The Mavericks under LTS have been feast or famine, and last year was a feast. Getting to the conference finals was nice, but our goal was the finals. How the Spurs beat the Mavericks is anyone's guess. We decisively won the first three quarters of Game 7 but somehow fell completely apart in the fourth quarter.
The current roster is back to business. The league has vastly improved, as has the conference. The Bulls are back, the Warriors look better, and the Celtics look like a new contender. Did the Cavs get enough pieces around Vassell and Isaac to be legit? Even with all the new contenders, we are planning to try to hold court (at least if we keep the current roster together).
The offseason sucked as usual. The only good thing about it was that we didn’t really need to add much. The worst part of the offseason was the learning experience. The loss of value of Coco Judge after having sunk 30 points into him, and the loss of value of a number 2 pick, turning into a pumpkin with two straight seasons of hits to future potentials, was an expensive lesson to learn. If I could go back in time, I would ship Sue for a win-now center. As far as Coco is concerned, I feel like not being able to test if the 30 points would turn him into a blue pot was a huge disadvantage. My plan was to turn him into a blue pot and ship him, but the 30 points didn’t turn him blue. Damn.
My roster is still set up nicely, but as long as Lauri Markkanen and Pee Wee Kirkland are paired up, I’m not sure the league stands a chance (plus, Kaminga betrayed his home team).
We are solid at PG, SG, and SF. I like my PF more than I think anyone in the league, so he’s not going anywhere. The player most likely to move is Dino, mostly because of his fit. He’ll be better next year, so either I need to move him for a better older center or I need to ship him for a rookie contract to get my tax bill lower. Either works for me; Dino will show whether I’m all in or just trying to get this bill lower.
Lastly, there is a rumor that I can move Raphael Cottrill because of a rule change to how RFA works that we voted on last year. Does anyone know if Raphael Cottrill can be moved at day 60 this season?
Sham Smith, Bulls.com: You mention learning experiences and moves that you would make in hindsight, but that's always 20/20. What are some things you plan on doing in the near future--or even longer term--that are things you haven't tried yet based on what you've learned?
garbageman wrote: Sun Oct 06, 2024 10:37 pmSham Smith, Bulls.com: You mention learning experiences and moves that you would make in hindsight, but that's always 20/20. What are some things you plan on doing in the near future--or even longer term--that are things you haven't tried yet based on what you've learned?
I don't think I'll be training any green pots anytime soon since I can't tell how close they are to going blue.
I know I said I should have traded Sue and I would if I could go back in time and knew how close I was to winning a ship. But really my strategy of going after rookies seeing what they are and moving them around 25 years old before they hit their stride is working. They should be at their highest value then. With this strategy, of having a lot of rookies, there is a decent chance of losing a few to TC. Where I think I could improve, is taking stock of exactly how good my team is, and if I'm just a few move away from being a championship team, going for it even if I getting less talent back.
While you fell short of reaching the finals last year, one would think you would be poised to make another deep run this year. With the slow start in the preseason, do you foresee this team still being a playoff contending team or do you think they might still have the hangover from the Game 7 loss?
BigDaddyd8720 wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2024 7:14 am
Picks Emmington of the New Orleans Advocate,
While you fell short of reaching the finals last year, one would think you would be poised to make another deep run this year. With the slow start in the preseason, do you foresee this team still being a playoff contending team or do you think they might still have the hangover from the Game 7 loss?
We are definitely making the playoffs, it just a matter of trying to be a real contender and after see the start the bulls had I might be shifting gears.