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Originally Posted by jthig32
I find it laughable, and then embarassing that there are Mavs fans out there that want to trade Dirk "the choker" for Garnett "the magical answer".
Absolutely laughable. We already have a hard time on offense when Avery gets outcoached, and you guys want to seriously downgrade the offensive abilities of our best player.
Here's a question: Do you guys realize Dirk and KG have VERY similar offensive games, overall? Garnett is a high post player, same as Dirk, except Dirk is 10 times better at it.
Now against Golden State, Garnett would have been able to get better position down low, sure. So maybe we beat Golden State with Garnett instead of Dirk. MAYBE. So now, what do we do when we play San Antonio? We lose, that's what. Garnett is an upgrade defensively and a downgrade offensively, and he's won less than Dirk.
You know what the biggest knock on Garnett is in Minnesota? He doesn't demand that ball in crunch time, and he gives it up too easily when he does. Been that way for years.
So get off the KG thing, unless you've got away to keep Dirk and get KG, becausse that's the only way getting KG would make this team better.
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That's a pretty persuasive argument, thig. However, it ignores the possibility that if Garnett WERE on this Mavs team, then his record/style/attitude/etc might be markedly different.
And it also assumes that the Dirk of today is the same player that Dirk has been the last several years. Frankly, I don't think he is...and that's because of AJ. Nellie made Dirk into the player he is, and AJ seems dead-set on beating it out of him.
During most of this series, Dirk looked two things to me: TIRED and CONFUSED. Avery rode Dirk into the ground all season long. Constantly posting him at the elbow, left to operate on his own. Pressuring him to get offensive boards. Demanding a constantly strong effort on the defensive end. Now, none of those things are drawbacks in and of themselves. But when you put them all together--and you keep it up for months on end--a guy gets worn down. Bottom line: AJ asked for way more from Dirk than Nellie ever did...and he ended getting less from him as a result.
There IS an art to managing your players.
And then on top of that, the confusion part. Dirk has got to be the most coachable player in the league. Just tell him what you want him to do, and he'll do it. But on offense, I don't think Avery knew what the hell to do during this series. What the hell was going on in the third quarter? Dirk was getting the ball on the perimeter and IMMEDIATELY swinging it. That's not Dirk. Dirk doesn't do that on his own. He was being given directions...and I for one do not believe that those directions were worth a hill of beans.
I'm getting more and more angry hearing about all this "Dirk choked" stuff. Yeah, that's probably how it looks. But I've been watching Dirk for ten years now, and I KNOW that Dirk doesn't choke.
Dirk has been EMASCULATED by Avery Johnson. Plain and simple. Avery has a vision for Dirk as a player, and it doesn't mesh AT ALL with the kind of player Dirk has been his entire career.
KG, on the other hand, fits that vision EXTREMELY well. That's why, as much as it absolutely pains me to say this, if Avery is going to stick around then I would prefer a straight-up trade for KG. I hate to see the Mavericks suffering like this, and I hate to see Dirk suffering too. That trade should be a win-win for both the players and for Dirk.
Of course, then we would have to worry about another contender in Minnesota. But anything is better than this.