2021-2022 MAVS NEWS: 4th in West | WCF loss [ARCHIVED]

[michaeltex]

Yes, let's talk about Keith Grant's history with the Mavs.  In 1995, he was hired as the GM.

-- In the 1995 Draft the Mavs had the 12th and 24th picks.  Prior to the draft, Antonio McDyess openly pined to play with Jason Kidd, going so far as saying, "He's my hero."  The Mavs desperately needed an athletic PF.  Instead, Grant was out maneuvered by the Nuggets, who got McDyess with a lesser package than what the Mavs could've offered (the 15th pick and Rodney Rogers).  The Mavs went on to draft total stiff Cherokee Parks ahead of Michael Finley, and picked another stiff at 24 in Loren Meyer.

-- In 1995, I was in college. One of my business mentors was an older gentleman who was buds with owner Donald Carter.  From time to time my friend would pull me aside and tell me about inside scuttlebutt on trade talk.  I remember it like yesterday when he said the Mavs were in on getting Alonzo Mourning.  He said it was down to the Mavs and Heat.  The Heat were of course offering Glen Rice.  The Mavs offered Jamal Mashburn (a later trade proves the Heat really liked him).  Of the two, the Heat preferred Rice, unless the Mavs would sweeten the pot with a #1.  The Mavs refused.  The rest is history.

-- In the 1996 Draft it was largely considered to be six picks who set themselves above the rest (Yes, that would be disproven later, but the value at the time was considered a top six -- Iverson, Camby, Abdur-Rahim, Marbury, R.Allen and Antoine Walker)  As luck would have it, the Mavs had the #6 pick.  In other words, there's value to get to that plateau.  What did the Mavs and Grant do?  They traded down from #6 to #9 with the Celtics and also gave up an unprotected first for Eric Montross (who had sucked his rookie year).  An unprotected 1st and less draft pick value just to get an unathletic, underperforming center.  Just awful.  Oh, and in case you don't know, Montross only played a year and a half terrible seasons with the team before being a total throw-in in the Shawn Bradley deal.

Grant then went on to take Samaki Walker ahead of Dampier, Kobe, Peja, Nash and Jermaine O'Neal in arguably the second greatest draft ever.  Basically, as a GM in that draft, you could fall ass-backwards into a multi-year All-Star and yet, Grant still fucked it up.  (I remember going to the Mavs Draft Party that year.  After the Samaki pick Grant was interviewed on the jumbotron.  When he stated, "We think Samaki is legit.", the crowd booed their asses off.  Of course, we all booed following the Cherokee Parks/Loren Meier picks, too.  The whole crowd collectively felt like, "Damnit, Keith, we can all see these are terrible moves.  Why the hell can't you???"  After two years of booing, the Mavs stopped holding draft parties.)

Shortly after the 1995-96 Season, Grant resigned.  He gave a press conference in his front yard where he said he couldn't deal with the pressures of being a GM.  And, alas, that's how a used car salesman like Frank Zaccanelli became the team's GM and was put in a position to trade the team's franchise player.  Geez.

To sum up Keith Grant: he was a guy that was always "a day late and a dollar short".  Because of this he was reactionary, which is a terrible quality to have.  Because he didn't have the wherewithal to get McDyess, he shoehorned in Samaki Walker.  Because he couldn't do what was necessary to land Mourning, he arguably gave up more to get a worse player in Montross.  And, to bring this terrible period full circle, his replacement traded their phenom PG in Kidd for Finley, a guy he could've just had if he'd taken him instead of Parks.

Now, based on this logic, can't you see why Grant is one of the behind the scenes guys who constantly push "Plan Powder"?  It's as if the plan after failing is always to double, triple and quadruple down even when it's proven to be disastrous.  That's how, in Keith Grant fashion, "Plan Powder" goes from abandoning a championship team with visions of franchise players only to wind up with Chandler Parsons.

TL;dr - Gimme Bob over Grant any day.

So Keith's the guy who is (was?) supposed to understand the FA landscape and how to best leverage that for talent acquisition?