MAVS NEWS:

[Scott41theMavs]

Here's my counter to this thinking:

1) With the exception of that Lakers pick, which I would try to keep, personally, none of the draft capital they have available to move is worth very much. It's "add on" capital, not "the point of the deal" capital, but might be helpful in attaching to their salaries (most of which are attached to good players) in order to reshape the roster. 

2) While the player assets they have are good ones, to varying degrees, most (maybe all, with the exception of Davis and/or Lively) are under the line of "good" that would RETURN "usable" draft capital. In other words, you can probably find a way to leverage guys like Gafford and PJW into firsts, here and there, but not "good" firsts, like the kind people like Presti use to build their rosters. I think turning the roster over with that intent will likely leave the team in a much worse position than they are NOW, future included. Because the Mavs' OWN picks aren't and can't be part of a bottom out rebuild plan, it's much more unlikely to draft gems over the next five years than it is to simply be competitive, so my inclination would be to try to accelerate Flagg's growth by skipping the barren wasteland that is typically the rookie contract period for a player like him. I think that, right strings pulled, there's a real chance for them to make the playoffs and possibly even win a round or two NEXT SEASON, which would be INVALUABLE for a young player like him, if so. 

3) He's SO young that he won't even be done with his second contract when the nightmare of the misspent Luka build draft leverage is behind us, and there's a decent chance some of his initial teammates will still be around and contributing by that point. The universe has quite literally laid a path out in front of the Mavs that could solve all of their problems. 

Will it take some GMing talent, expertise, foresight and even a little luck? Absolutely, and I have no argument for those who are currently so down on Harrison that they assume it won't be executed well, but...I think we know him well enough to know what he'll do, and I personally think it's the RIGHT thing to do, given the specific and unique circumstances they find themselves in. And, finding youngish contributors fairly cheaply who fit in right away does seem to be the one thing he has consistently done fairly well to this point. 

As long as the organization understands that what's right for AD and/or Kyrie isn't absolutely, necessarily what's right for the TEAM now (it CAN be, but not absolutely, like it was the day before the lottery), then there's kind of a lot of margin for error around here, all of a sudden. Loads of ways to go.

I would agree with James that the Mavs' most valuable draft capital is the '26 pick, especially given how stacked that one is supposed to be. If CF has growing pains, and AD spends time out with injury, it could be too late by the time Kyrie returns to make a run. A top 14 pick next year could be pretty valuable - and more valuable to the Mavs than what it would net in trade.