The Mavs definitely caught lighting in a bottle twice landing two Euro stars in Dirk and now Luka. The former got them a chip; will the Mavs win another one before the Rockets do?? I’m not sure if it’ll be solely on talent but rather coaching, ownership and general management. Nonetheless, I’m banking on Cade and KPJ!
I actually like Mark Cuban better than TF as an owner and that's saying a lot since I really like beating the Mavs and putting a pout on Cuban's face.
Right now, sadly, you have to say that the odds favor the Mavs over the Rockets. My only issue with the Mavs is tying themselves to KP for 1st round picks for the early part of Luka's career. KP is okay, but he is never going to be the 2nd superstar partner that Luka needs to win a title. The model for the Dirk Dallas team with only 1 true superstar rarely wins a title, and needs a lot of luck to fall into the right situation to win it all. Maybe there is an argument that KP helps them be a playoff team and jumps starts Luka's progression as a face of league to draw other superstars via FA/trade, but that seems a bit weak. Anywho, FA/Trade will probably their own chance to get the right title pieces around Luka.
Cuban is 1,000x better owner than TF. He's an actual fan of his team, rather than just looking at it purely as a business, and has put them in a position to win by making moves. He has a chip, plus multiple years of being a top team, and now he has Luka. Setting aside Mavs hate, it isn't even close.
This. The Mavs are definitely miles ahead of Houston right now in terms of building a championship contender. Frankly, almost every team in the league is. But that doesn't necessarily mean they'll win a title. If you were to look at the Rockets during the Harden era, Houston was ahead of Dallas in the "who's closer to winning a title" argument pretty much that whole time, but the Rockets have zero rings to show for it. A lot of other factors come into play between being a decent playoff team and winning a championship. To your point, Porzingis is a solid, All-Star caliber player, but I'm not sure he's good enough to be a No. 2 on a legit contender in an era of super teams. The Mavs need another All-Star caliber guy, preferably someone better than KP. Also, they need some luck. With players like Lebron, Paul, Curry, Kawhi and George about to be aging out of superstar relevance in the next 3-5 years, that Dallas core should be peaking at the right time, timing-wise. But what other superteams will be constructed at the same time? Will other superteams form in the West right as Dallas is peaking similar to what happened to Houston in 2017-18?
Also, can we top with the "we're getting Cade" posts? I know many of you are joking and some are just being optimistic, but there's a 14% chance Houston ends up with that top pick. At this point, we should all just be thrilled to be picking in the top 4.
We're going to have to hope for some luck. They have the indisputable better leadership in their owner vs ours, although the silver lining is that cuban can't get us 15 percent off of any landrys, tilman can. Then the other hope is that some how Luka tires of playing in dallas. After his first extension, he wants to goto a place that feels closer to home. Him and Colin Sexton have had an odd tension whenever they play, very sam and Diane. But it comes down to https://globalcleveland.org/a-history-of-slovenians-in-cleveland/ Cleveland and then further milwaulkee has the largest concentrations of Slovenians. Luka goes closer to home. Otherwise they have a savant, competent and experience from the ownership, front office, longevity in the coach. we're going to need cade and more and our 'financial backer" "or the financial backers to our financial backer in our case, to shut up and listen for once.
There is zero chance we are getting Cade, or a top 4 pick. We will pick 18th and then use the 18th, 23rd, and 24 to offload Eric Gordon for salary cap savings.
The Rockets need an owner like Cuban. I do think the Mavericks have a chance at winning a championship before the Rockets. But that could literally change year to year.
I wouldn't judge this series. I think what we are seeing is a team similar to what Harden had under McHale in his early years with the Rockets. Luka is good enough to single handedly beat a talented team with a bad coach. I do not think the Mavs are built for a deep playoff run, and unless a top FA wants to play with Luka specifically, I could Luka getting frustrated and going to a big market when hes a FA. He doesn't seem to have any loyalty to the franchise. Dirk and Duncan were loyal to their core, I don't think players are built this way in this era.
Who were the draft analysts that hyped Luka before that draft and who are those guys high on this year?
I actually was not a fan of Cuban for years early on in his ownership. He has been much more humble with age, and I think he has been trying to appeal to the masses, he has some good ideas when it comes to politics and government. He has come a long way from being a cocky tech billionaire who said Youtube would fail. Its almost like is trying to be likeable to run for political office or maybe he has just been humbled since he has been openly wrong a lot. I can never forgive him for being a hater on Yao, but he is miles ahead of Tilman as an owner.
No one in this class is nearly the level of prospect Luka was at the time. He was a Euroleague MVP at age 17. Not even Zion was at that level. Next up is Emoni Bates.
Attention OP: Do not tempt the Basketball Gods to smite the hopes and dreams of the Rockets franchise and fanbase by assuming we have Cade already.
There is 1% chance any of the top1 pick in next 10 years turns out as good as Luka... they got him and now we got to suffer
