bud29 wrote:Dude brought us back from NBA hell and led us to a great season and playoff berth. He's the embodiment of the Nets' culture and strong player development system. It would be tremendously **** to dump him as soon as a slightly better player becomes available. I'm 100% aboard the keep DLo train.
I understand and largely agree with the sentiment, but Kyrie is markedly better than DLo at everything on the offensive end except passing. And even then, I saw passing and vision from Kyrie last season that I didn't know he had in his game.
I also think the "embodiment of Nets' culture" has been used for every player who has improved under Markinson's watch, including Levert, Joe Harris, and Dinwiddie. I don't think DLo "bought in" more than those other guys. It's just that the impact of him "buying in" has yielded greater results than those other players. I'm not trying to say that what he has done hasn't been great; I'm just pushing back against the notion that only one player has truly embodied the ideal form of the Nets culture. If anything, it's encouraging to see that more than one player has improved dramatically while on the Nets. It seems to suggest that the the staff and organization itself is truly a key to the development of Nets players, such that everyone who joins the team should improve or at least meet expectations.