidd didn't exactly help him looking good with his dubious rotations.

The problem I see is, that even if Luka is playing like the best player in the world, last playoffs, Mavs are not winning anything with that roster. Brunson won't change that.

If you give keys to Luka, Brunson is not worth what he will probably get next season. Especially knowing that Luka and Brunson together in closing games are big liability in D. And we still don't know how Brunson will look in playoffs.

If Brunson was under long term contract, his good games would have been great for Mavs. But in this case and Cuban&Co. being clueless mostly, it can be disastrous for Mavs.

I suspect Brunson will be ok in the playoffs. He is playing much better in the RS this year and he will probably be ok in the PO as well. But we are talking about the RS here now. You are jumping ahead.

I agree that this team cant do much in the post season but that is only true if it was a normal season. Right now too many things are up in the air, we dont know how Covid situation will be, which players will be available and when... So basically if a PO team gets lucky and has their players healthy and the opposing teams best players are out for 3-4 games in POs, then even the lower seeds can win any series. This is the year when practically any team can win it all and thats how they should look at the situation. So the no/lack of motivation excuse doesnt fly with me.

[Mavrelous]

My point is, if this team is not going anywhere with Luka and Brunson on rookie contract, how will it look with those 2 getting 65 mio per year? Add KP with 34 and Hardeway 19 and you're already over salary cap. DFS won't play for peanuts anymore too.

Yes Luka didn't play good, but Mavs didn't beat anyone serious with or without him the whole season, which is total joke anyway, because of Covid. So Luka is not the only problem of this team.

Option 1 is to try to trade everyone except Luka and hope Luka will get more serious with his working attitude, which is kinda risky knowing his father.

Option 2 is more controversial and won't happen that soon, is to trade Luka get and a kingdom for him.

Option 3, which I'm the most afraid of, is to paid Brunson a lot and give very solid contract to DFS. This would have been suicidal unless they traded those 2 after that.

Knowing Mavs, option 3 looks far the most likely.

You don't need to sign players with cap.
Next year Mavs have 25 million in expirings.
They can trade for another Max player.


Sent from my SM-N986B using RealGM mobile app

Did you calculate Brunson and DFS in expirings too? Because...

Brunson and DFS are expiring this year, they don't help you in trades.
Mavs have:
Powell (11)
SBrown (3)
Burke (3)
Boban (3.5)
Green (3.5)

Bullock (9) has only partial guarantee for the year after.
And you have Maxi who I won't count, since I don't think they'd trade

So Mavs can have core of
Brunson
THJ/Bullock
Luka/DFS
Maxi
KP/MBrown

And trade for another all star.
I would've preferred they did this last offseason, but they didn't, but next off season they can do trade or S&T for another player.

[Bob8]

I am not claiming that Brunson is the better player. What I am saying is he is playing much better than Luka this season and the numbers confirm that. He is more efficient, his on/off numbers are quite a bit better, team plays faster, more fun basketball. If Luka is in shape he is a top 5 player in the NBA but he is not that player currently. He is like Westbrook this year, padding his stats but brings nothing to the team.

Its interesting that Lukas units are consistently negative, Brunsons are consistently positive. Brunsons on/off numbers are also positive when he is a starter even though the Mavs have a 5-9 record in those games. So basically the Mavs lost those games while he was off the floor because they didnt have "a Brunson" coming off the bench to be a backup PG. Its Luka who is not doing his job taking the starting unit to a net 0 or positive on/off and they were winnng many of those games despite him. Maybe the "fat shaming" that happened a few weeks ago got him to start taking his job seriously. It is not all fun and games anymore and the sooner he realizes it the better.

To be honest Luka has missed 14 of last 22 games, so we have more or less only begging of the season to make some conclusions. The begging in which Luka came unprepared and Kidd didn't exactly help him looking good with his dubious rotations.

The problem I see is, that even if Luka is playing like the best player in the world, last playoffs, Mavs are not winning anything with that roster. Brunson won't change that.

If you give keys to Luka, Brunson is not worth what he will probably get next season. Especially knowing that Luka and Brunson together in closing games are big liability in D. And we still don't know how Brunson will look in playoffs.

If Brunson was under long term contract, his good games would have been great for Mavs. But in this case and Cuban&Co. being clueless mostly, it can be disastrous for Mavs.

I suspect Brunson will be ok in the playoffs. He is playing much better in the RS this year and he will probably be ok in the PO as well. But we are talking about the RS here now. You are jumping ahead.

I agree that this team cant do much in the post season but that is only true if it was a normal season. Right now too many things are up in the air, we dont know how Covid situation will be, which players will be available and when... So basically if a PO team gets lucky and has their players healthy and the opposing teams best players are out for 3-4 games in POs, then even the lower seeds can win any series. This is the year when practically any team can win it all and thats how they should look at the situation. So the no/lack of motivation excuse doesnt fly with me.

Don't you think that Brunson is profit taking in this strange Covid season already? Most of the teams just in surviving mode, teams' will play much different D in playoffs. And how will Brunson look, when Luka is back and his role changes? They're somewhat similar players, both needing ball in their hands a lot, playing a lot of Isos. The best would have been 1 running first and other second unit. I'm not sure that Brunson will be satisfied with that anymore.

If Brunson is really good enough to run Mavs, which I doubt very much, then it's no brainier. Trade Luka. You will get back enough to build contender.