Terry vs Maledon

[SleepingHero]

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.

I see what you're saying. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating that the Mavericks are a historically good drafting team. They aren't. They've openly said they do not care about the draft in the past. It has shown in the picks they made, especially between 2006-2012. 

But you also have to acknowledge that there has ben an attitude shift regarding the draft from the Mavs in recent history. 2012 and 2013 they traded Zeller and Olynyk to trade down for Cunningham, and Larkin (Though they managed to get Crowder here). This was during the height of plan powder, and it was clear that the Mavs couldn't care less about building through the draft. 2014 they didn't make any selection, instead opting to trade for Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton. 

But in 2015, after multiple free agent strikeouts, the Mavs started to at least try with Justin Anderson, who looked like he could be a future rotation player. He was later used to obtain Nerlens, but that's beside the point. In 2016, they again didn't have any selection because of trades. 2017 in the height of the tank, they nabbed DSJ, 2018 they stole Luka+Brunson. 2019 no pick from the Luka trade. 2020 we all know. 

So since 2012, the Mavs have made 13 picks. Lets not count the 2020 rookies since its way to early to definitely say anything from them. So back to 10. Of the 10 picks they made, they grabbed Luka, Brunson, Crowder, and DSJ. So 4/10, which is a pretty incredible hit rate given how much of a crapshoot the draft is. 

And that's before getting into the undrafted gems they found to keep them afloat with DFS, Kleber, and Yogi. 

Needless to say, Donnie isn't useless when he focuses on the draft. Historically the Mavs do NOT focus on the draft. However, I'm hopeful that they turned the page in how they view the draft.