07-15-2023, 05:40 PM
(07-15-2023, 05:31 PM)hakeemfaan Wrote: It is not about just Whitmore. To me it is the #10 pick which is a pretty high pick. You can’t take raw , at best projected defensive centers there hoping it pans out in a couple of years. Not when the league has moved on from that type of a player being a core piece. Core pieces are skill pieces. Lawson , Howard (if they had not traded down). already look more skilled.
OMax was a late riser who moved from mid 2nd round to where the Mavs picked him. If he pans out, yes it is a good draft but let’s see. Just saying that the Celts were ready to pick him is not a great argument bevcause then the same can be said about Whitmore and how quite a few teams were trying to get back into the late teens to pick him.
I am always a believer in talent first in the draft and address positions of need in free agency.
Also this poll is about our individual opinions and I am sharing mine. I would love f it turns out I am wrong because we are all diehard Mavs fans at the end of the day.
Sure, you are entitled to your opinion. I just do not understand it.
I agree with your opinion about taking centers high. Ayton and Bagley were both HORRIBLE picks. Just AWFUL. Lively will be better than either one of those dudes, imo, and #12 isn’t all that “high”, is it? I mean, you might have a point if that’s all they did, but they smartly recognized that they could get their guy a couple of picks later while dumping Bertans. Difficult for me to find fault in that.
And, rather than trumpet a TPE that goes unused, the Mark Cuban special, they used it immediately to make another 1st appear out of thin air. With it, they chose a player that the next couple of teams were salivating over. The Mavs, for a change, swooped in out of nowhere to steal a draft darling. It was Desmond Bane in reverse.
The bad money they took on to make this all happen actually has a plausible chance of being rehabilitated. When it comes to the “fallen angel” type, position of need is EVERYTHING. You’re not going to go out of your way and change your play style in order to rehab an asset’s value, but if what he can do actually fits into a need you have within your scheme? THAT has a chance to work.
Other than the Luka/Brunson draft, this might have been my favorite as a Mavs fan.