I don't think we would have moved past the Jazz either way. We still wouldn't have had a legit PF. Boozer still woulda killed us. Head would still have missed tons of wide-open looks. And Williams would still have been just as effective. He's just a much better player than James or Alston. It's my opinion that the frontcourt (or lack of) was more responsible for the series loss than the backcourt, although not by a wide margin.
CHEESE: Have you ever worked for a large corporation ? How many times have you witnessed management letting a well qualified guy walk out of the door because they wouldn't give him a proper raise or promotion and then turn around and hire a guy off the street at more money than the first guy made. I saw it so many times it made me ill.
Cheeze, you hit upon the thing that has me scratching my head. It's how Dallas can field such a good team when they have made so many dumb personnel mistakes (although Finley wasn't a mistake as his salary was given out to him in a time when such big salaries were common). Letting Steve Nash walk was inexcusable but that's Mark Cuban for you. But they renew Shawn Bradley only to end up buying out Shawn Bradley, get KVH only to let KVH go fter paying him $16 mill & now they are stuck with Eric Dampier who makes $10 mill and still they somehow manage to win 67 games last season. And they will be a contender for the Western Conference Championship next season unlike the Rox who have set themselves up for a big letdown by gambling on question marks like Bonzi Wells. The only thing that gives me hope for the future is that the Mavericks are their own worst enemy and if given the chance, they will always find a way to screw themselves.
The guy just started. Kelly was generous to put him in the middle of the pack. Though even I, a complete moron, should rank above Isiah.
only one thing is for sure, morey is already better than cd and will be a very competent gm with less media savvy than cd.
So, Finley gets paid by Dallas, but plays for a competing Western team (the Spurs) and wins a championship.... Dallas has the second-highest team payroll in the NBA (WAY over the salary cap).... Dallas let the best NBA point guard, and a two-time cnosecutive MVP player (Steve Nash) walk as a free agent.... Dallas signed Dampier, the self-proclaimed "best center in the West" ....and he'll get paid $42 million over the next four years.... ...and their GM is ranked #2 ??!?!?
Despite all that, they have been contenders... Surely the GM had to do some things right. Namely hiring Johnson. The Mavs also have the most versatile roster in the NBA.
True, but that's only part of what makes a good GM. The other part is... what did it take to get that roster? The Spurs certainly deserve #1. They've been a fantastic team every year for over a decade, yet their team salary is only just average.
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 He's a stupid f**kin a-hole. F*** your moneyball. I can come up with a better formula with my sweaty balls.
Cuban was the one who pushed for the massive Finley extension, and then the waive. He admitted as such in a post on his blog back in 2005. Dallas is way over the payroll, but they're winning. The team had the best record in the NBA last year. Ten million a year for Dampier's skill set at that position (about what Nene, Chandler, et al make) is pretty damn solid. Admit it -- when the Suns signed Nash to that contract back in 2004, everyone thought they were crazy. He played horribly during the playoffs that year, and Phoenix wanted to pay him 13-million a year five years later?
That whole "wanting to get rid of assets" is what's gotten is in this mess of a team in the first place. You always want to collect as many assets as possible. You can always trade them later. If you get rid of them just for the sake of it, you end up filling your roster with Novaks and JL3s.
To continue on my previous message, the genius of the Mavericks is that they collected tradable assets even when they didn't fit. They paid guys like LaFrenz and then found someone stupid to trade them to continuously upgraded their total talent (LaFrenz to Walkerfor example). When you have all those tradable assets, you can then trade them for lesser talents that fit your team better - such as turning Jamison into Devon Harris. It's basically the exact opposite of what the Rockets do.
