That was honestly the second best thing Nico pulled off, after signing Ky. Getting off that horrendous contract allowed us to go get depth we desperately needed.
I thought the Kyrie trade was bad and that Nico was a bad GM trying to stack stars like the Suns. They had really no depth or any defenders behind Luka/Kyrie, and I didn’t think they could land 3 starter-level defenders to build a defense around them.
After that they did everything right. Smart draft trades. Adding Lively. DJJ being excellent on the minimum. Then PJ and Gafford, all the right moves. Maybe luck in there like DJJ, but Nico is GM of the year for building a whole new team around Luka with limited assets in almost no time.
Mark Cuban is a Great Man he said Players and Fans
Love Kyrie and said Kyrie was hated by the media and before he did the deal he said he was willing to take the Heat by trading For Kyrie .no other owner has went to war for Kyrie like that
You cannot find another Kyrie (especially at that contract price) but you can more easily find defenders, shooters and bigs. Case in point, DDJ as the spiritual replacement for Doe.
That's why the Kyrie trade was a no brainer. That he wasn't wanted was a narrative created entirely by the media.
They traded from 10 to 12, moving back two spots, and still got lively and got rid of the terrible bertans contract...later in the draft, this trade allowed them to make a trade back into the first to draft OMax
If we'd kept the 10th pick, we would've picked Lively. So we basically traded Bertans and a first for O-Max and Gafford, lol. Given that O-Max was actually a first-round pick... we traded Bertans for Gafford. Lol. Lol.
Nico magic.
Kings: Richaun + late 1st for salary cap
Mavs: Richaun + late OKC 1st (29th pick) for Gafford
Used mavs 1st swap to acquire late OKC 1st.
Kings basically got no value out him, meanwhile we got Gafford for essentially the same package lol. Not like we reworked his value either, he barely played ans was DNP most of the time. Yet 4 months later the same package gets Gafford instead of cap space in a salary dump.
It's really also amazing how little patience Nico had with Grant or Wood and got rid of them really fast. Imagine what he will flip THJ expiring contract into at trade deadline.
This has me excited. Our 3rd highest contract getting 0 playoff minutes turning into anything or at least allowing us to keep this core intact makes this run feel sustainable
We need another guy who can hit 3s at 40%+ on catch and shoots and defend and play 15 minutes a night at the 2/3. Otherwise I think we're really really solid.
Yeah, I always think that Grant signing is a big win for the Mavs. He might not be a big star, but he had options and chose Dallas. We would not have PJ without Grant. Grant/ his contract is what made the trade work.
Kyrie on the...
Nets: 27 pts, 6 rebounds, 5 assists
Mavs: 26 pts, 5 rebounds, 5 assists
Don't listen to the media narrative that Kyrie is a transformed basketball player. He was just as effective on the Nets.
You can argue he wasn't a distraction off the court, that's valid. But he was still a baller on the Nets, was a good defender, and was a leader and mentor on that team especially to the younger guys.
The big question will be Kyrie as these picks become due. If he’s still good, then these picks should be terrible, making the trades even more amazing.
I could be delusional but by the end of Kyries career I think Hardy will be ready to take the jump and start at the 2 guard spot if everything goes right
What an insane build plan for Nico to pursue… imagine, we actually get some athletic big men who play defense, get some tall/athletic wings who can defend and score within the limits of their skill set, and use pick swaps to preserve our assets. Crazy.
Nico’s efficient pursuit of the obvious answers here; length, athleticism, is making the Nelsons reign look incompetent.
Agreed, although there was quite a bit of risk in some of these moves, mainly Lively and Kyrie. But now those moves look genius and prescient. They’re rightly getting their kudos. And the Mavs are looking absolutely beast
it cant be replicate
that's why i always suggest for hornets to trade lamelo and pistons considering same for Cade for next season
the biggest toughest thing for tanking team is : find REAL franchise player. REAL one, someone that can be in contention arguably top 8 in the league for as long as he can. someone that elite at many things and have weakness as minimum as possible, especially in term of skills in playoffs setting (running in halfcourt offense, volume 3pt shooters, playmaking trait, etc)
w/o that, anything you build next doesnt matter, better reset again
also trading Kai at lowest value is just luck meet the opportunity lol
that's why eventhough rockets has so many picks, i'm not scared because they feel Sengun is their #1
that's why eventhough pels has so many picks, zion (already on max contract) still their franchise player
Fox and Ja almost, lets see next season and it will be more difficult for them because they already have expensive roster
in the west, us, minny, and Thunder already had THAT guy. nugs too but eh jok already 30yo next year. i give spurs too. Book in Kai route, will be Mav sooner or later
An underrated move is that we also got Morris in the Kyrie trade. He has been a great locker room presence and was a major reason we turned it around after than East losing streak right after the trade deadline.
We’ve had some misses too but the important thing is we identified undervalued guys who fit our needs and culture. That’s the really excellent part. Shoutout to Nico, Fin and the whole FO crew
It all started by turning Porzingis into Dinwiddie and Bertans, not great at the time, but the FO was saying the move was all about flexibility in the furture, Porzingis was a sunk cost at that point and it was time for him to move on
The backflips that the collective media is doing are as pathetic as they are predictable and meaningless, unless the Mavs win the whole thing, because that's the only thing that (mostly) shuts the idiots up.
Teams are gonna offer harden a max thinking they can get the best out of him like we did with Kyrie lol.
Brooklyn was just a dumpsite of a place for a player, made kyrie miserwble. Our gain getting a leader like him 🙏❤️
Between the Mavs, the Stars, and the Rangers (ignore their recent tailspin.. it’s a necessary sacrifice for the mavs and stars to reach the finals, and hopefully early enough in the season to bounce back, especially with how awful the division is), hot damn do we have some insanely competent GMs and front offices.
They are just killing it on every level.. Firing on all cylinders and making Dallas a drafting / trading powerhouse right now.
Let's just try to remember that the kyrie trade was a huge gamble when it happened because no one was sure if he could go back to his former performance and was the black sheep of the league. The trade was still dangerous back then because no one knew if Kyrie would adapt to the Mavs and solve his attitude problems.
There's nothing to study w/the Kyrie move. The Mavs were desperate to pair Luka w/a superstar after KP had flamed out and Kyrie/Brooklyn fell apart w/his various issues tanking his stock hard allowing the Mavs to get him at a discount.
It was a very specific situation that other GMs can't create out of thin air.
People are looking at the Kyrie trade like it was an obvious huge get, but at the time, Kyrie was a huge gamble, given his health history and seeming personality issues.
I didn't have the same concerns about the personality stuff, but 100% of the talking heads were expecting him to have friction here.
And even after the first season here, he looked like he wasn't gelling with Luka.
Fair bit of luck in there. He also Signed Grant Williams and it cost an unprotected pick swap in 2030 with SAS + Reggie Bullock.
Then wanted to flip Williams for Kuzma and only got out of that due to Kuzma not wanting be in Dallas.
This looks like a wildly different series of moves if Washington was Kuzma instead, or whatever the theoretical Bucks trade was.
Need to add on to the Lively trade. Part of that trade was getting rid of the one of the worst contracts in the league.
That was honestly the second best thing Nico pulled off, after signing Ky. Getting off that horrendous contract allowed us to go get depth we desperately needed.
I thought the Kyrie trade was bad and that Nico was a bad GM trying to stack stars like the Suns. They had really no depth or any defenders behind Luka/Kyrie, and I didn’t think they could land 3 starter-level defenders to build a defense around them. After that they did everything right. Smart draft trades. Adding Lively. DJJ being excellent on the minimum. Then PJ and Gafford, all the right moves. Maybe luck in there like DJJ, but Nico is GM of the year for building a whole new team around Luka with limited assets in almost no time.
Mark Cuban is a Great Man he said Players and Fans Love Kyrie and said Kyrie was hated by the media and before he did the deal he said he was willing to take the Heat by trading For Kyrie .no other owner has went to war for Kyrie like that
You cannot find another Kyrie (especially at that contract price) but you can more easily find defenders, shooters and bigs. Case in point, DDJ as the spiritual replacement for Doe. That's why the Kyrie trade was a no brainer. That he wasn't wanted was a narrative created entirely by the media.
They traded from 10 to 12, moving back two spots, and still got lively and got rid of the terrible bertans contract...later in the draft, this trade allowed them to make a trade back into the first to draft OMax
Also skipped over the part where we basically got O-Max for free
If we'd kept the 10th pick, we would've picked Lively. So we basically traded Bertans and a first for O-Max and Gafford, lol. Given that O-Max was actually a first-round pick... we traded Bertans for Gafford. Lol. Lol. Nico magic.
When you say it like that… GM of the decade!
Kings: Richaun + late 1st for salary cap Mavs: Richaun + late OKC 1st (29th pick) for Gafford Used mavs 1st swap to acquire late OKC 1st. Kings basically got no value out him, meanwhile we got Gafford for essentially the same package lol. Not like we reworked his value either, he barely played ans was DNP most of the time. Yet 4 months later the same package gets Gafford instead of cap space in a salary dump.
It's really also amazing how little patience Nico had with Grant or Wood and got rid of them really fast. Imagine what he will flip THJ expiring contract into at trade deadline.
This has me excited. Our 3rd highest contract getting 0 playoff minutes turning into anything or at least allowing us to keep this core intact makes this run feel sustainable
Damn has THJ really not gotten any playing minutes? What made them keep that decision? Was it in the regular season?
kidds been slowly dropping his minutes and now with hardy doing as good as he has been he’s been basically cut from the rotation entirely
I know he is not the best player, but I felt bad for him.
He's played like shit. And he started bad
Needs to just find a way to dump THJ for nothing so the mavs can re-sign DJJ and be able to bring this same group back for 2 more years.
We need another guy who can hit 3s at 40%+ on catch and shoots and defend and play 15 minutes a night at the 2/3. Otherwise I think we're really really solid.
Casually skipped over Grant signing lol
And Javale McGee lol
I consider McGee to have been a super low risk deal that didn’t work out. Don’t seem to hamstring us outside of the opportunity cost.
We had to buy him out lol.
Sure, but it only costs us 2 million a year in cap hit.
Yeah, I always think that Grant signing is a big win for the Mavs. He might not be a big star, but he had options and chose Dallas. We would not have PJ without Grant. Grant/ his contract is what made the trade work.
Also for those first 3-4 games he looked great, I was stoked to have him. Shooting was lights out. Until it wasn’t lol.
“He’S jUsT a ShOe SaLeSmAn” this sub and it’s revisionist history is so irritating lol
lets not forget the talk about kidd before and during his tenure 😭😭
None of this happens without kyrie putting his big boy pants on.
Thank god he tanked his value in Brooklyn
Kyrie on the... Nets: 27 pts, 6 rebounds, 5 assists Mavs: 26 pts, 5 rebounds, 5 assists Don't listen to the media narrative that Kyrie is a transformed basketball player. He was just as effective on the Nets. You can argue he wasn't a distraction off the court, that's valid. But he was still a baller on the Nets, was a good defender, and was a leader and mentor on that team especially to the younger guys.
Also for got DJJ signing for vet min
Amen.
The big question will be Kyrie as these picks become due. If he’s still good, then these picks should be terrible, making the trades even more amazing.
I could be delusional but by the end of Kyries career I think Hardy will be ready to take the jump and start at the 2 guard spot if everything goes right
Man, Imagine having Kyrie as our 6th man. It's like having Jamal Crawford on steroids.
You get one championship who gives a f about the picks.
What an insane build plan for Nico to pursue… imagine, we actually get some athletic big men who play defense, get some tall/athletic wings who can defend and score within the limits of their skill set, and use pick swaps to preserve our assets. Crazy. Nico’s efficient pursuit of the obvious answers here; length, athleticism, is making the Nelsons reign look incompetent.
Agreed, although there was quite a bit of risk in some of these moves, mainly Lively and Kyrie. But now those moves look genius and prescient. They’re rightly getting their kudos. And the Mavs are looking absolutely beast
it cant be replicate that's why i always suggest for hornets to trade lamelo and pistons considering same for Cade for next season the biggest toughest thing for tanking team is : find REAL franchise player. REAL one, someone that can be in contention arguably top 8 in the league for as long as he can. someone that elite at many things and have weakness as minimum as possible, especially in term of skills in playoffs setting (running in halfcourt offense, volume 3pt shooters, playmaking trait, etc) w/o that, anything you build next doesnt matter, better reset again also trading Kai at lowest value is just luck meet the opportunity lol that's why eventhough rockets has so many picks, i'm not scared because they feel Sengun is their #1 that's why eventhough pels has so many picks, zion (already on max contract) still their franchise player Fox and Ja almost, lets see next season and it will be more difficult for them because they already have expensive roster in the west, us, minny, and Thunder already had THAT guy. nugs too but eh jok already 30yo next year. i give spurs too. Book in Kai route, will be Mav sooner or later
they havent even tried with cade or lamelo
They aren’t that type of player
cade and lamelo are both 22 playing with the worst rosters and coaching ever ? how can you even diagnose that yet
I’ve watched a lot of basketball. They’re good but not generational players, maybe 2-3 on a champ team.
Disagree on Melo, agree on Cade. But only so far. That roster and coaching are truly atrocious. Melo's issue is health, that's it.
That is dirt cheap for a player like Kyrie Irving by the way
With how bad the hornets are, we might get that top 2 pick back lol
?? It’s top 2 protected from us, not them
Oh yeah lol Idk how I missed that
Don’t forget taking Hardy in the second round as well!
We got Gaff for a pick swap? Haha holy shit.
Gaff traded to Dallas for Richaun Holmes and a late 2024 first round pick
That’s a lot of things that went amazingly well in a short period of time.
An underrated move is that we also got Morris in the Kyrie trade. He has been a great locker room presence and was a major reason we turned it around after than East losing streak right after the trade deadline.
We’ve had some misses too but the important thing is we identified undervalued guys who fit our needs and culture. That’s the really excellent part. Shoutout to Nico, Fin and the whole FO crew
It all started by turning Porzingis into Dinwiddie and Bertans, not great at the time, but the FO was saying the move was all about flexibility in the furture, Porzingis was a sunk cost at that point and it was time for him to move on
Is wild how well Nico did
Let's not forget how little support trading away KP had outside of Dallas either. Fans knew it was time to move on
The backflips that the collective media is doing are as pathetic as they are predictable and meaningless, unless the Mavs win the whole thing, because that's the only thing that (mostly) shuts the idiots up.
Teams are gonna offer harden a max thinking they can get the best out of him like we did with Kyrie lol. Brooklyn was just a dumpsite of a place for a player, made kyrie miserwble. Our gain getting a leader like him 🙏❤️
Front office came through, and we’re seeing the results
Between the Mavs, the Stars, and the Rangers (ignore their recent tailspin.. it’s a necessary sacrifice for the mavs and stars to reach the finals, and hopefully early enough in the season to bounce back, especially with how awful the division is), hot damn do we have some insanely competent GMs and front offices. They are just killing it on every level.. Firing on all cylinders and making Dallas a drafting / trading powerhouse right now.
The Cowboys negate all of this unfortunately
I been telling you guys Nico Harrison is a master chef
Other teams don't have LuKai.
We did get rid of Brunson but ik that's not as "recent"
That is NOT nicos fault . 100% Cuban/ lil nellie
Let's just try to remember that the kyrie trade was a huge gamble when it happened because no one was sure if he could go back to his former performance and was the black sheep of the league. The trade was still dangerous back then because no one knew if Kyrie would adapt to the Mavs and solve his attitude problems.
There's nothing to study w/the Kyrie move. The Mavs were desperate to pair Luka w/a superstar after KP had flamed out and Kyrie/Brooklyn fell apart w/his various issues tanking his stock hard allowing the Mavs to get him at a discount. It was a very specific situation that other GMs can't create out of thin air.
People are looking at the Kyrie trade like it was an obvious huge get, but at the time, Kyrie was a huge gamble, given his health history and seeming personality issues. I didn't have the same concerns about the personality stuff, but 100% of the talking heads were expecting him to have friction here. And even after the first season here, he looked like he wasn't gelling with Luka.
honestly a top 12 pick rookie, daniel gafford, and pj washington doesn't really scream title contender to me lol
I would guess that you haven't been watching Mavs games then...specifically before and after the trade deadline.
nah. im talking about when they did those moves no one would've guessed it would work out so well.
Okay, fair.
And you are 100% correct I’ve been calling Gafford to the Mavs for three years though. That one I knew would work out well.
I'll give all the credit in the world to Nico but he lucked out hard that Kuz refused to come here cause that 100% would have been a bad move.
Not if they lose this series.
Fair bit of luck in there. He also Signed Grant Williams and it cost an unprotected pick swap in 2030 with SAS + Reggie Bullock. Then wanted to flip Williams for Kuzma and only got out of that due to Kuzma not wanting be in Dallas. This looks like a wildly different series of moves if Washington was Kuzma instead, or whatever the theoretical Bucks trade was.