Fellow Mavs fans, why not tank?

[jowglenn]

They need a lead guard to pair with Flagg for the future. A guy who can steady this team.

Is there a team out there with such a player, who they could trade Anthony Davis for? A team where AD would fit well and be the power forward?

I think you might see where this is going...

Austin Reaves & filler for Anthony Davis

[Bad Bart]

Lol it’s the first week of the season.

I really dislike how tanking has become so ingrained in NBA culture that fans view it as a legitimate path to improvement instead of expecting teams to simply play harder early in the season.

Teams like Miami compete every year precisely because they approach every season as an opportunity to win a championship, regardless of roster. Building a winning culture leads to winning games. You can't do that by tanking.

[Dacost]

Let me start by saying this: Tanking will not happen under Nico Harrison watch. He backed himself into a corner and his roster construction reeks of arrogance and hubris (while not making any sense).
I don't think they should "tank" like Nets or Jazz are doing by bottoming out, but I think they should be in the "buy for 1 dollar, sell for 2" market like OKC did with Paul George/Chris Paul/Hortford/Schroeder and so on. They can still sell high on Anthony Davis/Irving and redundant pieces like PJ Washington/Gafford, get good pieces + draft picks. Build around Flagg, see what they have with Christie/Hardy/Lively and find your Jalen Williams/Siakam with the gazillion picks you will get from the trades.

Nico had an almost perfect out and he failed to capitalize. He could have said “we tried to give ourselves a strong 3 year window but Kyrie’s injury cost us the first 2 years of that window and as such we have decided to pivot (ie trade AD, PJ, etc). We’ve decided to take a more long term view given our injuries and landing Flagg in the draft.” He could have started the rebuild this off-season and I think most fans would have understood. Landing Flagg gave him a get out of jail free card.

Instead he’ll probably dig in further.

I'm expecting some type of win now trade in the deadline to dig even further.

[KGtabake]

Not all of you can tank guys.
And nobody can outtank the Wizards. It's just a matter of odds in the lottery.

[carlos710]

Not all of you can tank guys.
And nobody can outtank the Wizards. It's just a matter of odds in the lottery.

At this point won't surprise me if fans of teams like Nuggets or Knicks start asking for their teams to tank as well. It's just sad

[dirkdiggler4177]

Nico did some excellent moves before the trade deadline that got Mavs into the finals. This team is stacked with talent, so he might have to do something again to make the team play better together.

[zero rings]

Lol it’s the first week of the season.

I really dislike how tanking has become so ingrained in NBA culture that fans view it as a legitimate path to improvement instead of expecting teams to simply play harder early in the season.

Teams like Miami compete every year precisely because they approach every season as an opportunity to win a championship, regardless of roster. Building a winning culture leads to winning games. You can't do that by tanking.

The Bulls and the Kings compete every year, too.

“Winning culture” doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have star players.

[timani]

I am a big fan of timelines....

The moment they got Flagg, it should have completely changed the approach to the next five years, starting with a sell off of all their win now pieces.

They should be selling off AD / Kyrie, taking on bad contracts for assets, in the running for top seeds for the next years, etc.

Defensive-oriented juggernaut set up perfectly for playoffs by moving lazy Luka by prophetic GM Nico should tank? They were just fine without Flagg according to them and unless NBA is rigged Nico had no way of knowing they'll be getting him in the first place.

I get your point, but FO hubris would never allow for that to happen.

After the Mavs landed nr1 pick in the draft, Nico had the balls to go to the media and said "Hopefully fans can see the vision now"

So yeah, he either admitted that the whole trade was rigged or he's dumb enough that people believed he'll be able to land nr1 pick with 1.78% odds. Funny thing is, Mavs didn't even try to tank, it's just that MEM were better and AD got hurt in that game again so they missed the playoffs lol.

This was the most galling statement out of the whole Luka fiasco to me for exactly the reasons you stated. HOW CAN HE SAY THAT WITH A STRAIGHT FACE No I'm still not over the trade

[Mephariel]

Lol it’s the first week of the season.

I really dislike how tanking has become so ingrained in NBA culture that fans view it as a legitimate path to improvement instead of expecting teams to simply play harder early in the season.

I am not a fan of tanking. I never even asked the Kings to tank. But this year is different. It is not a normal draft.

[hyper316]

So greedy, already gifted Flagg by Silver, now they want more?

[Mr Puddles]

Defensive-oriented juggernaut set up perfectly for playoffs by moving lazy Luka by prophetic GM Nico should tank? They were just fine without Flagg according to them and unless NBA is rigged Nico had no way of knowing they'll be getting him in the first place.

I get your point, but FO hubris would never allow for that to happen.

After the Mavs landed nr1 pick in the draft, Nico had the balls to go to the media and said "Hopefully fans can see the vision now"

So yeah, he either admitted that the whole trade was rigged or he's dumb enough that people believed he'll be able to land nr1 pick with 1.78% odds. Funny thing is, Mavs didn't even try to tank, it's just that MEM were better and AD got hurt in that game again so they missed the playoffs lol.

This was the most galling statement out of the whole Luka fiasco to me for exactly the reasons you stated. HOW CAN HE SAY THAT WITH A STRAIGHT FACE No I'm still not over the trade

It's like a gambling addict informing his wife that he's taken out a second mortgage to play the roulette table, and then turning to her after winning saying "hopefully you can see the vision now" after hitting black (I don't know how to play roulette) like it was a good decision.

Unreal statement by Nico.

[MrGoat]

The team kinda sucks, and that was even when Day to Davis was in (he's already dealing with Achilles soreness now). Next year's pick is the last first round pick they control this decade. Now absolutely would be the time to tank because Kyrie and AD aren't getting any younger and you'll be in the Pelicans situation of not even being able to tank for the foreseeable future after this season. AD should already be on the trade block but Nico is the issue preventing that

[MrGoat]

I am a big fan of timelines....

The moment they got Flagg, it should have completely changed the approach to the next five years, starting with a sell off of all their win now pieces.

They should be selling off AD / Kyrie, taking on bad contracts for assets, in the running for top seeds for the next years, etc.

They absolutely should be doing a sell off, but they're only in the running for the top seed this year. Charlotte has 2027 for PJ Washington. OKC has a swap for 2028 which helped them get Daniel Gafford. Either Houston or Brooklyn owns their 2029 because of the Kyrie trade (probably Houston but it's complicated). San Antonio has a swap for their 2030 for dumping Reggie Bullock. This is the last year for them that tanking is an option to help get Flagg a young running mate

[Daddy 801]

Lol it’s the first week of the season.

I really dislike how tanking has become so ingrained in NBA culture that fans view it as a legitimate path to improvement instead of expecting teams to simply play harder early in the season.

Teams like Miami compete every year precisely because they approach every season as an opportunity to win a championship, regardless of roster. Building a winning culture leads to winning games. You can't do that by tanking.

I dunno about that. Spurs say hello. And most recently OKC says hello.

[doogie_hauser]

I am very confident if The Mavs fired Kidd tomorrow and replaced him with Thibs or Malone, Dallas would be a top 4 seed in the West around the all star break..

[Mavrelous]

I am very confident if The Mavs fired Kidd tomorrow and replaced him with Thibs or Malone, Dallas would be a top 4 seed in the West around the all star break..

It can't be that the man who coached the team into WCF in 22 and Finals in 24 is now a bad coach, the problem is the roster, not the coach.
Not Kidd's biggest fan, but he's not the problem.

[The Master]

It can't be that the man who coached the team into WCF in 22 and Finals in 24 is now a bad coach, the problem is the roster, not the coach.
Not Kidd's biggest fan, but he's not the problem.

Yeah, team with oversized frontcourt, subpar spacing and lacking ballhandlers sucks offensively in 2025 - how surprising. If your best playmaker is D'Angelo Russell, what are we even talking about.

[Bob8]

I am very confident if The Mavs fired Kidd tomorrow and replaced him with Thibs or Malone, Dallas would be a top 4 seed in the West around the all star break..

It can't be that the man who coached the team into WCF in 22 and Finals in 24 is now a bad coach, the problem is the roster, not the coach.
Not Kidd's biggest fan, but he's not the problem.

He never coached much, he accidentally had the best half court player in his roster. Now he should develop some kind of a system, plays, which he can't. You can't play with this roster like you played with Luka's.

[garrick]

I think Silver really needs to ban pick swapping otherwise you have teams like Dallas and Phoenix with stupid owners pick swapping their 1st round draft picks and eliminating their chances of being lucky enough to draft some real talent in the draft.

Phoenix is screwed for the next 6 seasons with no lottery picks because we either traded away our picks outright or put a crazy amount of pick swaps (Beal trade) on their picks as a way to circumvent not being able to trade their draft picks in consecutive years. Teams need protecting from themselves and Silver better change the rules so that teams don't have a way to tank their future because of their own stupidity.

[Mavrelous]

I am very confident if The Mavs fired Kidd tomorrow and replaced him with Thibs or Malone, Dallas would be a top 4 seed in the West around the all star break..

It can't be that the man who coached the team into WCF in 22 and Finals in 24 is now a bad coach, the problem is the roster, not the coach.
Not Kidd's biggest fan, but he's not the problem.

He never coached much, he accidentally had the best half court player in his roster. Now he should develop some kind of a system, plays, which he can't. You can't play with this roster like you played with Luka's.

The best half court player didn't take a roster of Brunson/Bullock/Luka/DFS/Powell and bench of Kleber and Dinwiddie to 6th best defense in the league, and when he got the right personnel in 24 he had the best defense.
Kidd has proven 2 things in his time in Dallas, with the right pieces he can overperform, and with the wrong pieces he can underperform, sometimes out of spite.
Yes, Luka covered a lot of Kidd's offensive limitations, but Kidd rewarded him with being able to build elite defenses around him.