handsome salary wrote:As much as it would sting watching the TWolves get their first chip and another organization leap past the Suns I'll pull for them out of the four. Then Pacers. Luka and the Mavs winning it all would be total crap. Like how I feel still thinking about Elie's 3 pointer.
I like the Wolves, and wouldn't mind if Dallas won. But if Indy somehow made it, I'd pull for them against Dallas for sure. Not sure about the Wolves. They have faced more misery with us being terrible for basically 20 years. I will never pull for Boston, unless they are playing the Lakers.
I'd like it to be a Wolves/Celtics Finals with C's coming through. Not because I don't like the Wolves (I don't mind them at all) but Celtics are absolutely stacked and built to win and were the favourites since the beginning so it's kinda already written.
That said, I do feel like the Pacers are the People's Team. They have the least experience, a lack of a true superstar (Hali probably gets there), they are the biggest underdog in the Final 4 imo and I think they are easy to root for.
lilfishi22 wrote:More than ever....we are in the championship or bust endgame
Man I'll admit when the Kyrie to Phoenix trade rumors were cropping up I wanted nothing to do with Kyrie but he's just the kind of PG we should have paired with Booker.
His ability to break down the defense has always been elite level. Imagine if we had swung a CP3 trade at that time...
garrick wrote:Man I'll admit when the Kyrie to Phoenix trade rumors were cropping up I wanted nothing to do with Kyrie but he's just the kind of PG we should have paired with Booker.
His ability to break down the defense has always been elite level. Imagine if we had swung a CP3 trade at that time...
Highly doubt the Nets would've wanted CP3 and even then, I think it's been a minor miracle so far that Kyrie's been basically drama free this entire time. This was the best case scenario for the Mavs. If we KNEW he would be drama free, it would've been a much easier sell for our front office and us as fans as well.
We knew how good he could be and his talent has never been a question, it's all the other stuff that made it a tough proposition.
lilfishi22 wrote:More than ever....we are in the championship or bust endgame
MIN defense looked so overrated in this game. Not sure how we struggled against them seeing Kyrie do whatever he wanted out there, role players getting open 3s and even Mavs Cs scoring on that Gobert stiff inside.
With Doncic not being his best version only Celtics look title worthy to me.
garrick wrote:Man I'll admit when the Kyrie to Phoenix trade rumors were cropping up I wanted nothing to do with Kyrie but he's just the kind of PG we should have paired with Booker.
His ability to break down the defense has always been elite level. Imagine if we had swung a CP3 trade at that time...
Highly doubt the Nets would've wanted CP3 and even then, I think it's been a minor miracle so far that Kyrie's been basically drama free this entire time. This was the best case scenario for the Mavs. If we KNEW he would be drama free, it would've been a much easier sell for our front office and us as fans as well.
We knew how good he could be and his talent has never been a question, it's all the other stuff that made it a tough proposition.
Kyrie's value was at an all time low because he was seen as a malcontent and I think the Nets wanted some 1st round draft picks back more than anything after they traded most of theirs away.
The Mavs trade for Kyrie was basically similar when they traded DSF, Dinwiddie, 1 first round pick and 2 second round picks. I feel like it was once again the Suns who backed out of the deal after JJ got cold feet.
mmh superficial prejudice basically. Stupidity, bad ownership, incompetent FO, etc...
Draft a super skilled guy dominating euroleague at 18 years old who's passionate about basketball and playing with his team and competing? Or draft the athletic center who has low motor and a clear as day low IQ?
The fit with Booker would have been amazing, UNLESS Booker didn't want to be overshadowed and losing his face of the franchise role. That's maybe the reason Booker endorsed the pick, if I'm not mistaken.
Franchise killing decision.
Luka has made All NBA first team since his second year....that's insane.
sunsbg wrote:MIN defense looked so overrated in this game. Not sure how we struggled against them seeing Kyrie do whatever he wanted out there, role players getting open 3s and even Mavs Cs scoring on that Gobert stiff inside.
With Doncic not being his best version only Celtics look title worthy to me.
Minne looked so dominant against us because we didn't have any real size, youth, energy, hunger, physicality and athleticism. But more so because we're a big time finesse team, and the Mavs ( currently) are fast, athletic and dynamic, and definitively more aggressive and willingly physical players to. They play with confidence and moxy not arrogance and fragility.
Our team is just built differently than the rest of the NBA because we're older, smaller, much less athletic and have a finesse mentality in A league filled with aggressive, tough, athletic energetic players.
mmh superficial prejudice basically. Stupidity, bad ownership, incompetent FO, etc...
Draft a super skilled guy dominating euroleague at 18 years old who's passionate about basketball and playing with his team and competing? Or draft the athletic center who has low motor and a clear as day low IQ?
The fit with Booker would have been amazing, UNLESS Booker didn't want to be overshadowed and losing his face of the franchise role. That's maybe the reason Booker endorsed the pick, if I'm not mistaken.
Franchise killing decision.
Luka has made All NBA first team since his second year....that's insane.
In hindsight Doncic was the clear #1 pick of the draft but it's not like Luka was the consensus #1 pick at the time, a lot of mock drafts had us taking Ayton #1 overall as he was seen as the safe pick.
mmh superficial prejudice basically. Stupidity, bad ownership, incompetent FO, etc...
Draft a super skilled guy dominating euroleague at 18 years old who's passionate about basketball and playing with his team and competing? Or draft the athletic center who has low motor and a clear as day low IQ?
The fit with Booker would have been amazing, UNLESS Booker didn't want to be overshadowed and losing his face of the franchise role. That's maybe the reason Booker endorsed the pick, if I'm not mistaken.
Franchise killing decision.
Luka has made All NBA first team since his second year....that's insane.
In hindsight Doncic was the clear #1 pick of the draft but it's not like Luka was the consensus #1 pick at the time, a lot of mock drafts had us taking Ayton #1 overall as he was seen as the safe pick.
Keeping in mind, if the rumors were accurate, that we were going to ALSO take Bagley at 2, had we had that choice. Ayton was obviously a mistake in hindsight, but if those reports were true, I'll take the finals run over what could have been. Not sure I could get over simply passing on him when you didn't even have to make a choice. And Atlanta ACTUALLY drafted him and still traded him.
mmh superficial prejudice basically. Stupidity, bad ownership, incompetent FO, etc...
Draft a super skilled guy dominating euroleague at 18 years old who's passionate about basketball and playing with his team and competing? Or draft the athletic center who has low motor and a clear as day low IQ?
The fit with Booker would have been amazing, UNLESS Booker didn't want to be overshadowed and losing his face of the franchise role. That's maybe the reason Booker endorsed the pick, if I'm not mistaken.
Franchise killing decision.
Luka has made All NBA first team since his second year....that's insane.
In hindsight Doncic was the clear #1 pick of the draft but it's not like Luka was the consensus #1 pick at the time, a lot of mock drafts had us taking Ayton #1 overall as he was seen as the safe pick.
It was split, for sure. But to me it was obvious. I just couldn't get past all the HUGE red flags with ayton pre draft. AND WE HAD HIS COACH!! Why the **** would you do that?
Calvin Klein wrote: mmh superficial prejudice basically. Stupidity, bad ownership, incompetent FO, etc...
Draft a super skilled guy dominating euroleague at 18 years old who's passionate about basketball and playing with his team and competing? Or draft the athletic center who has low motor and a clear as day low IQ?
The fit with Booker would have been amazing, UNLESS Booker didn't want to be overshadowed and losing his face of the franchise role. That's maybe the reason Booker endorsed the pick, if I'm not mistaken.
Franchise killing decision.
Luka has made All NBA first team since his second year....that's insane.
In hindsight Doncic was the clear #1 pick of the draft but it's not like Luka was the consensus #1 pick at the time, a lot of mock drafts had us taking Ayton #1 overall as he was seen as the safe pick.
Keeping in mind, if the rumors were accurate, that we were going to ALSO take Bagley at 2, had we had that choice. Ayton was obviously a mistake in hindsight, but if those reports were true, I'll take the finals run over what could have been. Not sure I could get over simply passing on him when you didn't even have to make a choice. And Atlanta ACTUALLY drafted him and still traded him.
Dems da breaks.
Yeah, I firmly believe McD would have taken Bagley at 2 if Ayton was gone. JJ and Sarver went to see Luka and rumors were Sarver was enamored with him. Apparently they said it ended up being a consensus decision, and I ran multiple polls of who people here wanted between Ayton and Luka. I wanted Luka of course and was redoing polls to see if he could get up there, because it was close to 50/50 for awhile (but that included some Luka fans coming to our forum). Then it went to like 60/40. Other forms, like AZSports had Ayton very far ahead and Bagley in second.
But McD brought in 4 bigs and flat out said they would be drafting a big.
People can criticize McD for not being a good talent evaluator but not for trying to build a balanced team around Booker in this case. Maybe he learned from his 3-headed PG monster failed experiment. Mavs built a balanced team around Luka bringing good Cs and now they are in WCF. Suns made finals that way too.
garrick wrote:Man I'll admit when the Kyrie to Phoenix trade rumors were cropping up I wanted nothing to do with Kyrie but he's just the kind of PG we should have paired with Booker.
His ability to break down the defense has always been elite level. Imagine if we had swung a CP3 trade at that time...
Highly doubt the Nets would've wanted CP3 and even then, I think it's been a minor miracle so far that Kyrie's been basically drama free this entire time. This was the best case scenario for the Mavs. If we KNEW he would be drama free, it would've been a much easier sell for our front office and us as fans as well.
We knew how good he could be and his talent has never been a question, it's all the other stuff that made it a tough proposition.
Kyrie's value was at an all time low because he was seen as a malcontent and I think the Nets wanted some 1st round draft picks back more than anything after they traded most of theirs away.
The Mavs trade for Kyrie was basically similar when they traded DSF, Dinwiddie, 1 first round pick and 2 second round picks. I feel like it was once again the Suns who backed out of the deal after JJ got cold feet.
When the rumors hit around this time, I remember CP3 did not look happy during games, like he didn't want to be part of the organization anymore, he looked like he quit on the team and was just going through the motions of the game. I think it came down to not wanting to trade for Kyrie because James Jones felt like Kyrie was going to immediately bolt and go to the Lakers over the offseason and the Suns would have traded 2 1st round picks for a 3-month rental. The Mavs were willing to take that risk because they Cuban understands that money talks and gave Kyrie a contract he was happy with.
After the Mavs made their deal, I think Ishbia still wanted to make a splash so he traded more assets for KD, plus they felt the risk was worth it since KD was under contract for 4 more seasons.
Had the Suns done the Kyrie deal and he ended up leaving int he offseason, I think the Suns would have had a fair amount of cap space. Booker $36 million Ayton $32.5 million Bridges $21.8 million Shamet $9.5 million Cam Johnson cap hit $18 million (I don't actually remember what his cap hit would have been)
Not sure if the Suns were able to afford someone like Fred Van Vleet maybe as he got a $40 million contract from the Rockets, but I think the Suns could have gotten creative. Possibly a sign and trade to whatever team Kyrie wanted to go to (Probably Lakers), recoup a pick or two, maybe gotten D'Lo and a pick. Shoot, maybe could have traded Ayton, Shamet for Beal and Gafford.
Could have went into the season with: Beal Booker Bridges Cam Gafford
Or somehow just gotten FVV. To me, this was James Jones idea/plan. He didn't want to trade for KD and hamstring the team, he wanted to make small adjusting moves, not completely gut the team. If the Suns simply made no moves, I think Jones had an idea of what to do over the offseason as well. We'll likely never know now.
