07-01-2021, 04:39 PM
(07-01-2021, 04:14 PM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: As far as we know Voulgaris was the one that screwed up the 2020 draft (although there is obviously still hope for some improvement). Donnie for all of his mistakes gets the credit for picking Luka. Just like in Giannis case he established connections with the family when Luka was a teenager and was all over him from the very beginning. That was his one strength. He knew a lot about european basketball and had a good scouting network. Not sure who is responsible for the undrafted guys but the Mavs have done a solid job in that department.
I think the biggest problem was not valuing the draft. Trading picks for veteran rentals. Using late 2nd round picks as PR stunts. In some years it felt like the Mavs did not even scout the available first round options. Expected to trade the pick or trade down and picked the guy with the best measurables or combine numbers.
I think not picking the right guys was more about not valuing the draft. Trading away draft picks for veteran rentals.
Perfect example for the lack of youth development and scouting. The "Texas Legends". Cannot really call it a development team. Other teams like the Jazz and Heat do a much better job. Main team and affiliate play similar schemes. Follow the same philosophy. The Legends are just another team in jerseys that resemble the Mavs ones. One of the worst g-league teams since they became the Mavs affiliate. They won the D-league finals in their last season in Colorado. In 2010 they moved to Frisco and became the Mavs affiliate. Only had two winning seasons in the Frisco era. Only two playoff appearances (lost in the first round twice). Instead of a development program we saw more PR stunts. Comeback of a nearly 40 year old Greg Ostertag. International jersey sellers like Yi Jianlian.
To sum it up. It can only get better...
Your notes on the Legends show vividly how little the Mavs have cared about developing players, as an organization.
It's hard to know if the utter failure was the Legends and what they were doing, the Mavs, or both. The Legends did have some players who developed into NBAers, but they had to go find another NBA team to get a contract. That's really bad on many levels.