I like this thread. The last time I posted regularly here I was criticized for being critical of DL.
I said that he got lucky with his two best moves: Gobert and Mitchell.
He could have drafted Gobert and Giannis. Instead he traded those picks for Trey Burke. It wasn’t until Sloan vouched for Gobert that we bought back into the first round and took Gobert.
As far as Mitchell goes, Denver called us, said we heard you like Mitchell, we like Lyles, wanna trade?
DL did say yes, so there is that.
Other than Sloan forcing Gobert on us and Denver wanting Lyles, DL has been terrible, and his biggest stain is Hayward. We could have four year maxed Hayward. DL said he wasn’t worth that, knowing the cap was jumping and Hayward’s “max” deal would be a little more than Rubio’s last deal.
Instead he allows Hayward to get his own deal, which was three years instead of four.
This allows Hayward to leave a year early to Boston. Imagine another year of Hayward with Gobert and Mitchell.
Then Hayward asks for a trade to Boston the summer before he is a FA. DL could have gotten a first round pick for Hayward.
He declines, Hayward walks for nothing.
But, no. No criticism for DL. Cake baking, metrics, asset gathering and other ******** euphemisms cause he makes us “feel good.”
DL’s problem is he thinks he is smarter than everybody else in the room. And he isn’t.
Big summer for DL. If you bomb this summer and Utah ends up 5-7 in the West and Gobert is not an all star, then you have to consider blowing it up again because Gobert wants to win. And you can’t risk losing Gobert for nothing.