(12-14-2020, 04:51 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: Jalen Brunson? DSJ*? Jae Crowder? Do you count finding undrafted gems like Barea, DFS, and Maxi Kleber as picks? Cause I sorta do. Look Donnie isn't a savant at the draft like he is at trades. BUT when he gets a feeling on a guy, it's usually right, and he does everything he can to get him. See: Dirk, Luka, Giannis (before Cubes overruled him). Mavs aren't completely incompetent at the draft now like they were from 2005-2011. They at least try.
*I get that DSJ is 1 stop away from China in NYK, but here he was a 15ppg high flying guard that turned into KP. So before you lament on the pick take that into consideration.
I didn't include Jalen Brunson in the list, and forgot about Crowder. But when speaking about Donnie's drafting record that is it as far as NBA players. The book is still out on DSJ. So 6 (or 7 counting DSJ) players over a 20+ years turned into NBA players.
And no, Maxi, DFS, Barea don't count unless you want to start counting all the UDFA that the Mavs missed on. Unearthing those player was shear luck by the Mavs and development by Carlisle. If the Mavs believed in those players talent that much they would have simply drafted them.
Moreover, I know that all of Mavs fan's love the story about Giannis and Donnie's affection for him. But when did we start hearing that story probably one or two years into Giannis career? This was during the time many Mavs fans complaining their failures in the draft.
I have never seen one draft board showing their true thoughts or any evidence to back up that story. If Donnie believed in Giannis so much why did he pound the table for him? So are we sure that wasn't just a CYA (cover your ass) story.
There was probably some interest in Giannis (like all international players) but to what extent who knows.
(12-14-2020, 05:42 AM)radioaktiv Wrote: The point is that you had to compare the 2 best Mavs pick against a bunch of non-lottery picks to dismiss our office's ability to find stars when they have high enough picks. Mavs didn't do well in the non-lottery draft historically, that's a known fact. But to throw things around like "for every 1 good pick, 15 bad" while using incomparable groups is just bad argument. It would be fine if you were comparing Luka, Dirk, and Devin against Samaki Walker and DSJ for example, but I guess that isn't sensational enough for your narrative.
When did I say anything about stars? For every 1 NBA player that drafted they have had 15 players (slight hyperbole but not probably not that far off) that don't make an NBA roster anywhere.