In contrast to the past off-seasons, this year’s Mavs summer was marked by drafts.Did the Texans succeed in maintaining the balance between a present with Dirk and a future without him?The off-season analysis.
This year’s Mavs summer was fully focused on the draft.After all, they were able to vote ninth – and were more than happy when aspiring players and Point Guard Dennis Smith Jr.was still available.The choice for the super-athlete was a No-Brainer.
The Free Agency focused on its own players.Dirk Nowitzki initially waived his $20 million player option and instead signed a new $5 million 1+1 deal.Much more complicated was the case with Restricted Free Agent Nerlens Noel, who refused to sign a long-standing deal on the Mavs’ wish list.Finally, he accepted the qualifying offer somewhat surprisingly, so he will be a Free Agent again next year, but then he will be Unrestricted.
Reinforcement came for the Mavs also from Munich.Maximilian Kleber and the Texans initially agreed on a two-year contract (2 million dollars), the second year of which includes a team option.
In addition, Dallas made a deal with the Heat, which brought in Power Forward Josh McRoberts (one year contract) and a second round pick.That’s why the Mavs gave A. J.Hammons off.DeAndre Liggins and Jarrod Uthoff were also traded for the Houston Rockets in a separate deal.Nicolas Brussino moved to Atlanta.
Further side notes were the small contracts for Jeff Whitey, Maalik Wayns, P. J.Dozier, Gian Clavell and Brandon Ashley.
For the first time in a long time, it was not the highest priority of the Mavs to catch a big fish from the free agent pond – after all, this has never really worked.Instead, it was a question of using draft to strengthen the problem position (point guard) of recent years.Point Guard and Monster Athlete Dennis Smith Jr.appears as an optimal solution.
Smith, Harrison Barnes and, at best, Noel, will form the basis of the era after Nowitzki.Of course, he also played a role in the planning for this summer – because even if the future success is becoming more and more important, it’s a matter of honour for the franchise to put a team at the side of the Dirkster as he finishes his career and enjoys having fun with it.
“As long as I’m a coach here, Dirk won’t be coming from the bank,”head coach Rick Carlisle recently emphasised the status Nowitzki enjoys.At the same time, the trainer announced that Nowitzki will be playing more frequently on the Five and that the trio Barnes, Smith and Matthews will play faster than last.The fact that Carlisle’s plans will probably turn the “real” Center Noel into a banker shows that the latter is not undisputed in the franchise after his summer farce.
If he were to change again in 2018, this would set the Mavs back a little further in their plans.Nevertheless, the Texans would still be flexible: the contracts of players such as McRoberts, Devin Harris, Seth Curry or Salah Mejri would all expire, while the future of key players Smith, Barnes, Wesley Matthews or Dorian Finney-Smith would be secured in the long term, or the future would be secured by team options in the hands of the franchise.
“Thanks to the extreme strength of the West, it can also be a good thing that Dallas will be able to pick his way back into the top 10 in the coming draft, which, as we all know, is not bad for the future.
The Mavs’ offense last season was indeed the bigger construction site than the Defense.This was largely due to the lack of constancy on the one.Deron Williams was injured all the time, J. J.Barea is rather a Glue Guy and Yogi Ferrell is not a miracle healer either.
This led to the fact that during the crunchtime there was no structure in the attack efforts.Instead, people relied on the iso-arts of a Barnes or Nowitzkis – and that was not enough.The question now is to what extent Smith represents emergency aid.With his explosiveness, he can always create from the pick-and-roll, but there are also question marks: How constant is his threesome?How fast does he develop his Playmaker skills?
If Dirk moves to the top five and Noel stays out, this will undoubtedly be accompanied by defensive problems.Nowitzki is a cunning player, who always stands in the right spot and gets his fins on the spalding.Nevertheless, it is physically not able to represent a defensive anchor.In addition, one can expect that Dirk on the five and Barnes on the four are not necessarily elitist.
nearby
Dennis Smith, Jr.After his appearances in the Summer League, one wonders more than ever how he could fall to ninth place in the draft – to the delight of the Mavs.His athletics and physical characteristics leave no doubt that he is “NBA-ready” in this respect.
But he could also playfully be able to give the Mavs game what was missing last season: a determined drive to the basket and danger from the pick-and-roll.No team threw fewer free throws than the Mavs last season, which clearly highlights this deficit.
The Mavs have managed to balance the present with Dirk and the future without Dirk.They remain competitive (even if it’s not enough for the playoffs) but still have a lot of talent in the squad that still needs to be exhausted.
With Smith Jr.is also a potential rookie of the year in the squad, with whom the Mavs will have a lot of fun and who will benefit from Dirk’s experience.Only the unclear future of Noel clouds the overall picture.But this was mainly due to the player himself, because from the front office’s point of view it was understandable not to offer the injury-prone Big Man a Max contract.
The grade: 2-