MAVS NEWS:

[Scott41theMavs]

There isn't another player on the roster I feel good about outside of Flagg.

Max Christie and Nembhard were showing some signs early in the season they could be pieces but Christie doesn't look like a starting level player.  Nembhard might not be an NBA level player.  PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford dont look like starting level players either without Luka.  Lively is a walking injury.

They really need to get lucky again in the lottery and hope Lively can stay healthy.

Disagree on Gafford. He has looked much better since they've started assaying pick and rolls with Coop and him.

But your general point remains. This roster is a mess. I believe they would have won a ton more games if Kyrie and Lively had been healthy (the whole year), but yeah, this is a roster full of "nice first guys off the bench" as well as out-and-out spares. 

This fanbase had better pray like crazy for the Mavs to move up in the draft, and there should be an official day of mourning throughout North Texas if we don't. The top five guys in the draft have a fairly clear path to becoming perennial all-stars, and Dybantsa and Wilson may even become superstars. If you're picking 6-9 in this draft, you're only going to get a multi-year all-star with a combination of GM genius and luck. If the Mavs don't move up to the top four, then 1) either they obtain Presti, or 2) they luck into a guy as good as Presti whom we don't know to be as good as Presti at this point, or 3) Flagg will have likely never made the playoffs by the time we control our picks again in 2031. My overall point is, if they don't rise into the top four, it's going to take a genius GM to build a solid team around Flagg over the next four years. Moreover, they'll still need a pretty good one even if they do move up. Thanks a lot, Nico.