Mavs Draft Preview pt.3: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

April 23, 2013 Leave a comment

This is Part 3 of a five-part draft preview in which I’ll pretend I know what Dallas will do, although its draft behavior in the past has been difficult to predict. (The last player Dallas itself drafted who eventually appeared in a Mavs jersey was Nick Fazekas, selected in 2007. Of course, Dallas indirectly drafted Jae Crowder, Jared Cunningham and Bernard James this year, but that was through a trade with Cleveland.)

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Georgia Shooting Guard

Caldwell-Pope has benefited from players like Glenn Robinson III and Marcus Smart returning to school, explaining his rising draft stock. The guard has played heavy minutes at Georgia for two seasons, and he’s definitely produced, but his inconsistency leaves much to be desired. KCP’s TS% was ninth-best in the SEC in 2012-13 (he was named SEC Player of the Year) but he shot below 40% from the field in six of his last eight games at Georgia. In those eight games, he attempted 65 3-pointers. He’s not trigger-shy.
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Mavs Draft Preview pt. 2: Kelly Olynyk

April 22, 2013 Leave a comment

This is Part 2 of a five-part draft preview in which I’ll pretend I know what Dallas will do, although its draft behavior in the past has been difficult to predict. (The last player Dallas itself drafted who eventually appeared in a Mavs jersey was Nick Fazekas, selected in 2007. Of course, Dallas indirectly drafted Jae Crowder, Jared Cunningham and Bernard James this year, but that was through a trade with Cleveland.)

Kelly Olynyk – Gonzaga Center

Gonzaga center Kelly Olynyk is a weird-looking dude, but he might actually make sense for Dallas. Courtesy of SD Dirk's Flickr.

Gonzaga center Kelly Olynyk is a weird-looking dude, but he might actually make sense for Dallas. Courtesy of SD Dirk’s Flickr.

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Filed under Mavericks, What they're saying

Mavs Draft Preview pt. 1: Michael Carter-Williams

April 21, 2013 Leave a comment

The Mavericks didn’t make the playoffs for the first time since 2000, so Dallas has found itself in the unique position of being able to draft a Lottery player. Unfortunately, the Mavericks were “good” enough to finish with the second-best record of any non-playoff team (bested only by Utah) so odds are Dallas will land the 13th pick in what many draft experts are calling the worst draft in a very, very long time. Many possible first-round prospects, including Michigan’s Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson III as well as Oklahoma State’s surefire lottery selection Marcus Smart, are returning to school. That’s great for next year’s bad teams, but Dallas needs help now. Where will they look?

The 13th spot in the draft is pretty undesirable to everybody. It’s usually where the “This Guy Might Be Good With Proper Coaching” players go, well after the “This Guy Is Good” and “He Has Potential” players are scooped up within the first 10 picks. By the time the Mavericks make their first selection (assuming they don’t trade down, of course) Nerlens Noel, Trey Burke and Ben McLemore will be long gone, and the chances of seeing Shabazz Muhammad or Alex Len drop into the teens are slim.

This is Part 1 of a five-part draft preview in which I’ll pretend I know what Dallas will do, although their draft behavior in the past has been difficult to predict. (The last player Dallas itself drafted who eventually appeared in a Mavs jersey was Nick Fazekas, who was selected in 2007. Of course, Dallas indirectly drafted Jae Crowder, Jared Cunningham and Bernard James this year, but that was through a trade with Cleveland.) Anyway, here we go.
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Filed under Mavericks, What they're saying

Instead of going in detail, let’s just turn it over

April 11, 2013 Leave a comment

There’s nothing advanced about the Mavs’ 2012-13 season. Really.

Instead of writing a complex think piece full of wonderful stats and very small numbers, I’ll just do what the Mavs did this year: talk about turnovers.

Dallas will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2001, and unless the Mavs can win two out of their last four games, which seems unlikely after their terrible performance last night against Phoenix, Dallas will lose more games this season than in any since 1997-98. Ouch.

It’s been a story of underwhelming performances, bad crunch-time play and bad attempts at playing defense. Fundamentally speaking, this year’s Dallas team was the worst I’ve seen since the pre-Dirk Mavs rolled out starting lineups featuring Robert Pack and Erick Strickland, when beating the Bulls in 1998 (coincidentally the last time Dallas lost this many games and also the team’s last season without Dirk) was considered the franchise’s greatest accomplishment in nearly a decade. I was at that game, and I remember Cedric Ceballos’ fadeaway miracle. I didn’t understand why everyone was so excited, but the Mavericks were that terrible. It was a milestone, for sure.

(Seriously, it was. They made a video about it. And when I was a kid, I watched this over and over again. That game really was my Super Bowl growing up. I also didn’t know the difference between the Super Bowl and the NBA Finals. I was seven.)


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Filed under Mavericks, Reactions

Dirk is back, but he wasn’t gone for long

April 2, 2013 Leave a comment

Dirk is still the man.

Dirk is still the man.

The Mavs and Lakers play tonight in what’s basically a must-win for Dallas. The Mavs are two games behind the Jazz for the 8th seed in the West, and Utah has the tiebreaker (Dallas has two games in hand on Utah and one on L.A.). If Dallas loses tonight, its chances are grim.

If the Mavs lose any night, their chances are grim. But with Dirk, there’s always hope.
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