We are in that transition period of building something more sustainable long term. We are transitioning out of the vets and into more youth.

Lively, Omax and Hardy are great young pieces we’ve never really had in my time as a Mavs fan. Grant is a glue guy who can teach guys how to defend. (Hence all the talking hehe) Powell/Maxis days are numbered but I still appreciate them out performing their projections in their careers.

We have gaps but they can be sorted out over the next couple of years. This year is about taking some fliers on different players and seeing who we give a slightly better, tradable contract in the future(DJJ/Exum). Holmes is more a salary filler. Green is younger with a tradable contract.

We needed better flexibility in our salary matching ability for trades. We have more of that now. Nico is well known in the player community and I would not be surprised if we get a great sign and trade player in the future.

Kyrie is great, he helps Luka stay fresher longer into the season. Luka can develop his game more learning to play off ball a little. He’s also a 6’2 guard on the wrong side of 30 (albeit with fresher legs) so he doesn’t fit our long term goal. I see him as a nice stop gap that eventually gets flipped for more when a team is ready to over pay and we’ve developed other playmakers.

Luka is amazing and anyone who says otherwise is a dope. He gets better every year. We haven’t even seen everything he so capable of. Improvement on athleticism and defense are showing. If we put a competitive roster around him he could run the league for years and years. He excels with any type of player.

Overall I feel so much better about this roster than I did at the end of last season. I felt so pessimistic and downtrodden. I have to give it to Nico, he’s done a great job of revamping and working toward a more sustainable competitive roster going forward.

Also DFS should retire a Mav.