DRAFT: #18 [Green] & #31 [Terry] & trade for #36 [Tyler Bey]

[Scott41theMavs]

FBL, I don't necessarily agree with your take on waiting on a playmaker - to me, that's punting on a year, but perhaps Luka can survive (and improve) while being the sole focal point of the offense another year - but I do agree that, if the Mavs don't try to get higher, they should probably go for a defensive wing or wing-four at 18 and perhaps a guard at 31. In the event we don't move up at all, I'm still a huge proponent of buying another late first pick (since the rumor is they're available, in some cases, for cash). If we move up a little bit, it likely costs either 31 (in which case you'd damn well better buy a late first) or Brunson (in which case you still have to buy the pick, because you need to replace him, unless you think we're good with Curry, a re-signed Burke, and giving in to JJB's unreasonable playing demands).

I really like your list, with the caveat that you aren't getting Vassell without drafting 10 at the lowest (I think trading for that pick will be expensive), and you aren't getting Saddiq without at least 13. Of course, if one rates Tiger over Saddiq, that doesn't matter.

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My whole basis for the Atlanta trade is arrogance in my own scouting abilities. I have every confidence that Avdija and Okongwu aren't going to bust, and that Haliburton may never be an All-Star but will be third-best-player-on-a-contender-caliber by year two or three and onward. As for Hayes, I have more question marks about him, but if the Mavs' scouting department believed he could be a star, then sure. There's always bust-because-Len-Bias or bust-because-Greg-Oden to worry about, but most teams comfortably assume those things aren't going to happen. Acts of God, or acts of dumb.

If the Mavs do that, perhaps they could buy a pick in the mid-20s and package that with 31 to move back into the Tiger Bay range.

You could have
Luka-Brunson
Hayes or Haliburton-Burke (brought back on the room exception)
THJ-DFS
Grant-Bey-Powell
KP-WCS

or
Luka-Brunson
FVV-Burke
THJ-DFS
Avdija or Okongwu-Bey-Powell
KP-WCS

Or, depending on how much he costs, you could have

Luka-Brunson
draftee-Burke
Hayward-THJ
Bey-DFS-Powell
KP-WCS

or
Luka-Brunson
THJ-Burke
Hayward-DFS
draftee-Bey-Powell
KP-WCS