Decisions, decisions, decisions. What’s a sought after free agent to do? Be held to your word? Nah.
Deandre did the unexpected, not the unthinkable or unprecedented, when he undecided his decision (No red velvet cakes were harmed in the process.). Jordan had previously opted for a four year $80 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks. A surprise move that left the Clippers completely devoid of any big man depth and losing their defensive anchor. The move would have made Dallas marginally superior to the previous year’s iteration that limped into the Playoffs, exiting with little more than a whimper. With Jordan, despite assumed promises of an interior offensive focus and advanced inclusion in set plays, the Mavericks would be an incrementally improved team, still with no realistic hope of title contention. The Clippers on the other hand, were to have gone from legitimate championship challengers, to a vastly inferior squad. Deandre simply fits the Clippers, he’s the relish to their ketchup and mustard. Yes, he is their third wheel, but what’s a tricycle with just two wheels? A completely unusable mode of transportation, no matter the alignment of the remaining two wheels, thus flawlessly sealing this analogy. Deandre is said to have reconsidered his free agency destination less than a week after selecting Texas’s largest city. Understandably so. The Mavs showed him the respect he so desperately desired and treated him the way he always longed for in LA. Unfortunately, eventually the season was going to begin and he would have to play for the team he was actually signing with. That is until he made an honest appeal to Clippers coach/gm Doc Rivers, and regaled the former champion coach of his self doubt and personal regret. Doc waisted little time in assembling a task force and made haste for H-town.
According to all reports, the current Clippers performed their very own #occupydeandre, setting up shop in the center’s home and refusing to leave until a contract was signed by the 6’11 big man. Somehow Deandre was OK with all of this. Seemingly accepting that his current/past teammates didn’t think enough of him to leave him unattended. Apparently Jordan is so impressionable that whomever retained the final word in free agency, would be the recipient of his services. We all know they were playing cards and video games and having a generally good old time, however, it says something that a team feels so strongly that it must remain in physical proximity to their subject of courtship, in order to remain their preferred suitor. Either way the Clippers got their man and are a much better team for it. Had this whirlwind of less-than-final decisions ended otherwise, the same cannot be said. Yet, before basketball fans begin their standing ovation (Let’s be honest this is better for the NBA.), one question remains. What of the Dallas Mavericks?
Deep in the heart of Texas, one star shines a little less bright. Mark Cuban believed he got his man, the dominant center to pair with the aging-like-a-fine-wine-about-to-spoil-at-any-second, all time legend, Dirk Nowitzki. Add in valuable swingman, Chandler Parsons and the recently invested in, (Now four years and $70 million.) former Blazer Wes Matthews, who by the way is returning from an Achilles tear. That last part ain’t too pretty. The Mavs have traded for veteran ZaZa Pachulia to join the front court, but truth be told this is by no means their preferred roster. The Mavericks will struggle to make the Playoffs and continue to lose out on the latter years of Nowitzki’s career.
It was always a surprise that Jordan was headed to Dallas, the Clippers system fits him like a glove. Perhaps he came to the same realization as Doc Rivers years ago when he accepted that his offense is best off relegated to put backs and roaring dunks in traffic. Or perhaps he believes that this whole scenario will convey his offensive aspirations, that the Clippers will promote from within, developing new sets and schemes with the inclusion of their nearly spurned center. Either way this move makes basketball sense, Deandre never should have left LA, whether that’s fair to Mark Cuban, Wes Matthews and the Dallas Mavericks and their fans, is an entirely different story.
