HairyGOATee wrote:stilldropin20 wrote:There are 3 main parts to building a championship.
Part 1:
The alpha that can make both defensive and offensive(over double and triple teams) plays in the last 3 minutes to win games. MJ, Lebron, Magic, Bird, Kawhi, Kobe, Hakeem, Shaq, Duncan, manu, (even Reggie miller fits this mold), and a few other...not many players make this list. Luka Doncic fits this list. He is this kind of player. This is the hardest role to find and dallas has it. Having this type of player alone makes you an immediate contender so long as you can put 4 other guys on the court that understand who the alpha is and can make open shots and defend. This is why Doncic got soooo much better after dennis smith was traded. Doncic didn't improve from last year to this year...in fact he was better at some things last year like playing more within himself and not trying so hard to do it all himself last year...but getting rid of dennis smith allowed the ball to be solely in doncic's hands. and like the rest of the guys on this list...the team overall is much better when the team rides or dies on the instincts of this type of player.
Part 2.
Either a great swiss army knife wing like Pippen and Iggy. Or a big like mchale or Horry that can score, defend, and rebound at an elite level. Dallas has THIS PLAYER as well in Poszingas. Cuban knows this. Thats why he made the trade and was willing to wait. You can pictiree it now...at some point KP is going to make a key game winning block at some point in ahuge palyoff game. He is also going to have many games where he scores 25 plus on elite efficiency to win some huge playoffs games. This list if made up of big time team and individual defenders that can also score at a high rate almost as well as the alpha but are willing to play a lessor role. These players (and im temted to put Duncan here as a part 2 are willing to take a back seat to the alpha both in their stats, money, and fan adoration for the greater good. Most NBA players do not have this trait in their DNA and because of that it is almost harder to find this (beta) player than it is to find the alpha...because even a weak alpha like iverson can make you a contender with better beta's around them...imagine the early 2000 phily teams but with prime Horry at the 4 and prime reggie miller and klay at the 2 and 3. That team wins multiple championships...even with chucker iverson because iverson scores more efficiently in the paint with the floor spread better and once iverson score better in the paint, the paint then collapses and iverson just needs to hit his shooter as the defense collapses.
Part 3:
What shaq stupidly refers to The others. But i'll use it because everyone understands the concept. The role players. It doesn't matter what you have as your alpha and beta. A 1 and 5 like doncic and KP or lebron and AD then you need some solid wings that most importantly are willing stay in their lane!! Obviously they need to team defend and make 3's at 37% or better. Dray green is probably the greatest "other" of all time. Derek Fisher was as well. Horry becamee an other as he aged. Boris Diaw was a great other. rasheed, tayshawn, old man ray allen became an all time great other. This is the easiest part to fill out. the other...but it is every bit as important. John paxson, steve kerr, old rob horry, old shane battier, old mike miller, ray allen, derek fisher made some of the biggest shots and defensive plays ever as an "other."
^^This is where Dallas is...They need the others. ^^ and in the salary cap era...you need to get them cheap and attempting to draft them is a fools errand. Mark Cuban must go find his 32-35 year old past their prime betas...perhaps even former alphas and turn them into "the others." Dallas must find their 33 year old Iggy, their 34 year old sheed, their 32 year old Horry, their 34 year old Diaw, their 37 year old ray allen, their 32 year old battier and mike miller. Steady hands that can check their ego at the door and have enough in the tank to help Doncic and KP win championhips.
Once you have the right alpha and beta the others aree easy to find...because they actually come looking for you! This is where relationships are huge and thats why magic Johnson is probably the greatest player of all time...because everyone liked him. Magic would kill it in the free agent era. Where Kobe and MJ were huge jerks. Lebron and magic get along with guys and Lebron generally wins the free agent war every offseason. Doncic needs to be like magic and lebron and make friends with target free agents 1-2 years out...whoo them on the court and off the court...win them over during free agency...and cuban needs to break out the check book and sign them.
Dallas is THAT close! They are 1-2 others away...And they know it...DFS is likely going to be one of those others. And that's why they targeted iggy at this past trade deadline.
Doncic
THJ
IGGY
DFS
KP
^^they would have made a lot of noise this playoffs. Even with out Iggy dallas will still make some noise...i wouldn't be surprised if they go at least 7 games in round 1 or 7 games in round 2. or even 6-7 games in round 3. I wouldn't be shocked at all if they made the finals.
Iggy would be OK I guess, but I'd rather have a guy like Crowder or Harkless or even Maurice Morris tbh. Gallo would be dope, and Dragic seems to really want to play with Luka, so the Mavs will have options. Just gotta have a season first.
well iggy is like rodman in 96-99...Horry from 95-03. to a lessor extent Battier in 2011-2014.
the guy you specifcally acquite to be decent all year long for a year or 2...but you really acquire him
SOLELY to defend
1 PLAYER for like
the LAST 10 defensive possessions of any
PLAYOFF game<<<every single ref in the game respects his defense. and he is still the best player in the game to defend BOTH lebron and Kawhi in those final 2-3 minutes...about 10 defensive possessions. and on offense he wont do anything stupid...might even make a huge shot.
I've been watching this league for far too long...the refs simply will not allow an upstart to defend those guys to end huge playoff games. It doesn't matter how good of a defender any young player is...the refs will blow the whistle. and not to defend the refs...but the young guys dont know yet the entire nuances of defense yet...their defense has to be sooooooooo clean that no ref in his right mind will blow the whistle....literally absolutely no contact at all and a clear clean strip, or block or just good defense. This started in the 70's, became huge in the 80 with TV and Dr. J, Bird, and Magic began complaining and throwing small temper tantrums, Jordan took it to a new level, and in the 2000's every single player on the planet began arguing calls...to the point where refs have to explain every single call against a player and players now "pretend" to listen to the ref's explanation after each call against them solely to "pretend" to learn what the ref is looking for so as to develop a good reputation and "relationship" with the ref so as to get the call from that same ref at some point in the future. That's today's NBA and championships are won and lost based almost entirely on these calls. Once lebron gets the whistle from a certain player...say a top notch 3 point shooter that is not afraid of the moment...lebron's team will run tireless pick and rolls so as to isolate that (weak defensive) player time after time down in the post to end games until that player is removed or fouls out. or lebrons team runs up the score an the win on points because that player is
NOT ALLOWED TO DEFEND.^^That is today's NBA...you either have a Rodman, or Iggy, Or pippen, Or MJ, or lebron, or kawhi, or Dray green or Klay, or a manu, or battier, or Horry, chris paul, Tucker, derek fischer, or shaq, or Kobe, or Bird, or cooper, kareem, hakeem, Ben wallace, tayshawn prince, rasheed, chauncey, etc
you get one or two of those kinds of reputation defenders OR YOU DONT...and I'm sure i left a few guys off this list...reggie, Pierce, Garnett, to a lessor extent...matt barnes (sometimes), Ariza, Doug Christie, kirk Hinrich, thabo sefolosha, boris diaw. Jason Kidd, Tyson Chandler.
Bottom line...winning a championship ultimately comes down to winning a difficult playoff series on the road. Which comes down to defensive stops against elite players...usually in the paint...often in the post...which often comes down to whether or not the ref is allowing defensive players to defend physically or they instead blow a whistle and put offensive players at the free throw line in those waning minutes.
Dorian Finny smith is the only (long and decent defensive) player dallas can put on either Kawhi which means Doncic defends George. or on lebron. And neither DFS nor Doncic is getting the benefit of the whistle at this point in their careers. perhaps, once Doncic wins an MVP...perhaps then he might not only going get away with a little more "leeway" to defend physically in the post but he will also get even more whistles on offensee...so opposing offenses wont go after him when he is on defense..the same way they never attacked MJ, Kobe, Bird, Magic, Lebron...you do NOT ISOLATE THOSE kinds of PLAYERS!!! because they are MVP's and champions...the league(itself, and big sports media, and Nike, and addidas, and the group of owners who sell the product as a whole to big media)
are not interested in some upstart upstaging these players!!! its not going to happen. Ever. Its like allowing some crappy wild card team to constantly rough up tom brady after he passes the ball...its not going to happen....those refs will throw the flag...until the defensive line up slows down and stops touching up brady...which gives brady the confidence to stand on the pocket and deliver. same thing in the NBA...the stars are gonna star. Thats how it works. So until Cuban goes and gets a reputation defender like Iggy, rodman, tucker, battier, diaw, garnett, until then...the front office has NOT done what it needs to do to win.
And you dont develop that guy...it takes too long!! and once you develop that player, he costs too much money to keep!! its not 1987 anymore where you wait 4-5 years for a pippen to develop (offensively and into that reputation type of defender)...(and even pippen had one of the worst calls of all time called against him in 1995 handing NY a trip to the finals.) Why? Because MJ retired. Without MJ, New York was the "bigger draw" in 1995. The game was on the road. in New york. Hue Hollins blew the whistle on a well defended 3 point shot. and pippen wasn't
"pippen" yet. I am from chicago...MJ's shadow was too big...that's all anyone talked about. MJ, MJ, MJ. In this more modern era a player like pippen would have defended a great role in the offense and had bigger stats and therefore more "love from the media." Like kawhi has demanded from SA. didn't get it so he sat out...got traded...and is writing his own ticket. In this modern era, Pippen would have more clout. more "say." And MJ and phil jackson would have had to acquiesce to pippen and make him a bigger part of the offense or lose him to eventual free agency. ****Which is another reason why you get old iggy now...BECAUSE its impossible to get an guy like iggy in his prime. You have to overpay both in the trade and in salary to the player and worst of all, acquiesce to their desire on the court to be a bigger part of the offense. The bulls would NOT have been better giving the ball to pippen to end games over MJ. But the bulls would have been better WITH PIPPEN vs. without pippen.
As an owner...GM...or president of operations...Cuban now must now find his IGGY'S. His Horry. His battier. His Rodman. That 32-36 year old free agent reputation defender that still has enough left in the tank for a year or 2. And in a year or 2? then get another guy.
Lebron gets all of this. thats why lebron (first creeated a big 3 of veterans with 8 years or more experience) and then recruited other old veterans in Mike miller and Battier in 2011. Then ray allen in 14. and now AD in LA and brought in Danny green, avery bradley, markief morris, rajon rondo, and even "rejuvenated" dwight howard. and brought in joakhim noah to try out vs dwight howard.
Think about that:
avery brandley...best baseline to baseline on ball defender of PG's in the entire league. Strong repuation. 37% 3 pt shooter!
Dwight howard. Former year in year out DPOY candidate...got healthy...moving as good as he did 6 years ago. many deep playoff runs
Noah. beat out by howard. former DPOY candidate. many deep playoff runs and defensive anchor.
Danny green. steady hand. former defensive role player on SA and kawhi. multi year champion.
rondo, and morris are the "defensive thugs." they much up the game by getting very physical throughout the game, taking cheap shots, talking crap, and doing so against opposing stars...they each have done it for 10-12 years so the refs let them get away with it. DFS and Rick Brunson are NOT going to be able to perform this function. Not yet.
and AD himself and Lebron himself are 2 of the best defenders the game has ever seen.
So while I like your idea of harkless, morris, and gallo. A lot...They are too expensive to acquire as all of them are too young. and egos are still too big. they are still "gunning" for generational wealth. .especially harkless. morris is in over his head in NY. Great stats. Losing mentality. .morris is not a go to player on a championship calibre team...he is a cog player...a bit player. I like DFS in the same role much more than Morris. You get a morris twin to be a 8-10th man defense thug type.
Dallas' keepers are excellent...the starters are almost complete.
Brunson (in the avery bradley role)<<upgrade to near 40% shooter that is (long) and good on defense preferred aka IGGY.
Doncic. <<<< like magic and Bird, the perfect basketball player.
DFS <<<<<perfect role playing wing...upgrade to a 40% 3 pt shooter that is also good on defense.
????<<<<<small ball could have been iggy...who to get now? unknown. Cuban MUST FILL THIS POSITION.
Porzingas <<<<like kareem, the perfect compliment to Doncic.
To be "complete" Dallas needs a 2 way starting 4. And then a bunch of role playing solid guys on wing and at 1 and 4. the same way lebron filled out the roster in LA this past summer and Miami in the past...Chicago did it with Rodman, and ron harper in the 90's. La did it with Grant and Horry and fischer and barnes and ariza and artest. Boston did it with stars and rondo. Cuban must now do the exact same thing in Dallas. He did it once with Kidd and Chandler.
This aint rocket science. 2 way role players that will check their egos at the door which means most likely at the end of their careers is THE ONLY WAY FORWARD.