2026 NBA draft thread

[khaled1987]

I think Hollinger is correct tbh. I like Morez, but C+ grade (or B-) on draft night seems logical. You got a player who was ranked lower without an apparent reason like need. For draft guys it is normal to give such a grade IMO.

I believe he is more of a 4 than 5 btw, although he is surely going to play both.

Bith Masai and Dusty aren't the guys to draft an undersized C

[Smitty]

The Mavs had 5 future SRP's before the trade up to 25. If they actually sent two, they have 3 more at their disposal. Add that with Dumont's pocketbook and I can see NYK (31), MEM (32), and MIN (33) being open to a trade down to 48 with future SRP's+Cash.

List of future SRP's:
'27 (CHI)
'29 (HOU)
'30 (PHI)
'32 (Own)
'33 (Own)

*Unknown what was sent to NYK

[Dirknows]

The Mavs had 5 future SRP's before the trade up to 25. If they actually sent two, they have 3 more at their disposal. Add that with Dumont's pocketbook and I can see NYK (31), MEM (32), and MIN (33) being open to a trade down to 48 with future SRP's+Cash.

List of future SRP's:
'27 (CHI)
'29 (HOU)
'30 (PHI)
'32 (Own)
'33 (Own)

*Unknown what was sent to NYK

Now imagine how many seconds we’d have if we didn’t toss them into every trade like candy.

[mvossman]

I think Hollinger is correct tbh. I like Morez, but C+ grade (or B-)  on draft night seems logical. You got a player who was ranked lower without an apparent reason like need. For draft guys it is normal to give such a grade IMO.

I believe he is  more of a 4 than 5 btw, although he is surely going to play both.

Bith Masai and Dusty aren't the guys to draft an undersized C

I think the idea that Morez is undersized is a myth.  The center most associated with Masai is Poeltl, who is a couple inches taller than Morez, but morez has a longer wingspan, a taller standing reach and weighs 10 more pounds.  Dusty played Morez at center whenever Mara was out (which was a lot).  With Lively injury history and Gafford potentially (probably?) gone he will get a lot of minutes at C.

[windjc]

I think Hollinger is correct tbh. I like Morez, but C+ grade (or B-)  on draft night seems logical. You got a player who was ranked lower without an apparent reason like need. For draft guys it is normal to give such a grade IMO.

I believe he is  more of a 4 than 5 btw, although he is surely going to play both.

Bith Masai and Dusty aren't the guys to draft an undersized C

Yeah I think I’ll take our front office and our new coach who has 100% skin in this game to evaluate better than Hollinger. I mean Hollinger does have a pretty amazing record as an NBA GM though, winning 15 titles and all…

[Mavs2021]

I think the idea that Morez is undersized is a myth.  The center most associated with Masai is Poeltl, who is a couple inches taller than Morez, but morez has a longer wingspan, a taller standing reach and weighs 10 more pounds.  Dusty played Morez at center whenever Mara was out (which was a lot).  With Lively injury history and Gafford potentially (probably?) gone he will get a lot of minutes at C.

Are you saying basketball players don´t literally use their head to block and deflect shots, with the possible exception of Dwight Powell.

[Mavs2021]

Yeah I think I’ll take our front office and our new coach who has 100% skin in this game to evaluate better than Hollinger. I mean Hollinger does have a pretty amazing record as an NBA GM though, winning 15 titles and all…

Yeah this is such a huge edge. Imagine how easy the draft would be if every front office had perfect information on the daily life of every prospect. You know his general and basketball social skills, intelligence and his work ethic, his potential and desire to absorb information and improvement or lack thereof. The Mavs had all that information with Morez Johnson and I´m sure if Schmitz/Ujiri felt there was a better prospect, they´d have taken that player. But the floor and ceiling get raised for Morez Johnson for the simple reason that we have perfect information on him (and Lendeborg/Mara).

[Smitty]

@TheSteinLine
I’m told that the many moving parts that landed Cam Carr with the Lakers at No. 24, Sergio De Larrea with the Mavericks at No. 25, Koa Peat with the Suns at No. 30 and netted the Knicks five second-round picks is tracking to take the form of a four-team trade once made official.

[ThisIStheYear]

A month ago, I thought this was a 8 player draft.  (You guys talked me into Burries over the last couple of weeks.)  Still extremely disappointed the top 8 guys went before our pick.  Was out of our control so can't be too mad.

  I and many others had Burries and Mo slotted one pick apart. This was in no way a reach. I’d clearly want Mo over the guys who went after Burries - not even a doubt. Mo is the best defender in college, equally capable of eliminating point guards and centers.  He had the best lane agility score of any player in this draft. His measurements were outstanding. He’s shown some shooting ability. He’s going to be great. Tankathon lists strengths in green and weakness in red on their site. Everyone has at least a few weaknesses, even the best prospects, with two exceptions, Flagg and Mo.  I haven’t seen anyone else with a clean sheet. The Mavs have a keeper.

Once you get rid of the fantasy that the Mavs had some awesome trade down available, they didn’t, there’s just no basis to credibly second guess this pick.

[KillerLeft]

After the initial rationalization , acceptance and even defense of the Morez pick, feeling underwhelmed today. We talked about tiers in the draft and then the Mavs selected a lower tier player as per almost all draft experts.

Hope it works out and  that Morez can be a 3D player at multiple positions than just be a very good undersized center.

Which is why they leaked the Ament stuff. 

Johnson wasn't a huge reach, because reports are that other teams were trying to trade up into the Mavs' range to get him. However, I do think Dallas made a draft day play to switch with MIL at 10 or OKC at 12, and I think the Ament stuff was meant to motivate MIL to play ball...BECAUSE Dallas had already decided to draft Johnson. 

It's really just a matter of how much you believe in Burries. The only two players you can say Dallas "passed on" with a straight face are Burries and Lendenborg, and Lendenborg is very, very obviously not who you draft to build around Cooper Flagg for several reasons. 

The Mavs simply must not have wanted Burries. That's the long and short of it.

[Smitty]

[Smitty]

RIP Ajinca

[hakeemfaan]

On the FAN today they briefly threw around that Lively’ recovery could take much longer and it could be career threatening.

I had never heard that previously and was not sure if it was factual or they were just throwing out worst case scenarios as to why the Mavs drafted Morez

[BigDirk41]

On the FAN today they briefly threw around that Lively’ recovery could take much longer and it could be career threatening.

I had never heard that previously and was not sure if it was factual or they were just throwing out worst case scenarios as to why the Mavs drafted Morez

This is why I don't include Lively in any plans. If he plays and can get healthy, that's a huge bonus, but he hasn't shown any reason to believe in him from a health perspective. The talent is definitely there.

[KillerLeft]

RIP Ajinca

I was literally coming here today specifically to ask if they still had his rights.

[hakeemfaan]

https://x.com/esidery/status/2069756690606535117?s=46

Now we know why SA drafted two bigs

[Smitty]

I think the idea that Morez is undersized is a myth.  The center most associated with Masai is Poeltl, who is a couple inches taller than Morez, but morez has a longer wingspan, a taller standing reach and weighs 10 more pounds.  Dusty played Morez at center whenever Mara was out (which was a lot).  With Lively injury history and Gafford potentially (probably?) gone he will get a lot of minutes at C.

@NickVanExit
NBA players to measure around 6'9 without shoes at the NBA Combine

6'9.5" DeMarcus Cousins
6'9.5" Dwight Powell
6'9.25" Anthony Davis
6'9.25" Moussa Diabate
6'9.25" Daniel Gafford
6'9.0" Dwight Howard
6'9.0" MOREZ JOHNSON JR.
6'8.75" Bam Adebayo
6'8.75" Wendell Carter Jr.
6'8.75" Naz Reid
6'8.5" Blake Griffin
6'8.5" Al Jefferson

[KillerLeft]

https://x.com/esidery/status/2069756690606535117?s=46

Now we know why SA drafted two bigs

We knew that last night. A couple of us literally used the words "red shirt" in the draft thread when he was picked.

Personally, I thought he was going to slide all the way to the late 2nd round. I think it was a waste of a pick.

[Moviemavguy]

Well just ask Devin Harris what happens to your career with foot problems. Too bad because Lively is so likable. He should only come back when he is 110%. I think the new management knows this though unlike Nico who wanted to rush Davis back. It's remarkable how awful Nico really was...not just on the Luka trade front.

[Mavs2021]

How difficult can it be to write a coherent trade explanation? F****** hell.

We send Ajinca and two 2nd rounders  to the Knicks. Okay. What did we get from the Suns? Surely we don´t just give them 1st round picks for free. 

Are those two second round picks going directly to the Knicks from the Suns, which means Mavs effectively paid with Ajinca rights. 
Did the Suns send two additional second round picks to the Knicks, which means Mavs paid with Ajinca rights, two of their own 2nd round picks + two of the Suns 2nd round picks (just acquired) to move from 30 to 25.