The Mavericks were one of the NBA’s worst rebounding teams in 2017/18, and this year’s draft class featured plenty of quality big men — especially at the top. However, Dallas used its top-five pick on a play-making guard/forward (Luka Doncic, and selected a point guard (Jalen Brunson) with its second-rounder.
As such, it was no surprised that president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson agreed on draft night that the Mavs’ priority in free agency will be finding a center (Twitter link via Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com). Head coach Rick Carlisle echoed that assessment.
“July 1 is right around the corner,” Carlisle said this week, per Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. “We’ll address it. There will be options. This organization with Mark (Cuban) at the helm is always going to be opportunistic and be in a mode to make things happens, when they’re the right kinds of things.
Here’s more on the Mavs:
- As Sefko relays, Carlisle is ready to pencil in Doncic as part of the Mavericks’ starting lineup right away, adding that he thinks the No. 3 pick and last year’s lottery choice Dennis Smith Jr. “will complement each other extremely well.”
- In a separate article for The Dallas Morning News, Sefko explores which big men might be targets for the Mavericks in the coming days or weeks.
- One name on Sefko’s list is DeAndre Jordan, who committed to the Mavs the last time he reached free agency in 2015, only to back out of that agreement and re-sign with the Clippers. Jordan can become a free agent again next weekend, and while it seems unlikely that he’d end up in Dallas, Mike Fisher of 247Sports.com hears from a source that the Mavs wouldn’t avoid the veteran center out of principle.
- Dwain Price of Mavs.com takes an extended look at the Mavs’ decision to move up in the draft and nab Doncic, the player the club targeted throughout the pre-draft process. “At one point we thought that there might be a slight chance he could fall to us,” Carlisle said of the Real Madrid star. “But then a couple of days ago it was pretty clear that there was no way that that was going to happen. He’s just too good, and so we made this deal — we moved up.”
Doncic is going to lead the Mavs to the playoffs next season. I’m predicting 16 ppg with 7-8 dimes a night.
San Antonio, Golden State, Lakers, Houston, Denver, Minnesota, OKC, Utah, New Orleans, Portland will all be better than the Mavs next year without a doubt in my mind.
San Antonio,LA, and Denver might not make it. Dennis Smith Jr is going off next season, Doncic is going to make Dennis and Harrison that much better on the offensive end and Dirk will benefit from Doncic’s surreal playmaking ability. Watch Dennis Smith Jr average 23 ppg next season and torch every point guard in sight.
Doncic is not quick enough to get by anyone.
There’s going to be a lot of Entry passes from the top of the key and the wing. No blow bys. Well except for on the other end LOL.
Not quick enough? His skill level at the 2 is elite, he’ll have no problem getting by defenders.
He’s still not quick enough. I’m a Doncic fan and he has all the tools to be a great player, except that he isn’t a guy that will blow by a defense with his speed/athleticism (like Wall, Westbrook, etc). Does that mean he can’t break down a defense? No, of course not. It’s just that for Doncic his breaking down of a defense will likely come from his ball-handling ability and his ability to prove himself as a shooter (forcing quick close-outs from defenders). His lack of elite athleticism shouldn’t prevent him from being good or even become a star but its something to keep an eye on as teams try to target him.
Good write up.
Dennis Smith Jr is an actual dummy who will wash out within 3 years
FA hasn’t even started yet so your comment is worthless. Plus, how can you say SA is going to be better when their best player is likely on his way out.
I don’t have much faith in New Orleans if Cousins leaves and they don’t do anything else.
Time will tell, but I see Doncic as the star of this draft. Kudos to the Mavs for willing to pay the price to acquire him. I wish the Bulls had the balls to be that bold. Instead, they continued on the same safe path that got them into NBA hell the last time.
The Bulls are on the right path as long as they don’t overpay Lavine. Give him 4 years 100 million max.
It depends what you want the rebuild to be when it’s over.
If you want the Bulls to be a 2nd round afterthought, then they’re on the right track. Collecting good, solid players with limited ceilings is a nice way to get yourself back to the playoffs. But it’s not the right way to get yourself a championship.
But if that’s your goal, to end the rebuild as a title contender, then you need to do everything in your power to acquire stars in the draft. Did the Bulls do that? Nope.
And here’s the problem now- when you’ve collected 4 good young players with limited ceilings, you put yourself closer to becoming a good, young team with a limited ceiling.
So If the goal is a title, and the only way to get to a title is by finding stars with high draft picks, every good but not great player you acquire actually makes it more difficult to acquire a star down the line – meaning it hurts your chances of becoming a legitimate contender.
I tend to give Gar/Pax the benefit of the doubt more than most. So I’ll do that here and assume that Atlanta didn’t want to trade down past 5 out of fear that Orlando would taken Young. So it’s possible the Bulls could’ve offered the moon for the 3 pick and Atlanta still would’ve gone with the Dallas deal.
In that case, they should’ve taken Porter. And here’s the thing- I don’t even care if Porter’s back is so trashed that he never plays. If it is, then fine. In that case, at least he wouldn’t “help” the Bulls get locked into a pick between 16-24 for the next decade. It’s really just put the Bulls back in the spot of being garbage, allowing them the chance to swing for another star.
But if his back does heal? Then the Bulls would actually have a potential star who could help them attain the real goal of being legitimate title contenders.
Wendell Carter Jr is no slouch though, you need a big like Wendell who could do a lot of what Horford does for Boston. Markkanen and Lavine have potential to be all-stars and so does Wendell. Even Dunn so they’ll be just fine. It’s probably a stretch Valentine ever becomes much, they need to try and sign Paul George this summer.
We’ve done this FA thing before in 2000, 2010, and even 2014 (to a lesser degree.) When the Bulls aim for FA to acquire a star, they tend to walk away with guys like Ron Mercer, Carlos Boozer, or an aging Pau Gasol.
Why would it be different with George (or any major FA)? George is a guy most likely to sign with his hometown team or to just stay out with the Thunder. There’s no actual pitch the Bulls can make that would sway him from either of those destinations.
Don’t misconstrue my comments as a knock on Carter. I think he was a solid pick who will help the Bulls win games. But I don’t think he’s a guy who will ever be the focal point of a championship caliber basketball team. I feel the same way about Dunn.
And that’s my problem. The more good but not great talent you acquire, the harder it becomes to acquire a real difference making star. Being bad is The best asset a team can have for acquiring stars. The more games you lose, the better chance you have of drafting high and bringing one in. If you incrementally improve, you lose that asset. That’s what the Bulls are on the path of doing. They’re incrementally improving their team out of the bottom 10- which means that they’ll likely continue to add good but not great players with a pick in the 10-14 range until they break back into the playoffs and peter out as a second round afterthought.
So now the mav’s have JJ Barea and Jalen Brunson, two squatty slow point guards? Or is Brea a free agent and Carlisle needs a new squatty slow point guard?
Well I think ideally, you’d roll into 2019 with DSJ, Doncic, Brunson and Ferrell as your 4 guards. Maybe bring Aaron Harrison back as a 5th guy. Going young is the best play. Not to mention that would be a pretty talented group.
Do you think Cuban wants Dallas to be competitive this coming year or the following? Are they buyers or sellers? They have tons of cap room. If they stay away from major FA they can have tons of cap space after this coming season.
They always try and get one of the biggest free agents. They will be buyers and might actually get a top free agent unlike past years.
They’re definitely targeting Capella. An early offer is probably the best way to pry him Houston since Paul might force them to hold out hope with LBJ.
Other than Capella, though, there’s not a realistic option to be had. PG is by the far best guy really available, and he’s probably going to LA or staying put in OkC.
All shaping well for Dallas, DSJ, Doncic, Barnes, Randle?, DMC? Wow that could be a totally awesome starting 5, for sure a playoff contending team.