2026 NBA draft thread

[Dirknows]

Mullins was 0-8 from the 3-pt line.

Eh shooters shoot. Kid has confidence, which is a big part of being successful in the NBA. Burries is growing on me if we decide to go the 2 guard route with our first pick.

[Winter]

Eh shooters shoot. Kid has confidence, which is a big part of being successful in the NBA. Burries is growing on me if we decide to go the 2 guard route with our first pick.

Burries was good. He looked completely confident from long range, and some of those shots were from wayyyy downtown. He looks like a complete player too.

[F Gump]

I think picking the "perfect" GM is just setting yourself up for disappointment.

We all have preferences, but I'm not going to take my ball and go home because I'm unhappy with the choice.

"I think picking the "perfect" GM is just setting yourself up for disappointment" -- We can't get guarantees of perfection with any GM, so any ole GM will do? Yikes. What a give-up mindset.

Of course, that's what Cuban used the last time -- 'This shoe salesman has no GM skills or experience, but it doesn't matter, he has some relationships that will be helpful and he'll figure it out' -- and it led to the worst moves in the history of the NBA. 

I want the guy with a proven track record of excellence in the needed skills for NBA roster building, not a warm body to fill the big seat because anyone will do. Superior in personnel evaluation (player, coach, staff) for all purposes, superior in negotiation for all purposes, superior in player development of players from all sources, superior in cap management decision-making in a hard cap world. 

The Mavs need The Best, not any ole guy -- because whoever they have will be negotiating against and competing against the skills of The Best, when it comes to assembling a roster to win titles. I'm tired of seeing the Mavs' GM pantsed by those who are EXPERTS. Money should NOT be an obstacle. No excuses.

No GM can be perfect? So what. Some are regularly wayyyyyyyy better. They work the draft and free agency and trades and development and the cap way better than others. We see it over and over. They know how to win the draft, win the trades, win the negotiations, win the personnel needs, win the development quest. Why settle for mediocrity and newbs trying to learn on the job who don't have the proven skills yet? Why not the best?

Presti, please.

[Winter]

"We can't get guarantees of perfection with any GM, so any ole GM will do? "

Did I just say that? No. I did not.

[F Gump]

"We can't get guarantees of perfection with any GM, so any ole GM will do? "

Did I just say that? No. I did not.

It sure sounded like that's EXACTLY what you were saying - that we should be willing to endorse ANY person they hire, because they will all make mistakes.

But I'm not trying to put words in your mouth. All I can do is respond to what it looks like you mean.

I am clear on what I think is best - that the Mavs should pursue the VERY BEST, and get it done. The standard should be to chase and obtain nothing less than The Best. Which I think is Presti. And regardless of the obstacles, to me The Best is what they need to obtain.

Your reply sounded like you don't agree with that, and are in favor of "whoever" without distinction.

Feel free to elaborate on what you mean.

[Winter]

It's a bit of a stretch to even imagine that's what I meant.

I mean other GM candidates can have success here. It's not limited to one candidate. If we don't hire Presti - whose name we have never heard in conjunction with this hire - then I'll hope the GM we do hire will be a good one. That's entirely possible you know. The FO may be unable to hire Presti. We may never even hear if he was interviewed. Either way, I'll pull for whomever is hired because it's what fans do.

I personally would like to see someone outside the organization, and I'm hoping that's the direction they go. If it's Riccardi, then so be it. I'll still pull for his success.

[Winter]

Yaxel Lendborg having a great game as Michigan is starting to pound on St. Louis.

Mara and Johnson having good games too, but Lendborg is everywhere and doing everything.

[F Gump]

It's a bit of a stretch to even imagine that's what I meant.

I mean other GM candidates can have success here. It's not limited to one candidate. If we don't hire Presti - whose name we have never heard in conjunction with this hire - then I'll hope the GM we do hire will be a good one. That's entirely possible you know. The FO may be unable to hire Presti. We may never even hear if he was interviewed. Either way, I'll pull for whomever is hired because it's what fans do.

I personally would like to see someone outside the organization, and I'm hoping that's the direction they go. If it's Riccardi, then so be it. I'll still pull for his success.

Ok. Not arguing over what you meant. (But will argue over whether it was any sort of a stretch to read it as I did. Clearly that was NOT what I thought you were trying to say.)

To reply to what you say you did mean --
... Of course, there are multiple candidates who MIGHT have success. Who are a mystery because they've done nothing. Or who we can gin up excuses for past failures and think that working in Dallas will turn them into a prince instead of a frog. I get it (and have never said or thought otherwise). 
... Of course I will hope for success (even by raw luck) no matter who they hire.
... Of course there are other GM's besides Presti who have given past evidence they could be a good one. But I see Presti as The Best, and when I do, why would I want anything less?

And all of that ^ to me is blather. CYA angles, after assuming failure is the only possible result for trying to get what I really truly need to do.

You tell me they haven't been linked to Presti, but can you think of WHY that might be the case (other than assuming it's an indicator of a pointless dead end)? I can. In that vein, let me add a vital point that you and the naysayers fail to see. If the Mavs want THE BEST NBA GM in the whole world, whoever it is, where do you think they might find him and what might he be doing these days? If you start by eliminating any and every one in that category, you are very unlikely to get The Best, or even anything remotely closed to it. 

So I land where I have been. Presti please. Go get The Best, Dumont. Don't settle. It may be costly, because of where you will find him, but if you want to be the best, you have to hire The Best.

Identify The Guy. Then Get The Guy. Nothing less than the one who has PROVEN he is an EXPERT in all the GM-related skills. A guy who wins drafts, wins trades, wins development, wins cap-managing. Not a "hope he can figure it out" guy. Don't tell me that other teams are the only ones who can have nice things, and the Mavs (and Mavs fans) must settle for leftovers. 

THE BEST. In light of past history, I am not really interested in a pursuit of second rung guys, nor "this guy might work out okay" ideas, NOR EXCUSES to justify candidates we already know are not that guy. To me, trying to justify "Mr Not Really The Best" feels like an endorsement of some Nico Jr jerkwad GM wanna-be (because that's the very path that led us to Nico the Idiot). 

Presti please.

[DallasMaverick]

Some ChatGPT observations:

Drafting is the most measurable GM task. Success is often defined by a player reaching an "All-Star" or "All-NBA" level:

Top Picks (1–5): GMs hit on these approximately 28% to 53% of the time for All-NBA talent. Specifically, about 70% of #1 overall picks become All-Stars.
Lottery Picks (1–14): The success rate for finding an All-Star drops to roughly 25.7% to 28.3%.
Non-Lottery 1st Round (15–30): Success rates for All-Star talent plummet to approximately 8%.
Second Round (31–60): Finding a high-level contributor is rare, with only a 2.6% chance of drafting an All-Star.

https://www.hoopshype.com/story/sports/n...730095007/

[DallasMaverick]

https://www.emerald.com/sbm/article-abst...m=fulltext

[DallasMaverick]

Decision Grading (Recent vs. Historical)
While Ujiri is legendary for the 2019 championship run, his recent moves have received mixed evaluations:

Move Date Grade / Impact
Kawhi Leonard Trade 2018 A+: Secured the franchise's first NBA title.
Pascal Siakam Trade 2024 A-: Successfully extracted three future first-round picks from Indiana.
Scottie Barnes Extension 2024 B+: Secured a 5-year, $224M max extension for the team's cornerstone.
Brandon Ingram Trade 2025 C+: Attempted a "win-now" pivot that ultimately failed to secure a playoff spot.
O.G. Anunoby Trade 2023 C: Criticized for not maximizing value or extending Anunoby before trading him.

Last "Good" Decisions
In his final act as Raptors President during the 2025 NBA Draft, Ujiri left the team with highly-rated prospects. Scouts gave his selection of Collin Murray-Boyles (#9 overall) an A- and second-rounder Alijah Martin an A+. Despite his exit, the roster he built led Toronto to a surprising 12–5 start in the current 2025–26 season under new leadership

[DallasMaverick]

Based on analyses of NBA draft picks, trades, and roster management, NBA General Managers make "good" or successful decisions—defined as decisions that improve team performance or land productive players—roughly 40% to 50% of the time, though this varies significantly depending on the type of decision.

Performance Variance: Top GMs, such as Brad Stevens (Celtics), have demonstrated success rates closer to 70%, while others struggle to sustain positive results.

[DallasMaverick]

Interesting paper comparing success rates of analytic- vs. non-analytic decision-makers in MLB and the NBA.

https://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1060&context=artsci_stu#:~:text=Page%202,win%20percentage%20after%20an%20acquisition.

Ratings of GM's based on a ton of metrics, albeit 2023:
https://sports.yahoo.com/the-danny-ainge...24265.html

Players who are traded underperform for awhile:
https://www.apbr.org/metrics/viewtopic.p...his%20year.

[F Gump]

Decision Grading (Recent vs. Historical)
While Ujiri is legendary for the 2019 championship run, his recent moves have received mixed evaluations:

You keep pimping Ujiri for the job. Is he your preference? Or is he just a famous name distraction to keep from having to figure out who YOU think the Mavs should pursue?

He's certainly not mine. 

I think he did some good things, but lots of GMs do something good at some point. For Ujiri, (a) he had one big swing that worked out to win a title, but then just as quickly Kawhi was gone and the Raps' path went into the toilet, (b) he made some good draft picks (he was better than most at draft selections) but couldn't figure how how to make the pieces fit to be an elite team (other than when the infusion of Kawhi for a year fixed everything), and © his trade results didn't really pop to improve the team, with some of them simply making them worse.

I want the best. 

Presti, please.

[Winter]

Boozer struggled the first half, but looked good the second half. TCUs defense was stifling most of the game.

The best player in that Duke-TCU game might have been Saar for Duke. He looks like a good second-rounder at worst.

[vfromlmf]

Bummer Louisville lost. Next time we’ll see Brown Jr will be NBA Summer League.

[DallasMaverick]

Acuff was unstoppable.

So poised, so effortless.

[Mavs2021]

Is Swain Josh Howard or Justin Anderson? Also nice win Bucks. I know it´s just a 2nd rounder, but that Phoenix pick could go as high as #42, just two games ahead of the Hornets.

[DallasMaverick]

You keep pimping Ujiri for the job. Is he your preference? Or is he just a famous name distraction to keep from having to figure out who YOU think the Mavs should pursue?

He's certainly not mine. 

I think he did some good things, but lots of GMs do something good at some point. For Ujiri, (a) he had one big swing that worked out to win a title, but then just as quickly Kawhi was gone and the Raps' path went into the toilet, (b) he made some good draft picks (he was better than most at draft selections) but couldn't figure how how to make the pieces fit to be an elite team (other than when the infusion of Kawhi for a year fixed everything), and © his trade results didn't really pop to improve the team, with some of them simply making them worse.

I want the best. 

Presti, please.

Not really a fan of Uriji, but using him as an illustration of how today’s bright, shiny winner can quickly turn into tomorrow’s dull, boring loser.

All it takes is a couple of misses to tank a GM’s perceived prowess. How’s Danny Ainge doing? At one point, he could do no wrong.

Is there a regression to the mean?

[Mavs03]

I've seen enough. I want Acuff in Dallas. When you need a basket late, give me Acuff. I understand he's a below average defender (aren't Brunson and Lilliard who Acuff has been compared to?). Nonetheless, I've got Christie, Flagg, PJ and Lively covering him on the defensive end.

Acuff
Christie
Flagg
PJ
Lively

That's a young team that can grow together. I know Irving will start, but eventually Acuff would be our future PG.

Throw in the other 2 picks from this year's draft along with our role players (Marshall, Gafford, Nembhard) and a full MLE player in free agency...that's a team that can compete for a top 4 team in the West.