Being able to put together a multiplayer roster of all-stars is something General Managers dream about the league. Despite all of the company’s lines about how much the team loves their players and doesn’t want to risk disrupting the Chemistry, if your team hasn’t won a championship yet, there’s a good chance things will turn around to make a super team if given the chance.
Super teams sometimes work the way they’re supposed to, like when LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade for the Miami Heat in 2010, or when Kevin Durant joined the Golden State Warriors in 2016. But sometimes they don’t. , as we saw with the Brooklyn Nets this year with the trio of Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden.
The Dallas Mavericks pull off a 52-game winning streak in the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors. The Mavs lost to the proven Trio of the Warriors made up of Steve Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, but that was more due to a lack of depth than a lack of talent. Dallas got the shots he wanted against Golden State, but more often than not, he couldn’t convert due to fatigue.
At the end of WCF, the Mavs 3 and D’s best wingers – Dorian Finney-Smith and Reggie Bullock – had played over 100 minutes more than the two best two minutes in the lead at the Warriors, Curry and Thompson. If that disparity isn’t so great, there’s a good chance the Mavs will play in the finals now.
Pairing another star player with Luka Doncic would be great for the Mavs, but it might not be necessary for them to win a championship in the near future. Doncic has proven he can carry Dallas to three wins from the finals despite suffering from illness and exhaustion. As of now, he has the second-highest points-per-game (32.5) in NBA supplement history – second only to the man with whom he signed the shoe deal, Michael Jordan.
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With Jalen Brunson’s new contract looming, and basically no cover space this summer, there’s not much the Mavs can do in free agency, even in the form of signing and trading. Because of that, the biggest additions in Dallas could end up being the ones who drafted No. 26 on June 23 who decided to use the $6.3 million taxpayer MLE.
While the idea of adding another superstar like Zach LaVine or Rudy Gobert is nice, the addition of two more dependable players in the form of a versatile rim guard and another spare wing is what could bring the Doncic and Mavs over the hump in 2022-23.
Some people criticized GM Nico Harrison when he replaced Kristaps Porzingis for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans because KP, despite his bloated contract and injury history, was still seen as giving the Mavs roster a roof over. Dallas quickly crushed that theory by winning their first playoff series and more in 11 years without the Porzingis.
Harrison is still fresh and getting the hang of that NBA executive thing, but he’s already done enough by trading KP and signing on Bullock last summer to earn the benefit of the doubt for now.
Even if the Mavs don’t have a fresh summer, it’s still supposed to be a productive summer with marginal additions… and that could be enough to push Doncic and this roster over the hump next season.