06-23-2026, 03:44 PM
(06-23-2026, 03:37 PM)mvossman Wrote: With all the rumors of Mavs taking Ament at 9, I have been diving deeper into him to see if my immediate take is too harsh. I'm not finding a lot of help. Locked on Mavs had a no ceiling guy on who had him in the 20s. Read another draft analysis that had Ament in the 20s. He is just so far away.
But everyone agrees he made significant progress with his body this year, and as a defender.
He just didn't shoot well, that's it.
And when you watch him move with the ball, at that size...it's just sooooo natural and smooth. He looks better with the ball in his hands right now than Flagg did at the end of last season, imo. That's not meant as a criticism of Flagg, but as a strong point for Ament.
There's a legit chance he's the steal of the draft, imo, as in "why wasn't he on that top tier of guys?"
I get it, on a micro and macro level, the ball didn't go in. The results weren't there, and that's how teams trick themselves. But, I feel like the measurables are less deceiving with him than they are with other players. I'd be more excited for Ament than I would be for Carr, for example. I think he might be fool's gold.
I can get behind the idea that it's a bad idea north of a certain number to take a risk like Ament, but if our new talent evaluators (and May) are SURE he's the real deal...I can see it.
I'm still hoping for Brown Jr, but I'd give this an open mind.
Ironically, if those same talent evaluators and May were sure Mara was the real deal, my reaction would be never to trust anything they think again, so what the hell do I know?