This stings. Kid was just starting to hit his stride. Was on the verge of being an elite 3 and D wing here.
I don’t agree at all that we are going to “suck” for the next two years but for argument sake let’s say you’re right. If in 2 years the Lakers decide to blow it up because it’s not working, who do you think is going to be the player who brings back more assets in a trade? A 34 year old AD who you call Mr. Glass or a 28 year old Luka? Even if you add in the FRP we sent out and Max’s value who I hated to loss, it Luka all day long and I don’t think it’s even close.
I don’t want to get into a long discussion about this, but I at least have to say that I agree AD has been disrespected big time, BUT, their careers pre-Lakers accounts for a lot of how you’d compare them. Of course AD won it all here, and we went to the WCF another year, but before he got here he got out of the first round once. Again, not trying to downplay AD’s meaning to us, I will forever love AD, but at the same point in their careers, at age 25, Luka has done more as THE guy. He took his team to the WCF 2 seasons ago and knocked out some teams that nobody thought the Mavs had a shot against, and then he took his team to the Finals last year. That’s the reason for the excitement, Luka is a 1.a, he’s a LeBron, he’s a Kobe, and that is needed in LA, and it is sooo hard to find, some teams search forever for it, some teams have NEVER had one guy like that. Love AD, he’s absolutely a 2-way beast, but he also was never THE guy here, he never fully snatched that from LeBron, he always seemed ok taking that back seat, and if you’re building post-LeBron you need that guy who is THE guy, who wants that and embraces that, that’s why the Lakers had to do this deal when it came along. Losing favorites sucks, I’ll miss AD, I’ll miss Max, but we just got at worst the 4th or 5th best player in the NBA, if in better shape probably the 2nd best player. LA needs that guy, we always have that guy, and man I did not know where we were going to get him going forward, the draft is such a roll of the dice, that we landed him this way is insane. I’m thrilled for the future now, and even if it doesn’t work out for whatever reason in a couple years, if we extend him this summer he can always be traded again, probably for 5 or 6 first round picks.
To be fair, AD by himself didn’t really lead the pelicans anywhere at a similar age to Luka. He made the playoffs twice and won one series with Jrue, Rondo and Mirotic. Luka has made the WCF and Final as the engine of his team. AD is an incredible defender and a good offensive player. Luka is an ok defender but he can be a whole team’s offence. He can drop 40/10/15 in a playoffs and account for 60-70 of his team’s points game in game out. He is easier to build around for playoff success, all you need to do is put a few good defenders around him, a few shooters and a big that can run the PnR and finish. Lots of players work with him.
It would have been ideal but the salaries probably wouldn’t match. I have equal love for both though lol it would disappoint me the same way
Thanks for the input Because we need defense more than scoring right now so DK going out wouldn't have been as big a dent in the roster as constructed
Knecht’s value is based on potential and promise. Max was beginning to realise his, in his peak he can be a 37-40% high volume shooter that can defend 1-3 as a premier POA guy. He’s got 10 years minimum of a career in front of him. Knecht’s floor is lower but his ceiling is slightly higher, he can be an explosive scorer if he develops the right way. His ability to knock down the 3 ball in bunches is Klay lite like and he is surprisingly springy - defensively he isn’t much to write home about. Personally I’ve never liked the microwave bench scorer, I don’t think it’s a successful archetype compared to the 3&D wing. So I keep Christie who is a safer bet, 2 years younger and more useful today.
It's super funny how things change based on if he's our player or let go. A couple months ago a lot of people wanted to trade him for Valanciunas. Now he has "all-star potential". C'mon guys...Booker isn't an all-star this year, it's almost impossible for Max to become one, even with tons of injuries. I really like Max. Always liked his demeanor and maturity. He will have a great career. He really developed recently and established himself as a rotation player for the first time in his career. It helped how deprived we were of other solutions, but he raised to challenge. I would rather have traded Knecht, but Dallas probably preferred like this and I can't blame them. All the best to his career, I think he'll have a solid career like D.Jones or McDaniels
this. dallas is still trying to win, and knecht isn't currently playable in a playoff situation, imo. max just got there this year, and he's under contract at well below MLE for three years. a lotto team would maybe take knecht due to the higher upside, though. i also wonder if luka's arrival means knecht is gone. long-term, can you play reaves, knecht, and luka big minutes in the current nba. two yes, but all three?
I also read there's some uncertainty in their ability to keep Grimes this summer. Securing Max makes that less of a concern.
All star performance type player in his PRIME 3-4 years or sooner on Max don’t care about the votes. Don’t twist it. Averaging 20 -25 points plus everything else he’s good at both sides of ball. Are you going to career cap him too knowing his work ethic with his nowhere close to finished body?
I like Max and he had really taken some great strides over the last month. I think he will do well with the Mavs.
100%. I have litle doubt there will ever be a point in time where Dalton is a better player than Max.
Just wanted to say last couple words about him, which I think are in line with what I've skimmed through the last couple pages. He looked like a nice kid, and he had most definitely shown some nice signs of improvements this year making him one of those players that's always nice to have on your roster. I honestly wish him the best in the world in Dallas. Of course, that said, against the chance of getting a guy like Luka, you just have to let go. He was still a pretty minor piece when you consider the scale of the trade. He'll be missed for sure.
