I think. I probably think way too much. That’s just what happens when you have time on your hands. Again, I just sat and thought about random things revolving around the Mavs. Answers popped up, and this is the end result. Another ...
I think. I probably think way too much. That’s just what happens when you have time on your hands. Again, I just sat and thought about random things revolving around the Mavs. Answers popped up, and this is the end result. Another batch of 10 questions and answers in regards to the summer and the future for Dallas.
1. Who is the most likely free agent to be used in a sign-and-trade?
I think it’s a toss-up between Chris Kaman and O.J Mayo, but I’m leaning towards Mayo. For Kaman, if you have size and can play at some level, you’re going to find a job. Dallas has always been creative and might find a way to use him to their advantage with a sign-and-trade.
We’ve already started to see rumblings out of Utah and Minnesota that there’s an interest in Mayo. One seems more likely than the other in terms of a sign-and-trade partner.
2. Have the Mavs really had terrible drafts?
Honestly, when you’re drafting outside of the top 5, you’re rolling the dice. Even in the top five, you see moments where you’re wondering what teams were thinking. This is actually a specific subject that’s going to be covered as we get closer to the draft. Have some of the decisions they’ve made been bad. Yes, but you know what, they’re not really alone in that battle.
Comparing Dallas to San Antonio in terms of draft success is taking the easy road if you want to say the Mavs have had a terrible draft. The thing is, if you compare most teams against the Spurs in this aspect, most or all of them are going to look inferior. They’re more of an outlier rather than the standard result for teams around the league.
3. Is Brandan Wright a starting center?
Not for one that has aspirations of winning a championship. Yes, the league has shifted to faster, more mobile big men, but Wright still has his faults. He did improve as a rebounder during the second half of the season, but the bar was so low for him in that area that he could only go up.
His best role is being the first or second big off your bench. If he’s a starting center, you’re asking him to go up against the likes of Marc Gasol, Dwight Howard, Omer Asik, Nikola Pekovic, Marcin Gortat, DeMarcus Cousins. I don’t think you’re taking Wright over ANY of them, even on a bad day for them.
4. Can you trust Donnie Nelson and Mark Cuban?
The only time I would say you can’t trust them is the week leading up to the draft or the trade deadline. Paraphrasing the old saying, you know an executive is lying when they open their mouth.
I think the gripe might be that it doesn’t appear that Cuban is entirely committed to the Mavs as he has other engagements or projects he’s involved in, the most notable one being Shark Tank. It’s been covered over and over how he wasn’t present during their meeting with Deron Williams last summer as he was filming episodes of the show. I think Cuban said it best near the end of the season. “If they don’t know by now that I’m doing everything I can, they’re never going to know,” Cuban said.
Sure, he has outside commitments, but don’t you or do you think about your job all hours of the day?
5. If one thought about leaving out of Dwight Howard or Chris Paul, who would leave?
I would have to think the answer is Dwight. Let’s be honest, no one associates the words leadership or maturity with Dwight Howard. If he leaves Los Angeles, he’s going to be going to his third team in as many years. The lights and pressure that come with playing in LA make it seem like it might not be a situation that he’s necessarily cut out to handle.
Plus, he needs to look at what happened when Kobe Bryant had to miss the remainder of the season. They had an aging and hurt point guard, their power forward is constantly the scapegoat and can float in and out of games and they don’t have a bench. It doesn’t sound like a promising situation.
6. Is Dallas in the best position to land either Dwight Howard or Chris Paul?
Honestly, no. Their current teams have a full extra year and buckets of additional money they can thr
