2026 NBA draft thread

[myconsumerclub]

We get who we get I trust the basketball gods to bring us a star that will fit with this team.

I hope we find a couple of future starters with our 2 first round picks and we snag a PG and a C. Now if we can win a top 4 pick that changes things. Then I need to think about what is possible if we trade down.

Lively is probably just getting out of a boot no telling what we have this year at the 5 with him but we cannot trust him till we see him play a full year healthy, so if we get anything from Lively it is a bonus and we should draft a 5 as insurance. At 30 we can get a quality big man that maybe able to start. That is the depth this draft offers.

Mara, Veesar, Krivas, or Reedjr all 4 are a good fit with our 2nd pick and they will do the job fine enough behind Lively plus should be an improvement over Gafford. Now you can move Cisse up a notch to 3rd string center.

At #47 whatever pick we get if Momcilovic is there he is another guy I want to take. He is almost 50% on 3's hitting at .487% on 7.5 shots a game. That is strong enough I might want to just take him with our 2nd pick so we get a shooter.

[Scott41theMavs]

We get who we get I trust the basketball gods to bring us a star that will fit with this team.

I hope we find a couple of future starters with our 2 first round picks and we snag a PG and a C. Now if we can win a top 4 pick that changes things. Then I need to think about what is possible if we trade down.

Lively is probably just getting out of a boot no telling what we have this year at the 5 with him but we cannot trust him till we see him play a full year healthy, so if we get anything from Lively it is a bonus and we should draft a 5 as insurance. At 30 we can get a quality big man that maybe able to start. That is the depth this draft offers.

Mara, Veesar, Krivas, or Reedjr all 4 are a good fit with our 2nd pick and they will do the job fine enough behind Lively plus should be an improvement over Gafford. Now you can move Cisse up a notch to 3rd string center.

At #47 whatever pick we get if Momcilovic is there he is another guy I want to take. He is almost 50% on 3's hitting at .487% on 7.5 shots a game. That is strong enough I might want to just take him with our 2nd pick so we get a shooter.

Obviously the Friday night games have big implications on the lower end of the lottery. That is of interest to me, not if we get a top four pick - I would break things if the Mavs traded down from that, unless we have the one or two and trade down for the third or fourth plus some very juicy assets - but rather if we don't and end up with the 9th or 10th pick.

[F Gump]

Obviously the Friday night games have big implications on the lower end of the lottery. That is of interest to me, not if we get a top four pick - I would break things if the Mavs traded down from that, unless we have the one or two and trade down for the third or fourth plus some very juicy assets - but rather if we don't and end up with the 9th or 10th pick.

"Obviously the Friday night games have big implications on the lower end of the lottery." -- I'm not sure I understand what you are saying here ... but nothing that happens Friday has any impact on the Mavs' FRP pick in the lottery. 

Regarding the Mavs 2nd rd pick, coming from PHX, we want the Suns to win and make the playoffs and as a result get the worst FRP of the 3-way tie with PHI and ORL, because ties flip-flop the draft order in rd 2.

[Winter]

The Noceilings evaluation of the 2026 Draft Class

https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/five-end...ways-final

[Scott41theMavs]

"Obviously the Friday night games have big implications on the lower end of the lottery." -- I'm not sure I understand what you are saying here ... but nothing that happens Friday has any impact on the Mavs' FRP pick in the lottery. 

Regarding the Mavs 2nd rd pick, coming from PHX, we want the Suns to win and make the playoffs and as a result get the worst FRP of the 3-way tie with PHI and ORL, because ties flip-flop the draft order in rd 2.

How soon we forget.

If the Mavs had made the playoffs last year, no lottery and no Cooper.

Right now, Charlotte is 14th in the lottery odds/order, and the Tragic are tied with two other teams for 16th. If Ball and his WWE heel cheating beat Orlando, then Charlotte falls out of the lottery, while the Magic - whose pick goes to the Grizz - are in. The Warriors are 11th in the lottery odds and Suns, whose pick goes to Charlotte, are one of those other teams tied for 16th. If Steph pulls off another miracle for the privilege of getting annihilated by the Thunder, then the Warriors fall out of the lottery and Charlotte has another pick there.

If there's a team who ends up picking lower than us with more than one low lottery pick, that, to me, is the Mavs' trade partner if they have the 9th or 10th pick and one of those teams has two picks in the early to mid teens (throw in the 30 and our second rounder). Or let's say the Mavs get second, the Grizz get fourth, and whoever gets the first pick takes Dybantsa. I'll take the Grizz's fourth and their other lotto pick (if Charlotte wins).

[michaeltex]

So....

OKC is going into this draft with (pre-lottery) with #12 (could be higher), #18, and #37. Rich get richer. But they may be facing some tough decisions in the offseason.

All 15 currently on the roster are either signed for next year (SGA, Holmgren and Caruson add up to >$100M!) or are on TOs. So something has to give. Hartenstein, Dort, K Williams, Wallace and Topic are key TO guys.

BTW, in the next season (26-27) SGA+Caruso+Holmgren+J Williams add up to >$190M just between themselves. So they, OKC, are about to get into serious salary management and apron issues. I'm guessing they will count on the FRP pipeline to sustain them into the future, but that means shedding some of your proven contributors as you move forward and counting on green talent.

If you claim a TO in it's last year, does that affect FA status at the end of that year? If you don't sign them to an extension before the TO expires are they then UFA?
Does enacting a TO then trading count as a SnT, with possible hard cap implications?
Does trading away a key guy like Hartenstein or Dort send the wrong message to the rest of the team?

I don't see Presti just letting anyone walk without getting something in return, probably to keep the draft pipeline full, but there will have to be salaries involved as well.

I guess I could see where Presti might want to move somewhere (like DAL) where he could stay in team building mode rather than have to deal with salary administration decisions. But I don't really expect him to call in the moving trucks any time soon.

[F Gump]

How soon we forget.

If the Mavs had made the playoffs last year, no lottery and no Cooper.

Right now, Charlotte is 14th in the lottery odds/order, and the Tragic are tied with two other teams for 16th. If Ball and his WWE heel cheating beat Orlando, then Charlotte falls out of the lottery, while the Magic - whose pick goes to the Grizz - are in. The Warriors are 11th in the lottery odds and Suns, whose pick goes to Charlotte, are one of those other teams tied for 16th. If Steph pulls off another miracle for the privilege of getting annihilated by the Thunder, then the Warriors fall out of the lottery and Charlotte has another pick there.

If there's a team who ends up picking lower than us with more than one low lottery pick, that, to me, is the Mavs' trade partner if they have the 9th or 10th pick and one of those teams has two picks in the early to mid teens (throw in the 30 and our second rounder). Or let's say the Mavs get second, the Grizz get fourth, and whoever gets the first pick takes Dybantsa. I'll take the Grizz's fourth and their other lotto pick (if Charlotte wins).

1 I would not be in the trade-down biz. Just find BPA at that point, and make your pick. The odds are close to certain they will end up with either a top-4 pick, or a good guard prospect from the pool of a half-dozen waiting to be picked (Acuff, Wagler, Flemings, Burries, Brown, Philon). I'm good with picking BPA. 

2 As far as the way the play-in will impact the draft, since it's right on top of us, I'm the guy who prefers to let the games of the next couple days get played, and then see where things end up.

3 My highest draft-related event of interest anytime soon will actually be on Monday. Do they win the 7-8 coin flip with ATL? 

For anyone curious, here's where slots 7 and 8 have ended up after the lottery, in the current odds-flattened setup:
Slot 7 - 1,4,4,4,7,9,9
Slot 8 - 2,3,8,8,8,10,2

4 One perhaps-meaningful item about the draft. If there are a whole pool of players who TRULY offer the exact same potential (MAYBE like those 6 guards), there's a better-than-0 advantage to the team ending up with a lower pick. The player is the same, but the salary being paid is notably different. For example, the salary diff between pick 5 and pick 10 would be about 1/3 of the salary each year (9,677,000 vs 6,418,000 the first year). While not major diff in NBA terms, by yr 4 the salaries would be almost 4M apart. If the payroll is tight, an extra 4M could help a lot.

Would I want the Mavs trade down to save salary and to assume the players are all the same? No. I want the best choice they can figure. But ....

[F Gump]

So....

OKC is going into this draft with (pre-lottery) with #12 (could be higher), #18, and #37. Rich get richer. But they may be facing some tough decisions in the offseason.

All 15 currently on the roster are either signed for next year (SGA, Holmgren and Caruson add up to >$100M!) or are on TOs. So something has to give. Hartenstein, Dort, K Williams, Wallace and Topic are key TO guys.

BTW, in the next season (26-27) SGA+Caruso+Holmgren+J Williams add up to >$190M just between themselves. So they, OKC, are about to get into serious salary management and apron issues. I'm guessing they will count on the FRP pipeline to sustain them into the future, but that means shedding some of your proven contributors as you move forward and counting on green talent.

If you claim a TO in it's last year, does that affect FA status at the end of that year? If you don't sign them to an extension before the TO expires are they then UFA?
Does enacting a TO then trading count as a SnT, with possible hard cap implications?
Does trading away a key guy like Hartenstein or Dort send the wrong message to the rest of the team?

I don't see Presti just letting anyone walk without getting something in return, probably to keep the draft pipeline full, but there will have to be salaries involved as well.

I guess I could see where Presti might want to move somewhere (like DAL) where he could stay in team building mode rather than have to deal with salary administration decisions. But I don't really expect him to call in the moving trucks any time soon.

Yes OKC will be in a salary crunch, and they won't keep all their good players. Counting the draft picks, they are staring at about $45M over Apron 2, and $65M over the tax line, which is an impossible payroll (about 275M of tax). It's an interesting exercise to try to figure out what they will do. They MIGHT use some of the picks as bait. They MIGHT decline some options, but then use Bird rights to re-sign the player at a lower salary. They MIGHT use some of the 2026 picks (or recent draftees, or future picks) as bait to trade away a bigger salary for a smaller salary. Many possibilities, like a bit of this and a bit of that and some things we don't expect.

QUESTIONS
If you claim a TO in its last year, does that affect FA status at the end of that year? 
The TO must first be exercised to be able to trade the player. His situation will be the same with the new team as with OKC had he had his TO exercised but not been traded -- you can extend if eligible, re-sign using Bird rights, etc.

If you don't sign them to an extension before the TO expires are they then UFA?
If OKC trades them, the TO must have been exercised to do so. 

Does enacting a TO then trading count as a SnT, with possible hard cap implications?
No. It's a player who has one year left on his deal, and will be a FA at the end (if not extended beforehand).

Does trading away a key guy like Hartenstein or Dort send the wrong message to the rest of the team? 
Hard to say, but we can't assume either will necessarily end up being traded. There are many possibilities, lots of moving parts in play.

[michaeltex]

Yes OKC will be in a salary crunch, and they won't keep all their good players. Counting the draft picks, they are staring at about $45M over Apron 2, and $65M over the tax line, which is an impossible payroll (about 275M of tax). It's an interesting exercise to try to figure out what they will do. They MIGHT use some of the picks as bait. They MIGHT decline some options, but then use Bird rights to re-sign the player at a lower salary. They MIGHT use some of the 2026 picks (or recent draftees, or future picks) as bait to trade away a bigger salary for a smaller salary. Many possibilities, like a bit of this and a bit of that and some things we don't expect.

QUESTIONS
If you claim a TO in its last year, does that affect FA status at the end of that year? 
The TO must first be exercised to be able to trade the player. His situation will be the same with the new team as with OKC had he had his TO exercised but not been traded -- you can extend if eligible, re-sign using Bird rights, etc.

If you don't sign them to an extension before the TO expires are they then UFA?
If OKC trades them, the TO must have been exercised to do so. 

Does enacting a TO then trading count as a SnT, with possible hard cap implications?
No. It's a player who has one year left on his deal, and will be a FA at the end (if not extended beforehand).

Does trading away a key guy like Hartenstein or Dort send the wrong message to the rest of the team? 
Hard to say, but we can't assume either will necessarily end up being traded. There are many possibilities, lots of moving parts in play.

Thanks for the info!

FWIW, for next season, Hartenstein's TO is $28.5M and Dort's is $18.2M. I'm sure they will both want raises in an extension, but as I stated, OKC is already $190M+ with just 4 players. Another $60m-ish for Hartenstein and Dort seems like a big pill to swallow. 

I guess I'm just seeing a overflow of riches in OKC and wondering if DAL can somehow tap into that stream to maybe nab one or two contributors while "helping" OKC with their impending logjam.

Of course that would presume a DAL GM that knows what they are doing.

[Scott41theMavs]

1 I would not be in the trade-down biz. Just find BPA at that point, and make your pick. The odds are close to certain they will end up with either a top-4 pick, or a good guard prospect from the pool of a half-dozen waiting to be picked (Acuff, Wagler, Flemings, Burries, Brown, Philon). I'm good with picking BPA. 

2 As far as the way the play-in will impact the draft, since it's right on top of us, I'm the guy who prefers to let the games of the next couple days get played, and then see where things end up.

3 My highest draft-related event of interest anytime soon will actually be on Monday. Do they win the 7-8 coin flip with ATL? 

For anyone curious, here's where slots 7 and 8 have ended up after the lottery, in the current odds-flattened setup:
Slot 7 - 1,4,4,4,7,9,9
Slot 8 - 2,3,8,8,8,10,2

4 One perhaps-meaningful item about the draft. If there are a whole pool of players who TRULY offer the exact same potential (MAYBE like those 6 guards), there's a better-than-0 advantage to the team ending up with a lower pick. The player is the same, but the salary being paid is notably different. For example, the salary diff between pick 5 and pick 10 would be about 1/3 of the salary each year (9,677,000 vs 6,418,000 the first year). While not major diff in NBA terms, by yr 4 the salaries would be almost 4M apart. If the payroll is tight, an extra 4M could help a lot.

Would I want the Mavs trade down to save salary and to assume the players are all the same? No. I want the best choice they can figure. But ....

Look at it this way - I see two major talent cutoff points in this year's draft - after four, and after nine. What do the Mavs really need to happen? Only one of the top four players is going to give them sufficient improvement for next year (in spite of being a rookie) and for the few years after since we do not have our own picks. If the Mavs don't move, the ship has sailed and the pooch is screwed, so to speak. I don't believe any one guy after four is going to make enough difference - Acuff's defense offsets the fantastic offensive impact he will have (and the Mavs won't pick 5th or 6th, where he's going, anyway). At that point, for this draft to be as impactful as Nico's idiocy made it necessary to be, I think they need to grab two guys who will be perennial quality starters rather than one barely-star. I've already said I want no part of Brown with a top nine pick. If they're picking tenth and Philon and the other good guards are gone, then I would be actively angry *if* they had the opportunity to grab two mid-teen picks in this draft and didn't.

Of course, it all depends on the mind of the guy making the picks. If he's a Keith Grant, it's not going to matter where we pick. If it's a Presti, then I will trust him to make the right picks/decisions wherever that may be.

[F Gump]

Look at it this way - I see two major talent cutoff points in this year's draft - after four, and after nine. What do the Mavs really need to happen? Only one of the top four players is going to give them sufficient improvement for next year (in spite of being a rookie) and for the few years after since we do not have our own picks. If the Mavs don't move, the ship has sailed and the pooch is screwed, so to speak. I don't believe any one guy after four is going to make enough difference - Acuff's defense offsets the fantastic offensive impact he will have (and the Mavs won't pick 5th or 6th, where he's going, anyway). At that point, for this draft to be as impactful as Nico's idiocy made it necessary to be, I think they need to grab two guys who will be perennial quality starters rather than one barely-star. I've already said I want no part of Brown with a top nine pick. If they're picking tenth and Philon and the other good guards are gone, then I would be actively angry *if* they had the opportunity to grab two mid-teen picks in this draft and didn't.

Of course, it all depends on the mind of the guy making the picks. If he's a Keith Grant, it's not going to matter where we pick. If it's a Presti, then I will trust him to make the right picks/decisions wherever that may be.

I'm not convinced Brown will be a bad pick or the last PG standing. The No Ceilings guys' video provided a good (and informative) analysis of his game, the worries that exist, and some of the tremendous upside he might bring to the table. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urMRv27y9uo

They noted items like a growth spurt that may have been part of the back issues, and the back issues/forced missed games leading to the inconsistency, layered with info about some mid-season off-the-charts performances that hint he MIGHT be the very best of the group, once he gets healthy. I would encourage you to take a look (and perhaps mitigate your worry over Mavs getting him in the draft).

I do agree that the questions raised by the back injury demand an expert. I would think an expert GM (Presti, please!) who then hired an expert medical team (Casey, please!) is how you want these things figured out.

In any event, at this point, with more info, I'm now very open to the idea of Brown. He might be THE star PG in this draft.

ONE MORE GENERAL NOTE. There are some key dates looming and we are only about 3 weeks from knowing way more than we do now, and reducing the things we have to speculate about. For example, we still don't know how tall Brown (or any of the others) truly are. That info is coming, pre-draft, in May, and the results may considerably juggle the evaluations. The schedule of informative events:

Apr 17 (after games) Non-lottery draft order set, other than ties and lottery
Apr 20 Coin flip to resolve ties in records for lottery seeds (if neither team is drawn) and other draft order
Apr 24  Deadline for a player to decide if he is in/out of this draft
May 8-10  G-League combine, with extensive measurements and tests and drills
May 10 Draft lottery
May 10 NBA Combine begins, when we get accurate physical measurements of all kinds

[DallasMaverick]

I'm not convinced Brown will be a bad pick or the last PG standing. The No Ceilings guys' video provided a good (and informative) analysis of his game, the worries that exist, and some of the tremendous upside he might bring to the table. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urMRv27y9uo

They noted items like a growth spurt that may have been part of the back issues, and the back issues/forced missed games leading to the inconsistency, layered with info about some mid-season off-the-charts performances that hint he MIGHT be the very best of the group, once he gets healthy. I would encourage you to take a look (and perhaps mitigate your worry over Mavs getting him in the draft).

I do agree that the questions raised by the back injury demand an expert. I would think an expert GM (Presti, please!) who then hired an expert medical team (Casey, please!) is how you want these things figured out.

In any event, at this point, with more info, I'm now very open to the idea of Brown. He might be THE star PG in this draft.

ONE MORE GENERAL NOTE. There are some key dates looming and we are only about 3 weeks from knowing way more than we do now, and reducing the things we have to speculate about. For example, we still don't know how tall Brown (or any of the others) truly are. That info is coming, pre-draft, in May, and the results may considerably juggle the evaluations. The schedule of informative events:

Apr 17 (after games) Non-lottery draft order set, other than ties and lottery
Apr 20 Coin flip to resolve ties in records for lottery seeds (if neither team is drawn) and other draft order
Apr 24  Deadline for a player to decide if he is in/out of this draft
May 8-10  G-League combine, with extensive measurements and tests and drills
May 10 Draft lottery
May 10 NBA Combine begins, when we get accurate physical measurements of all kinds

I saw a study that concluded that physical measurements are often over-weighted by teams during the draft.

It’s like they’re saying “Heck if I know who’s going to pan out and who’s not, so I’ll go with something I CAN measure!”

[Dirknows]

Man, Flagg and Darryn Peterson are gonna tear the league up for years to come. I’m just gonna continue to try and speak this into existence. But if they end up with pick 8 or 9 I’m sure they will just take the best guard remaining. I still like Flemings the best with his 2 way upside. Acuffs size and defense and Waglers lack of explosiveness are big red flags for me.

[Mavs2021]

Thanks for the info!

FWIW, for next season, Hartenstein's TO is $28.5M and Dort's is $18.2M. I'm sure they will both want raises in an extension, but as I stated, OKC is already $190M+ with just 4 players. Another $60m-ish for Hartenstein and Dort seems like a big pill to swallow. 

I guess I'm just seeing a overflow of riches in OKC and wondering if DAL can somehow tap into that stream to maybe nab one or two contributors while "helping" OKC with their impending logjam.

Of course that would presume a DAL GM that knows what they are doing.

My assumption is OKC will definitely retain Dort. They don´t have another big wing defender like him. Once a defender has established he can foul whichever way he wants without getting called for it, he becomes absolutely invaluable to his team. More torn on Hartenstein. They have Chet. They have Jaylin Williams. There is a chance they´ll try to replace his minutes on the cheap. He still started 46 games and played 26 MPG. He´s also an injury protection insurance, so Chet does not have to bang with the big boys during the regular season.

To me the odd man out is Caruso. 60/3 is a huge deal for a situational bench player on 18 MPG, 6/2/2, shooting 42/29/80. Yes his defense is elite, but Wallace has basically taken his spot with McCain, Mitchell and Joe stepping in on the cheap. Caruso will be our chance to pounce on OKC with the big TPE. I think they´ll use one of their 1st round picks to dump Caruso. We are in rebuilding mode, our cap is healthy, we need an elite defender. I think it makes a ton of sense.

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

My assumption is OKC will definitely retain Dort. They don´t have another big wing defender like him. Once a defender has established he can foul whichever way he wants without getting called for it, he becomes absolutely invaluable to his team. More torn on Hartenstein. They have Chet. They have Jaylin Williams. There is a chance they´ll try to replace his minutes on the cheap. He still started 46 games and played 26 MPG. He´s also an injury protection insurance, so Chet does not have to bang with the big boys during the regular season.

To me the odd man out is Caruso. 60/3 is a huge deal for a situational bench player on 18 MPG, 6/2/2, shooting 42/29/80. Yes his defense is elite, but Wallace has basically taken his spot with McCain, Mitchell and Joe stepping in on the cheap. Caruso will be our chance to pounce on OKC with the big TPE. I think they´ll use one of their 1st round picks to dump Caruso. We are in rebuilding mode, our cap is healthy, we need an elite defender. I think it makes a ton of sense.

The most "Thunder" outcome would be them landing a top 3 pick, drafting AJ/Boozer and then trading Chet or JW and their expensive contract for 15,000 more #1's. They'd then be able to keep their depth. 

If there's a lottery outcome that positions the Mavs to deal with OKC, I'd be interested in Cason Wallace. Wallace is soon to be due an extension. This begs the question: Would either team rather have Wallace on an extension or Ladarious Philon on a rookie deal?

[windjc]

My assumption is OKC will definitely retain Dort. They don´t have another big wing defender like him. Once a defender has established he can foul whichever way he wants without getting called for it, he becomes absolutely invaluable to his team. More torn on Hartenstein. They have Chet. They have Jaylin Williams. There is a chance they´ll try to replace his minutes on the cheap. He still started 46 games and played 26 MPG. He´s also an injury protection insurance, so Chet does not have to bang with the big boys during the regular season.

To me the odd man out is Caruso. 60/3 is a huge deal for a situational bench player on 18 MPG, 6/2/2, shooting 42/29/80. Yes his defense is elite, but Wallace has basically taken his spot with McCain, Mitchell and Joe stepping in on the cheap. Caruso will be our chance to pounce on OKC with the big TPE. I think they´ll use one of their 1st round picks to dump Caruso. We are in rebuilding mode, our cap is healthy, we need an elite defender. I think it makes a ton of sense.

And how are they going to keep all those players you think they will keep? Trade picks to the commissioner for more tax room?

[windjc]

Anyone that the Thunder don’t resign, and it’ll be multiple players, will get paid more than they are worth by another team and they won’t thrive the way they did in OK. Dallas can do better.

[Mavs2021]

And how are they going to keep all those players you think they will keep? Trade picks to the commissioner for more tax room?

  Trade Caruso + #17 into air, waive Williams, pick up the options of Hartenstein and Dort.

Williams 41.2
Chet 41.2
SGA 40.8
Hartenstein 28.5
Dort 18.2
Joe 11.3
Wiggins 9.2
Williams 7.7
Wallace 7.4
Topic 5.4
Sorber 4.8
McCain 4.4
Mitchell 2.8
___________
222.9
1st round pick (12th)
2nd round pick (37th)

2nd apron 222.0

Imho there is no way that Hartenstein will get anywhere above 20M going forward, so the Thunder can re-negotiate his contract in way that they land exactly under the 2nd apron. 

Obviously there is the option that they just let Hartenstein go instead of Caruso, keep both picks and basically land more or less at the 2nd apron.

[myconsumerclub]

What is interesting to me is seeing who people think we might be able to trade off and if possible use that trade to free up roster spots and acquire additional draft picks.

Gafford and PJ have been mentioned and I have seen Naji mentioned as well. B Will shot very poorly from the 3 this year but was still the 4th best in scoring for the team at 13 PPG. Naji was the 2nd best scorer behind Cooper and he had 6 games with 30 or more points while PJ was third.

Obviously Kyrie is going to bring more scoring when he returns and our top first rounder should also provide a lot of offense. If our first pick is a PG then I am sure that player will also play with Kyrie in the starting lineup so we will need to keep Ryan on as a PG and pray he develops his game more. That gives us 3 guys we can play at the point.

My question is does B Will look like he is worth bringing back since he is so horrible at the 3?

Cooper has played games at a variety of positions so he is flexible enough that he can play many positions. Bagley is often used as a 5 but his shooting makes him someone that can stretch the court and he is able to play PF as well so if we wanted to put Bagley out there next to Lively then Cooper and we had Kyrie and our rookie PG at SG would that be a be a lineup we could see a lot in games? If so could we count on it being a top used lineup?

I ask because that should impact how the mavs work to build and fill in around everyone else.

I know we want to use Cooper as a PF in a position less game but as we used that lineup I think we might view Cooper and Bagley as being just forwards in that lineup with neither being a Power or small forward.

I do think Lively would benefit from Bagley being able to supply another big body out there to help out against other teams centers like AD used to do.

Considering then that Gafford could be traded should we also keep Moussa on the roster and draft another 5 with one of the 3 remaining picks?

That would give us a center lineup of Lively Moussa and a rookie plus a forward that could fill in at the 5 in Bagley.

This would leave us with 3 centers and a forward that could also play at the 5. Now if (KNOCK ON WOOD) Lively is unable to play in some games we would still have enough guys that could play the 3 to do the job.

Should we use pick 30 or our 2nd rounder to add a center?

John and Tyler are both signed on 2 ways and a 3rd 2 way could be used for another 5 to further fortify that position.

I look at mocks and see a few centers available that could contribute being undrafted. Both of the Ivisic brothers are shown going undrafted on a lot of mock drafts and they played with Peja's son Andrej Stojakovic and Wagler in Illinois as a duo at the 5 so hopefully Andrej remembers the days when his dad played here and that could help to open some doors to talks.

Next years we have 11 contracted players on the 15 man roster. The # is how many millions they are being paid
Kyrie 39,
Klay 17,
Gafford 17,
PJ 19,
Cooper 14,
Caleb 10,
Naji 9,
Max 8,
Lively 7,
AJ 3
Ryan 2,
Two Ways: John and Tyler already on contracts under a million

Free Agents: Middleton, Powell, Bagley, B Will, Cisse

If we are able to trade off Gafford and PJ that leaves us with 9 contracted players on the roster and certainly that kind of trade would bring back contracted players so when we add on the contracts of 3 rookies and we resign a few veterans like say we sign Bagley and Cisse, now there is 16 contracts would a guy like AJ or Martin be tradeable. Maybe we trade PJ and Gafford to one team who sends us back one player but that sounds unlikely. I assume the mavericks are also considering that keeping PJ and Gafford is an option but if we did look to trade them who has shown any interest?

[Winter]

Since Flemmings has dropped into othe Mavs selection area, I'm posting one of the better scouting reports I've seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfKlBLjgOug