Strangely enough, the Dallas Mavericks are in the perfect situation

This season hasn’t gone as the Dallas Mavericks hoped it would but lately, it has been turning into the perfect situation.

The Dallas Mavericks may not have entered the 2016-17 season with legitimate championship hopes but they did have postseason expectations. With the additions of Andrew Bogut and Harrison Barnes in the offseason, the question was not whether they’d make the postseason, it was if they could snag a #4 seed and home court in the first round.

After an abysmal start to the season that banished the Dallas Mavericks below even the Philadelphia 76ers in the standings, the Mavs started turning things around. Players got healthy and stars started emerging.

Still three games out of the #8 spot, the Mavs haven’t exactly righted the ship, but they’re not tanking either and that’s a good thing. Argue about getting a top lottery pick all you want but the lottery is not a solution to the Mavs’ woes.

Just look around the league and you’ll see the same crappy teams getting the same great picks in the draft year after year. It’s hard to teach winning after you’ve succumbed to losing, and besides, Rick Carlisle wouldn’t stand for it anyway.

The Perfect Situation

The Dallas Mavericks have an uphill battle to get into the postseason but that adversity has forced the Mavs into the perfect situation. If they make the postseason they will have to play some incredible ball down the stretch. Going into the postseason as a surging underdog is a pretty fun situation to be in.

But more importantly, the way the Mavs have been climbing up in the standings is something to appreciate.

They aren’t leaning on their veterans like Dirk Nowitzki, Andrew Bogut, and Deron Williams. They are developing young talent like Seth Curry, Yogi Ferrell, and Dwight Powell.

This young talent is what inspires optimism in fans and free agents alike. The Dallas Mavericks have been determined to build a team through free agency every year since blowing up their 2011 championship team. They have done so unsuccessfully.

Veteran players like Dirk, Deron, and Wesley Matthews just weren’t that attractive to the game’s top free agents. Young up-and-comers may.

Tim Cowlishaw recently dubbed Yogi and Curry as the surprises of the NBA this season. Given Rick Carlisle’s disdain for young dumb players, it would be shocking if the Mavs had just one of the top young surprises, much less two.

Superstars attract superstars nowadays. As annoying as that is it’s a reality. Yogi Ferrell, Seth Curry, and Harrison Barnes may not be the next great young superstars but they are fun young players on the upswing which is a heck of a lot more attractive than what the Mavs have been rolling out every offseason.

Next: Mavs: There's a new Yogi in Dallas

The Dallas Mavericks are fighting hard for a playoff spot. If they make it, they’ve earned it by playing sensational ball down the stretch. If they don’t make it, they are a lottery team that never gave up. Either way, they will be playing with newly-found young talent that makes Dallas a more attractive place going forward.

Given the circumstances, the Dallas Mavericks are in a perfect situation.

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