Fine, here’s something
In years past I’ve always been willing for Mavs Moneyball to have an aggregated rumors post, where we’d update all the things that whatever outlet under the sun is reporting or posting.
Not this year. This year the entire process has crossed the threshold of things that are interesting to some “rumors” and such which are flat out nonsense. There’s money to be made in the transaction game and I don’t begrudge anyone who takes joy in imagining different players on this Dallas team or putting together complex trade scenarios. That’s a big part of being a NBA fan.
But not for our staff, not really at least. Lauren Gunn’s had the occasional article about guys she’d like to see in a Dallas uniform and paths to get there, but she hasn’t asked to write one and I haven’t asked her to (though, if she reads this, yes Lauren if you have ideas rattling around, we’ll run them).
This Dallas roster has remained more or less the same since January 30th 2019. Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis, Jalen Brunson, Tim Hardaway, Maxi Kleber, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Dwight Powell are still the heart of the Dallas rotation, give or take the shooting guard spot occupied by any number of players, most recently Reggie Bullock. That the team has remained this consistent would be impressive if it wasn’t so maddening. The modern NBA sees so much turnover year to year between teams.
When a team gives up one draft pick to go get Luka Doncic, then two more to get Kristaps Porzingis, all while managing to botch artificial cap space in 2019 because they thought there was a real chance at Giannis, well there’s not a ton for them to do, if we’re honest. All of us hoped Donnie Nelson then Nico Harrison would pull a respective rabbit out of their hats because NBA General Manager jobs are hard and we demand miracles.
Instead, Harrison was handed a bit of a grenade, where he and owner Mark Cuban have to figure out the very complex issue of what to do about Jalen Brunson and Finney-Smith, situations Cuban created with the deal Brunson signed and the Dallas insistence that DFS is seemingly untouchable.
It’s quite remarkable that owner Mark Cuban managed to do all this. They did the hard part. They drafted the generational talent in Luka Doncic. This point cannot be said enough times, getting Doncic on the team is the HARD part, because it’s more about luck than anything else. That Dallas has managed to either screw up or miscalculate every thing since (depending on your personal point of view on the Porzingis trade, a deal I didn’t like but absolutely understand) is nothing short of remarkable. Drafting Luka Doncic is hitting a triple, what Cuban has done in nearly every move since reeks of Dallas thinking they were born on third base.
Alas. Here we are. 500 words later, here I am to tell you that if you want to discuss trades and rumors, post them in the comments here. Until or unless rumors have some actual substance (like Mark Stein or Tim MacMahon or Brad Townsend doing the reporting), you all should talk amongst yourselves in the comments.
Have fun, go Mavs.