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Clash or trash: Kyrie Irving can break Doncic, or make him explode - voila! Sport

2023-02-06T11:49:38.133Z


Dallas was tempted to take a risky gamble that could prove disastrous, but could also turn them into a modern-day version of Cleveland running for a championship. Ravitz analyzes the big trade, explains how the similarity


Kyrie

Kyrie Irving is the least predictable athlete in the world.

You never know what his next move will be, and especially how he will become a headache for his team this time.

In Cleveland he ran away from LeBron James, in Boston he ruined every good part and became a persona non grata in the city, in Brooklyn he single-handedly dismantled the favorite for the championship with his vaccine refusals, he started this year by sharing an anti-Semitic video.

He has honestly earned the status of a player to watch out for.



His trade request from Brooklyn a week before the trade deadline was a little disappointing.

He has already accustomed us to more original ways to destroy teams, he shouldn't be satisfied today with just asking for a trade.

But it's also the most logical action he can take, logical in its illogicality.

The team had already settled down, looked good, managed to overcome the ongoing mess that he mostly created himself.

Is he still hurt that he wasn't offered a long contract in the summer?

The best way to get that contract was to keep playing well and help Kevin Durant lead Brooklyn into the late stages of the playoffs.

The worst way to get a contract is to keep being that player who can break everything in an instant.



The immediate response to Kyrie's trade request was laughable.

Here he is doing it again, there is no way anyone would want to take him now, certainly with a contract that expires at the end of the season.

But very quickly the temptation also arose.

There are quite a few teams in the league that are stuck in mediocrity, that understand that they cannot compete for the title with the existing squad and want to give their stars a real chance.

The managers of these groups couldn't help but ask themselves one question: "What if it does work"?

Their answer was that then they would have a candidate for the championship.



It's easy to forget now, so it's worth mentioning the reasons to believe in Kyrie as well.

He is one of the complete scorers of the last decade and he showed his abilities in the playoffs.

He has eight playoff games with 37 or more points, including three in the finals.

He scored the all-important basket in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals en route to Cleveland's championship.

If he had not been injured in the 2021 playoffs, it is likely that he would have won the championship with Brooklyn and Durant as well.

When it works, it works at the highest level.

It is also impossible to ignore the fact that players in the league appreciate Kyrie, he was previously elected vice president of the players' union and this year received the most votes from players for the All-Star among the guards in the East.



Will cooperate with Doncic: "Kyrie Irving is traded to Dallas"


Kyrie in "Ecstasy", Doncic is enthusiastic, Dallas is confident: Kidd will make it work


Brooklyn rejected the Lakers' offer for Kyrie, LeBron tweeted in frustration

Kyrie Irving presents: the worst way to try to get a long-term contract (Photo: Reuters)

Dallas

The combination between the temptation that definitely exists and the number of teams that need hope led to a quick bidding war between several teams.

Dallas won that fight with an attractive and quick offer, one that allowed the Nets to forego the possibility of pulling the auction until the last minute.

This means that after playing alongside LeBron and Durant, Kyrie Irving will get a chance to play alongside Luka Doncic as well.



Mark Cuban took a big gamble.

No one knows if Kyrie wanted to come to Texas, we haven't heard anything from him in recent days, despite reports that he is "ecstatic" about the move.

No one knows where basketball ranks in his priorities today, what could pop up that will make him break the tools once again.

He may already have plans for the summer and Dallas is just passing the time for him.

And if that's his approach, his impact on the cohesive locker room Dallas has created over the past two years could be devastating.

After the unsuccessful bet on Porzingis, if the bet on Kyrie also fails it could greatly intensify Luka's dissatisfaction with his club.



On the other hand, it can be said that Dallas did not give up anything critical in this gamble.

Spencer Dinwiddie was a great fit alongside Luca, but became rather redundant with Kyrie.

Dorian Finney Smith was the Mavs' most important defensive player last season, but has looked much less sharp this year.

Even if Jason Kidd misses him, he is not an irreplaceable player.

The pick in 2027 or 2029 (there were two different reports) could be high if Luca leaves, but that's exactly the price to pay to try to keep him.



Dallas' roster was loaded with players of a similar level, that was his problem and it's also the advantage when building a package for a trade, no waiver feels particularly painful.

In recent months it has become clear that Dallas is focusing its efforts on trying to find Luka a supporting star.

After the successful playoffs last season, this season made it clear that the ceiling of the current squad is very limited.

Even the attempt to create an attacking five, which seemed promising for a moment, did not prove itself in the long run.

Until Kyrie's trade request, it seemed that an opportunity to bring in a minor star would no longer arise this year, it made more sense for the Mavericks to wait until the summer, but then came the moment that broke the rules at the current deadline.

With almost the entire roster at a similar level, no concession feels particularly painful.

Dinwiddie (Photo: GettyImages, Christian Petersen)

Cuban's hope is that Kyrie decided to flee Brooklyn because he's looking for a fresh start.

Dallas could provide him with a quiet place compared to New York, a team with a star who comes from another generation, another culture, another world.

Maybe this is exactly what the doctor has been trying to prescribe to him all these years.

The advantage of bringing the least expected player in the league is that he can also surprise for the better, everything is possible in his case.



Professionally, Luca and Kyrie should get along easily.

Kyrie, as mentioned, played most of his career alongside one of the best players in the world, learned to function as second fiddle to a player through whom everything goes.

Doncic's style is similar to that of LeBron James, both play at their own pace and need players who know how to adapt to them.

Kyrie at his peak knew how to function as a secondary creator, to take control of certain minutes and certain games without challenging for a moment the superiority of the host.

Christian Wood, a versatile interior player who knows how to work both inside and outside, will create an offensive trio that can remind the one from Cleveland with Kevin Love.



The question is what the defense will look like.

None of the three is a great defensive player and the Mavs' current roster is not prone to such.

Reggie Bullock seems to be on the decline this year, Maxi Culver who is injured for an extended period is just another good guard for the roster and Josh Green is still unproven.

In general, the current squad is not very balanced, it does not have a proper defensive center nor does it keep big wing players.



Therefore, I believe that Dallas is not done with its moves this week.

After bringing Kyrie on an expiring contract, there's no point in Cuban waiting until the summer, he should put all his chips on this season and hope that something will happen that will convince Kyrie to stay.

Dallas has two more first-round picks to give away, they have Josh Green who is considered an interesting prospect and they have high contracts that can be used for trades.

It wouldn't surprise me if Cuban tries to put everything he has left on a player like OJ Anonovi, or looks for a defensive center in the style of Jakub Flatel along with thickening the rotation of wing players.

The new Dallas is best appreciated only on Friday.

The Cleveland Trio is back in a modern version?

Irving with LeBron and Love (Photo: Reuters)

Brooklyn

Does it make sense to feel sorry for a club like Brooklyn, a classic big-city, big-money club that built the kind of three-star team most NBA rules try to prevent?

Within a year or so each of the three requested a trade and two actually left, leaving the Nets with a damage minimization roster.

It's not a bad roster, Shawn Marks has assembled a deep and diverse group of players around Durant, but it's not exactly what KD planned when he teamed up with Kyrie to sign together in Brooklyn.



The decision to take a package that includes two 29-year-old five players makes it clear that Brooklyn is not giving up the chance to fight at the top.

There are rumors that the Nets are willing to hear offers for Durant again, but it wouldn't make much sense to stick with a roster loaded with relatively older rotation players.

Marks' intention seems to be to give this squad a chance, at least for one playoff.



There are ball carriers in this squad.

Ben Simmons and Dinwiddie, who returns to the club where he broke through, reinvented themselves in the last year as players who hold the ball much less, they will have to recall their abilities to run attacks themselves.

There is also quite a bit of outside shooting in this squad: Joe Harris, Seth Curry, Dinwiddie himself who shot more than 40 percent three-pointers this year.

There are some players in this squad who do a little bit of everything like Finney-Smith and Royce O'Neill.

Precisely now you can build a base around him which is not bad at all.

Durant (Photo: GettyImages, Dustin Satloff)

But more than anything, this squad has defense.

Simmons, O'Neal, Finney-Smith, Durant and Nick Claxton are all quality defenders and are five of the top players in Jacques Vaughn's rotation.

If the current Brooklyn has an identity that can work, it is the identity of a defensive team that relies on KD on offense.

Boston showed in the last playoffs the significance of being able to raise fives that do not have a single defensive weak point, Leven will be able to raise such fives.

It's hard to believe that this will be enough in an East loaded with all the best at the top, but it's an identity that can leave Brooklyn as a team that cannot be underestimated.

And maybe maybe convince Durant to stay and give Marks a chance to add a supporting star to a roster that has everything but one in the near future.

  • sport

  • NBA

Tags

  • Dallas Mavericks

  • Kyrie Irving

  • Luka Doncic

Source: walla

All sports articles on 2023-02-06

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