5 New Year’s resolutions for the Dallas Mavericks
By Reid Hanson
It’s New Year’s so what better time to make some resolutions for our beloved Dallas Mavericks to follow for the rest of this year
The Dallas Mavericks are learning and growing by the day. Every day is adventure in the Luka Doncic era and the needle is clearly pointed up on this rebuilding franchise. New Year’s is a time to prioritize needs, set goals, and develop strategies to achieve said goals.
For the Dallas Mavericks, setting priorities, goals, and strategies has never been so hard. That’s because the Mavs are both in rebuilding mode as well as win-now mode. With no first round pick, there’s zero incentive to lose and every incentive to finish as high as possible.
But while winning is important, it’s not the MOST important. Developing the talent and building a team to build around must be the primary objective this year. And that’s where we start our resolutions:
Resolution No. 1
Develop the talent
No matter how close the Dallas Mavericks are to a playoff seed, they can’t lose sight of this objective. If they find themselves on the cusp of the postseason, the temptation will be there to make a trade to push them over the top this year.
They must resist.
There is no excuse for any roster move that’s not in the best interests of the long-term health of the club. Even without the draft pick incentive on the table, it would be better for the Mavs to be sellers at the deadline than buyers. Because they need young pieces to build around not finished products who don’t figure into the future.
Resolution No. 2
Never give up on DSJ
Dennis Smith Jr has been the trade rumor of the month. But most of that talk is coming from outside the Mavs organization –not within. I wrote about it last week here:
The Dallas Mavericks would be much better served to make DSJ work than take the garbage they’d probably get in return should he be traded. They must make every effort to help him find his fit and can’t even think about giving up on him in 2019.
Resolution No. 3
Value assessment
Play Dorian Finney-Smith and Maxi Kleber more. Both of these players could factor into the intermediate future of the Dallas Mavericks but it has to be at the right cost. The Mavs can’t afford another Dwight Powell situation where they overpay for potential.
Resolution No. 4
Get more young talent
The Dallas Mavericks need to keep an eye on the market and see if they can flip Wesley Matthews, DeAndre Jordan, or any other old guy not named J.J., for young talent. If there’s a team in win-now mode willing to give up a project piece for a finished veteran contributor, the Mavs should do it.
Even if it means hurting the team’s chances at the postseason this year.
More from Dallas Mavericks
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- Can the Mavericks steal Deandre Ayton from cap-strapped Suns?
- Dallas Mavericks: Top-5 options for the Mavs to explore in the NBA Draft
- Dallas Mavericks can’t keep pick No. 10 in the NBA Draft
Resolution No. 5
Network with other players
Recruiting players before free agency is not allowed in the NBA, but that doesn’t mean some unofficial networking can’t happen. Now is a time to discuss potential free agent targets to players like DSJ and Luka.
How those two players represent themselves to our free agent targets will go a log way in Dallas’ ability to sign them this summer.
Make no mistake – NBA players pick clubs largely based on their co-workers. If Luka and DSJ can carve out some strong relationships these next few months, it could be the deciding factor in free agency.
Next. Luka will soon lead the NBA in this category. dark
What do you think? Did I miss anything? Sound off in comments below and let us know!
- Published on 01/01/2019 at 23:01 PM
- Last updated at 01/01/2019 at 14:51 PM