Coach Rick Carlisle recently appeared on ESPN Dallas’ Dennis and Cowlishaw radio show (h/t The Dallas Morning News) to discuss the Mavericks‘ offseason and the pre-draft process. Here are some highlights from the discussion:
- Dallas is currently slotted with the ninth pick, though the franchise has a 6.1% chance at landing a top-three pick in the draft, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors details. While Carlisle would certainly like to move up, he believes you can get a productive player anywhere within the top 10. “I’ve been looking at it for about 10 days now,” Carlisle said. “It’s deep. It’s 13 or 14 deep with guys that are going to legitimately help teams; not only teams that are bad but teams that are good. It’s a good year to be in the top-10. We’ll take advantage of it. There’s a lot of work to do between now and draft night.”
- The Mavericks don’t usually pick this high in the draft and Carlisle admits that it puts added pressure on the organization getting the selection right. “This is the kind of pressure you want, an opportunity,” the coach said. “And we know it’s big. We haven’t been even in the mid-first round very much.”
- Many people within the front office will have input on who the team selects, but ultimately, it’ll be the owner the makes the final call, Carlisle explains. “Even if some guys are hired in GM positions and they say, ‘I have decision-making power in this job,’ not really. You’re always running it by your owner. And so ultimately Mark [Cuban] makes the final call and we’ll make a recommendation,” Carlisle said.
- Carlisle added that he’s only involved in the draft process to inform the front office on what the team’s needs since he has the best idea of what they already have.
- He added that the Mavericks won’t draft for need: “We gotta take the best player available.”
- Be sure to check out the whole interview via The Dallas Morning News. It’s worth a read.