Now what?

[JustJay]

Originally Posted by Thespiralgoeson

That's an extremely pessimistic take. Frankly I think our roster is better than the one last year- although the rest of the West got better too, so I don't necessarily expect us to make the conference finals again either.

Personally I don't think our lack of free agent success has anything to with Luka's usage rate or a "stigma" about the Mavs. I think it's the simple fact that there are only three actual free agent destination cities in the NBA- New York, LA, and Miami. That's it. You don't see free agents lining up to go to Philly or Chicago or Houston either. Look at Cleveland. They had Lebron for 11 years and they could never attract anyone either.

And you can't compare the NFL to the NBA. You just can't. Of course everyone wants to play with a great QB. That doesn't translate in basketball. This isn't a Luka thing. It's a basketball thing. Every fan wants to think that other players are just dying to play with their superstar, but that's just not true. "Get to play with such and such" is hardly ever the motivating factor that fans seem to think it is.

Are we championship contenders yes or no? If the answer is no, you agree with me or you're just pessimistic too.

[SMC0007]

Originally Posted by JustJay

Are we championship contenders yes or no? If the answer is no, you agree with me or you're just pessimistic too.

Yes, we are contenders until proven otherwise.

We initially didn't think we were contenders last season and then started clicking at the right time.

We aren't favorites by any means, but we are one addition away from that level of team. Obviously you have to prove it... like Phx and a few other paper contenders.

[Thespiralgoeson]

Originally Posted by JustJay

Are we championship contenders yes or no? If the answer is no, you agree with me or you're just pessimistic too.

But you seem to have the attitude that we'll NEVER be contenders because nobody wants to play with Luka. I don't think that's true.

Are we championship contenders in 2023? My honest answer is... I don't know. But probably not. But I think we're in a far better position than most to be in the title hunt over the next decade or so, so I don't think I'm being pessimistic at all.