2026 NBA draft thread

[Mavs2021]

Sometimes I think we give a little too much credit to scouting.  I think a lot of times when a team hits it big on a later pick, its not they guy they would have chosen if they had an earlier pick.  Some teams have better scouting than others, but there is a lot of luck involved too.  There are just too many variables to get it right every time.

I agree and disagree.

I still think you can identify the teams that generally draft better than others, but another factor is player development/environment.

Look at Omax in Memphis this year. He´s shooting nearly 50/40/90. He has improved his shooting percentages by 8/8/16 and it´s not like he played any meaningful high attention minutes with the Mavs either. So it took Memphis less than year to unlock something the Mavs never could. Hardy never improved either. He was a good 3pt shooter, but he never improved passing, decision-making or finishing at the rim.

I think the Mavs are actually pretty good at drafting, but they should focus on "finished" products like Luka, Brunson, Flagg, Crowder or Howard. On the other hand, when they took athletes that needed big flaws or holes in their games fixed like Hardy/Omax have no clue how to. I see no necessity for Lively to develop a 3pt shot, but I also would not hold my breath for the Mavs to teach him how to like a Brooklyn did with Brook Lopez.