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Originally Posted by chumdawg
Spiral, I can't include you in it, because I like you too much, but anyone who thinks the Mavericks are better off without an MVP than with an MVP deserves to have their head examined.
It would be somewhat like the Bulls being better off without Jordan, the Jazz being better off without Malone, the Lakers being better off without Magic.
In short, no sane person would make that claim. Win Dirk as he will, it doesn't mean that Nash was not a competitor.
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And in turn, I think anyone who sincerely believes that Steve Nash belongs in the same category as Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, or Karl Malone deserves to have their head examined as well.
It's not at all that I think Nash wouldn't fit into our current "system" or that Jason Terry even close to the player that Nash is. It's what would the rest of the roster look like if Nash had been re-signed. There are so many variables to that equation, I wouldn't even know where to begin.
If another center of equal or close to Dampier's level could've been acquired at a cheaper price, then sure. I remember Donnie saying that the Mavs originally intended for Harris to be Nash's backup, so assuming that deal would've gone through as well, then sure, we'd be better.
A roster that lookes something like
Nash/Harris
Finley/Daniels
Howard/Stackhouse
Dirk/KVH
Damp/Bradley
Yes, that's a roster I would've loved to have seen last year. But I can't believe that keeping Nash would not have come at the cost of not acquiring Dampier, and also, with Nash's brand new contract on the books, would Cuban have been willing to take on more contracts like Stackhouse' or Van Horn's? More importantly, would we have been able to aqcuire a servicable starting center? That was my biggest fear. If the roster looked like
Nash/Harris
Finley/Daniels
Howard/name your spare
Dirk/Hendu
name your spare/Bradley
If our lineup looks anything like that, then I'm sorry, but I think we are indeed better without the MVP. IMO, a year still would've been sacrificed and we wouldn't be any closer to a title.
And furthermore, let's just say Cuban was willing or able to commit that kind of money to both Nash and Damp, or any center for that matter. What happens when Josh Howard becomes a free agent? Hell, what happens when Dirk becomes a free agent?
Our cap situation would be as bad or worse than the Knicks, sure we'd have a lot more to show for it, but Cuban's fear that things could go very bad for us weren't unfounded at all.
In this situation you've got two guys over 30 making max dollars or close to it, all the while you have to worry about whether or not you can afford to keep your franchise player and your young up and coming star.
And lastly, one must not forget that the biggest fear, the main reason Nash wasn't re-signed was the idea that his body would wear down as the season went on and that his skills would decline. So far this has obviously not been the case at all, but Cuban had no way of knowing that.
Again, there are so many variables to that equation, there's absolutely no way of telling what ultimately would've happened to the team. Maybe we'd win a championship... But then again, maybe our window would close the way it closed on the Knicks, Pacers, Blazers, and Kings of old. Granted, none of them had a player like Dirk, but then we get back to the possibility that we might not be able to re-sign Dirk. And then we're really f*cked.
Lastly, just to clear things up about my feelings about Mark Cuban, I'll say one more time that I never have and never will ride, suck, hug, or do anything else of such nature to his testicles. As far as I'm concerned, Cuban got himself into this mess by throwing his money around like an idiot getting us ridiculously over the salary cap to begin with. The dude handed out big contracts like they were candy. If the man hadn't paid players like Raef LaFrentz, Eddie Najera, Even Eschmeyer etc so much more than what they were worth, re-signing Nash never would've been an issue in the first place.
Also, Erick Dampier should've been a Maverick before that ever happened in the first place. I still can't figure out why Dampier wasn't included in the Jamison/NVE deal, or better yet, why we didn't just get Damp straight up INSTEAD of Jamison. Imagine if in 03-04 we'd have had Dampier as our starting center (playing for a contract no less). But no, we had to suffer through the likes of Danny Fortson, Mamadou N'daiye, Scott Williams, and of course Antoine Walker.
It's another discussion for another thread, but I just want it to be known that I don't have some kind of blind love for Mark Cuban. He's made plenty of bone-headed decisions. I just don't feel that letting Nash walk was nearly as boneheaded as you do.