It was two separate questions though, was it not?

Yes, they're out of draft capital down the road....because they plowed it into guys they needed to get to the finals last season.

And if you're Nico your answer should essentially be "That's a sunk cost and was priced into the value of the 2025 roster. And we didn't feel that the 2025 roster was good enough to win but with additions on defense and continued development of our guys, we could get there..."

I don't think it's a great answer, but I also think MacMahon's question was a bit more of a non-sequitur than is being suggested here.

Nico was right?

OKC is in deep shit!

Well I got accused of being a racist on a Mavs FB page for wanting Nico fired and not buying into the conspiracy theory that the Adelsons (who I think are scummy people), weren’t willing to pay Luka.

They can be, but I think Houston takes them out. Houston is the better team, but they're very young, so GS could hang around longer than they should in this series.

I thought they were a dangerous team with Kyrie.

Without him, they're drawing dead. But Nico couldn't have predicted that. And Davis breaking (along with seemingly half their team) almost immediately after the trade also killed them.

But that's a well constructed roster when healthy, IMO. Nico's hubris is what will ultimately get him fired but I do think that's a roster than could've done some damage with better injury luck.

Houston's a tough matchup for them but if GSW is gonna beat them, it'll be in the 1st round with longer breaks between games. They have a shot -- they wouldn't have in the next round.

Where they'll struggle with Houston is where LA struggled with Denver -- they're built the same, just better. GSW can't go out there and beat Houston playing small like they could do with some other teams (like Denver).

But if they can hold home court and then get a vintage Jimmy/Steph game on the road to steal one, maybe they can pull it off.

Completely agree. Playoff basketball is different. There's a method to it. Its all about adjustments in a series. This is the first trip for these Rockets. Thry're the more talented team, but the Warriors have been there before and know what they have to do.

A better question might be: You had Brunson and Doncic in your backcourt. How'd you **** THAT up?

I don't know man. It has got to suck to be a Mavs fan though. Brunson is criminally underrated. Every year. Hes so good and smooth.

Absolutely. It'd be like the Chiefs trading for Stafford after letting Rice leave for a below-market deal.

Grabbed those 2 out of the same draft and managed to lose them both.

There's a pretty strong argument to make that the Brunson calamity facilitated the Luka move. If you have Brunson instead of Kyrie it's a pretty hard sell to say "We have a 3-4 year window we're looking to capitalize on..."

Even Nico couldn't have convinced himself of that.

Now this is where Cuban can **** off a bit -- that was HIS fault. He didn't want to pay the tax on a Brunson extension. And the rumors are that he was actually anticipating a Luka Super-max as part of it. So while I do agree that he wouldn't have made that deal, that's ALSO why he wasn't willing to pay Brunson and the unwillingness to pay Brunson is what led, ultimately, to the Luka deal IMO.

It was just a perfect storm of bad timing for Cuban. If he sells a year or two sooner or a year or two later, the Mavs have at least one of them. They might have both. But because of when he got out, they lost both guys.

And really, Donnie Nelson set a LOT of it into motion on his way out the door. The Porzingis trade disaster and Hardaway extension really boxed Harrison in. He had to unload Porzingis which cost them a ton of assets they needed to surround Luka. And the tax issues Cuban was trying to avoid were created by the awful Hardaway deal.

Not offering Brunson the extension PRIOR to that walk year saw his market value double and ultimately it was Cuban being cheap and risk averse that created that. Then he tried to play hardball when Brunson was unrestricted and that was all she wrote.

Cuban is the cause of the Brunson fiasco, IMO.

Lillard's doctors might legitimately want him to die. There is absolutely no data to support what they're doing.

Gotta be a different sort of cat to get to the point Lillard is at professionally.

I mean I wouldn't put it past guys wired that way to just doctor shop the hell out of something like this. The team would be a lot safer to be actively involved in that process but hell man, it's really hard to know what lengths those teams would go to in terms of looking the other way and taking the risks as they come.

Dame wants to play. Badly. And I gotta figure he was more proactive than just waiting for results in making that happen.

I’ve got Warriors/Lakers in west finals