2024-25 Season Discussion and Speculation Part IV

[Mulhollanddrive]

Is Dunn better than Josh Jackson, i think were going to look back similarly in 3 years

[lilfishi22]

Is Dunn better than Josh Jackson, i think were going to look back similarly in 3 years

He's already a more positive player than Jackson. Josh Jackson came into the league as one of the best 2-way talent in that draft but he also failed on both fronts because he lacked maturity, he lacked discipline and he lacked BBIQ. It's not just that he failed, he was an absolute disaster offensively and aside from a few good lock ups in one on one situations, he was horrible on the defensive end too. Due to the sheer volume of touches and shot attempts JJ got, he's going to have more 20pt games than Dunn but he was also horrific from an offensive stats standpoint. Terrible efficiency and turned the ball over a lot, he actually finished his career with more turnovers than assists, shot a career high 32.4% from 3 which is only a smidge above Dunn's 31.4% and that's on a lower volume too.

JJ was such a disaster, looking back it's actually incredible how badly he fell. He was a masterclass of a draft busts

[Saberestar]

Is Dunn better than Josh Jackson, i think were going to look back similarly in 3 years

He has been dealing with an sprain ankle lately and probably he has hit the rookie wall but his season has been a big positive for now.

The All-Star break can give him a much needed mental and physical rest to go harder to end the season.

[sunsfan1o1]

Is Dunn better than Josh Jackson, i think were going to look back similarly in 3 years

He has been dealing with an sprain ankle lately and probably he has hit the rookie wall but his season has been a big positive for now.

The All-Star break can give him a much needed mental and physical rest to go harder to end the season.

He hit the Coach Bud inconsistent minutes kill the confidence out of a rookie wall.

[sunsfan1o1]

Read on Twitter

Are we just conceding the season now!
And giving the Rockets a top 5 lotto pick in the process too!

I just can't get past "great toe"

Is that a medical term for the big toe??

Are we inventing new term to make soft injuries sound significantly more serious than it really is? Like Paul George "5th finger" injury in Sixers injury report

Great toe is the medical term for the big toe. This is medical terminology

[SunsRback4Good]

I just can't get past "great toe"

Is that a medical term for the big toe??

Are we inventing new term to make soft injuries sound significantly more serious than it really is? Like Paul George "5th finger" injury in Sixers injury report

Great toe is the medical term for the big toe. This is medical terminology

How do you know this are you in med school or currently a doctor?

[Djedefre]

If we trade only Durant it's going to be same ol' same ol'. As Maximus would put it the time for half measures and talk is over, senator.

[Saberestar]

Luka Doncic's Los Angeles Lakers' debut against the Utah Jazz on Monday averaged 2.01 million viewers on ESPN.

The number represents a 42% increase in viewership from a similar time slot a year ago.

The game peaked with 2.55 million viewers.

The league knows what it was needed to get more relevance and increase his global value.

Mavs fans are the collateral damage.

[sunsbg]

Nice to see Mavs beat GSW with no Luka/AD while Lakers get blown out by the Jazz. Corrupt and totalitarian league. Throwing fans out of the building for protesting smh.

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

Give me a KD for D Brooks/ Smith Jr/ Landale/ Whitmore/ PHX 25' 1st/ PHX 27' 1st/ PHX 29' 1st for KD. IF that's too rich for Houston, take off Whitmore in exchange for our three firsts back in the deal.

Yeah, he was awfully chummy after the game with some of those guys. I noticed an embrace with Brooks. Brooks looked good. It would be interesting to see how much they would give up for him. If our 25 pick lands in the top 4, probably not that one, but maybe the 27 one? If we could get back the 27, 29, just one prospect and one vet, I think that would be a nice haul for KD. Book could get more, but I imagine we would like to keep him regardless of things.

Maybe Whitmore, Eason, FVV or Brooks and picks? With Book maybe a more premier prospect or 2 and possibly 3 picks. Probably not Thompson or Sengun, but I think everyone else would be on the table for Book.

[bwgood77]

I would probably prioritise contracts that can help clean the books and draft capital. As long as we're at the 2nd apron, any opportunity to improve the roster will be greatly stifled. If there's a piece for the future in that package, that would be great too.

I'd love one of Amen or Jabari but I highly doubt we're getting either of them so it's probably FVV, Jock and draft picks if we're dealing with Houston. I'd take Brooks if we get a young player in return

Wouldn't really mind Landale coming back in a trade. Not sure I'd really want Van Vleet, But IF we'd be getting back our 25' 1st and our 27 and 29 1st ( as long as it's those 3 1sts) then I'd accept it begrudgingly I suppose. But if it's not all three 1sts back, then they'd have to at the very least include one of Smith Jr or Whitmore and D Brooks alongside of Landale to fill the salary gap more.

Otherwise, as much as I'd want our picks back, I'd just pivot to trading KD to one of OKC or San Antonio for players/ Premium Dallas or Minnesota future 1st), Denver or Minnesota for ( player centric packages). But with Houston, I'd push hard to not take back Van Vleet in trade with them.

FVV and Jock are both salary but I think they can both help this team. FVV last season was a 17/8 guy on decent efficiency. He's also quite a fair bit better defensively than Tyus despite both of them being on the shorter side. Jock is Jock.

FVV is also an expiring after next season and a massive one at that so that alone has value. We're probably not getting 3 1st from anyone for KD.

I'm also open to other teams but I'm going to be realistic with the potential return. I just don't think teams are looking to move 3st for KD at his age unless those 1sts are like those 3 we got from Utah.

Yeah, I'd be happy with FVV, Eason and picks for him. Maybe add Whitmore or something. I don't think we could realistically expect too much more than that. Though of course I just mentioned this in my last post.

[bwgood77]

Nice to see Mavs beat GSW with no Luka/AD while Lakers get blown out by the Jazz. Corrupt and totalitarian league. Throwing fans out of the building for protesting smh.

Yeah, I'm suddenly pulling for the Mavs. After the Suns game I was on League pass which that GS/Dallas game wasn't on, but it just showed the score, tied, with like 35 seconds left. I just had to sit there and watch the score change. Luckily they pulled it out.

Missing AD, Lively, Gafford, Powell and PJ is brutal. But Naji Marshall is very underrated. Max Christie is looking awesome. Really an underrated piece of that trade. And Kyrie on fire.

[BobbieL]

Read on Twitter

Give me a KD for D Brooks/ Smith Jr/ Landale/ Whitmore/ PHX 25' 1st/ PHX 27' 1st/ PHX 29' 1st for KD. IF that's too rich for Houston, take off Whitmore in exchange for our three firsts back in the deal.

Yeah, he was awfully chummy after the game with some of those guys. I noticed an embrace with Brooks. Brooks looked good. It would be interesting to see how much they would give up for him. If our 25 pick lands in the top 4, probably not that one, but maybe the 27 one? If we could get back the 27, 29, just one prospect and one vet, I think that would be a nice haul for KD. Book could get more, but I imagine we would like to keep him regardless of things.

Maybe Whitmore, Eason, FVV or Brooks and picks? With Book maybe a more premier prospect or 2 and possibly 3 picks. Probably not Thompson or Sengun, but I think everyone else would be on the table for Book.

Hopefully there is enough of a market for both players and that is the direction Ishbia goes. Just start the rebuild... no waiting around for Booker to decide he wants to stay. Trade him.

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

Give me a KD for D Brooks/ Smith Jr/ Landale/ Whitmore/ PHX 25' 1st/ PHX 27' 1st/ PHX 29' 1st for KD. IF that's too rich for Houston, take off Whitmore in exchange for our three firsts back in the deal.

Yeah, he was awfully chummy after the game with some of those guys. I noticed an embrace with Brooks. Brooks looked good. It would be interesting to see how much they would give up for him. If our 25 pick lands in the top 4, probably not that one, but maybe the 27 one? If we could get back the 27, 29, just one prospect and one vet, I think that would be a nice haul for KD. Book could get more, but I imagine we would like to keep him regardless of things.

Maybe Whitmore, Eason, FVV or Brooks and picks? With Book maybe a more premier prospect or 2 and possibly 3 picks. Probably not Thompson or Sengun, but I think everyone else would be on the table for Book.

Hopefully there is enough of a market for both players and that is the direction Ishbia goes. Just start the rebuild... no waiting around for Booker to decide he wants to stay. Trade him.

Maybe don't put Book on the block but as soon as KD is traded people will call and we can listen and say we are not interested unless we get an offer we can't refuse. Then wait. No real rush. Remember, this stuff can go from June-Sept....we can hold out, even into the season to get better offers.

And the fact we don't have our 26 pick no matter what (swap and will end up with Memphis probably I think) and I can't remember if we got another one in the 3 for 1 trade. I think not. But the main thing is trade him around the 26 deadline at the latest. Another bad season and he would want out probably. And then if we could have gotten our 27 pick back, we can tear it down and let the young guys play.

I really hope we can keep Bol. Tell him we know we can't pay him much yet, but he will have a big role.

[bwgood77]

It appears it will be, based on current standings

OKC 1 seed

2-4 some order of:

Memphis
Denver (on a roll)
Houston (lost a bunch in a row but had injuries)

and then 5-6 are probably the LA teams but they have a chance to get up into that group above.

Minnesota is likely to get 7 seed.

Then I think the 8 seed will be tough for Dallas to hang onto with AD, Lively, Gafford and PJ all out. But they beat GS last night.

So 8-9 will likely be GS then Dallas

10 will likely be Sac or us...not sure who has the edge.

However, Houston, GS, Minnesota and Dallas have the easiest remaining schedules, given they have had the toughest ones to date.

https://www.espn.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

Sac, Denver and LAL close to where we are in toughest remaining schedules, and Memphis has the toughest


So if you take that into consideration, the final standings might look more like:

OKC

Houston

3-7 could really be bunched up. Denver and Memphis have pretty good leads on the Clippers, and to a lesser extent, the Lakers.

GS and Dallas still probably 8 and 9 but could move up if someone really tumbles...and GS turns it on with Jimmy.

I still see it being tough for us to get above 10th though, and we likely play GS or Dallas in the 9-10 matchup. Both would be tough if they are healthy, but we could win.

Then who knows who we'd face in the 8-9 matchup if we won. But then if we did win, it would be OKC in the first round.

[Fo-Real]

Small sliver of hope for me that the Mavs plummet with AD hurt. Kyrie opts out, and he wants a S&T to play with KD in Phoenix. Beal's contract isn't as bad when it's only 2 seasons left. The Mavs would either accept or lose Kyrie for nothing (they probably choose the latter).

Otherwise... hit the reset button. We tried. We failed.

Book and Durant need a lead dog like Kyrie too.

[Fo-Real]

Are we inventing new term to make soft injuries sound significantly more serious than it really is? Like Paul George "5th finger" injury in Sixers injury report

Great toe is the medical term for the big toe. This is medical terminology

How do you know this are you in med school or currently a doctor?

He has common sense.

[Frank Lee]

We might be favored in 7-8 games of the 28 remaining…. Lucky we play both Chi and Tor twice, and better win them both, as there is a good chance we don’t win but one or two games in our last 12. It’s a brutal finish and we’ll have no games to spare. I don’t think we will crack 40 wins

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

Give me a KD for D Brooks/ Smith Jr/ Landale/ Whitmore/ PHX 25' 1st/ PHX 27' 1st/ PHX 29' 1st for KD. IF that's too rich for Houston, take off Whitmore in exchange for our three firsts back in the deal.

Yeah, he was awfully chummy after the game with some of those guys. I noticed an embrace with Brooks. Brooks looked good. It would be interesting to see how much they would give up for him. If our 25 pick lands in the top 4, probably not that one, but maybe the 27 one? If we could get back the 27, 29, just one prospect and one vet, I think that would be a nice haul for KD. Book could get more, but I imagine we would like to keep him regardless of things.

Maybe Whitmore, Eason, FVV or Brooks and picks? With Book maybe a more premier prospect or 2 and possibly 3 picks. Probably not Thompson or Sengun, but I think everyone else would be on the table for Book.

Whilst I get KDs diminished market value with age/ 1 yr left, we really can't accept just a singular first or lowball offer for him after everything that we've given up in trade to get him. I mean sure those factors play a big role in us getting much less value for him. And honestly it was stupid to not just move him at the deadline because we could have kept the pieces in the package we got back, and then flipped the others this summer for more draft assets.

But really, at some point ( very soon...... like now) we have to more of a hardline stance and quit hemorrhaging value to other teams from weak negotiating mentality. KD is still a top 10 all time talent that is currently showcasing his nearly unstoppable offensive talents and also putting up sensational numbers and efficiency while being a really good defender.

He absolutely still commands more value than just a couple of vet fillers/ expirings/ 1 first. We at baseline should be getting back at least 2 firsts and multiple 2nds in any deal along with at least one if not two really solid young prospects and vet salary ballast fillers. This summer, there will be multiple teams aggressively pursuing him. So we'll absolutely have leverage to not get completely sandpaper dildo'ed by whatever team trades for him.

As for the picks, our threshold should at least include one premium 1st and some solid/ promising young talent. For example, with Houston, one of either Smith Jr or Eason or Whitmore included in the player portion of the package. And for the picks, we should very aggressively target our 25' 1st rather than just giving up a top 5 pick to them. Say our 25' 1st and our 27' or 29 1st. EITHER really, but we'd need two first and if not our 25' 1st (looking very premium value) then we'd need a stronger player value inclusion.

Otherwise, we should look at the other teams that'll absolutely have interest in KD and are holding a premium future first in their possession. 3 teams alone that come to mind for me that I've mentioned already are:

1- OKC. They have the Dallas 2028 1st ( most favorable pick swap) surely to be a very solid lottery pick range asset. They also have multiple firsts and 2nds and a variety of young wing options. I'd Specifically target the LAC 25' 1st ( 22nd pick range) and then the Dallas 28' 1st ( pick swap).

2- San Antonio. They currently hold multiple 1sts but the premium picks of the Dallas AND the Minnesota 2030 1sts. The Dallas pick is unprotected, and the 2030 Minnesota pick is only top 1 protected. They also have the Atlanta 27' 1st unprotected. I'd target the Atlanta 27' first and one of those two 2030 1sts.

3- Minnesota. They don't have much in the way of picks currently, but after this draft, they'll have their 2032 1st. I'd target that 1st along with a player based package around Randle/ Reid/ Dillingham/ 32 1st. Or a McDaniels/ Reid/ Divencenzo/ Shannon Jr/ Minott/ 32 1st package. But would prefer the Randle package as it'd give us a 30 million expiring that could be flipped or used to reduce our cap number. And Reid could be an excellent backup 4/5.

Overall though, if trading with Houston and considering that KD addresses their biggest glaring weakness ( shooting/ scoring) and would elevate them.to potential finals contention too, I'd have to get back our 25' 1st and one of our 27 or 29 1sts and one of the young talents in the deal as KD is still a 1A tier superstar talent. That'd fit them ideally better with their roster anyways. If they say no, I'd explore the other options that I mentioned above, but also absolutely my Denver premise idle for players over picks.

[bullsaficianado]

Small sliver of hope for me that the Mavs plummet with AD hurt. Kyrie opts out, and he wants a S&T to play with KD in Phoenix. Beal's contract isn't as bad when it's only 2 seasons left. The Mavs would either accept or lose Kyrie for nothing (they probably choose the latter).

Otherwise... hit the reset button. We tried. We failed.

Book and Durant need a lead dog like Kyrie too.

I like the idea but Mavs would never trade Kyrie for Beal. Kyrie's value is very high right now. I also don't want to make Mavs fans anymore miserable by gifting them Beal. Anyway no way Beal waives his NTC for Dallas.