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Yi or Yu: You decideLike most good GMs, his success is multi-faceted. He finds success in the draft (in baseball, the draft is a veritable crapshoot), in high-profile free agency (Adrian Beltre), in trades and in finding treasures and redemption players in need of a new start.
The latter doesn't happen a lot any more. Used to, Daniels would give Kenny Lofton a one-year, $5 million deal to play centerfield. At worst, you get a get serviceable to lead off and play center. At best, he flourishes and you can trade him to a contender for meaningful prospects. It's low-risk, high-reward dealing.
I do not think the Dallas Mavericks are a very good team when it comes to personnel. Of course, basketball is a different sport. The talent drop-off in the draft is steeper. The Mavericks continually picking in the upper 20s has simply forgone the draft and swapped most picks or taken European projects that are honing their craft overseas.
The Mavericks are also handicapped with a soft salary cap and luxury tax. As much as Mark Cuban's willing to pay the piper, he does have limits. This handcuffs them in free agency. This forces the team to rely on trades and rookie free agents and there's been success there.
The Mavericks have also seemingly made a concerted effort in becoming a life raft to blue-chip busts.
Case in point: Yi Jianlian, the Chinese import, who is being called up by the Mavericks today after playing a couple of games in the Developmental League.
Jianlian was a free agent up until this weekend. He is 24 years old, 7-0 and the former sixth overall pick of the New Jersey Nets in 2007. It wasn't the strongest of drafts (it was the Oden-Durant year), but the Nets missed out on Joakim Noah, Arron Afflalo, Rodney Stuckey, Carl Landry and a few other NBA players. The Mavericks took Nick Fazekas.
Jianlian averages a decent amount scoring. Too bad he can't shoot (career 40 percent shooter for a big man), can't rebound and can't play defense. He's a bust.
The Mavericks are taking a flyer and I don't mind flyers in the least. Funny thing, the Mavericks, the last four years, have taken a lot of flyers. And not a one has worked out. At leaste for the Mavericks.
| 2005 Draft Pick | Player |
|---|---|
| 15 | Antoine Wright |
| 18 | Gerald Green |
| 28 | Ian Mahinmi |
Wright was a pretty nice little player for the Mavericks. Acquired in the Jason Kidd-Devin Harris trade, he started 53 games at two-guard for the Mavericks in 2008-09 and shot pretty well and played a little defense. He was included in the 2009 trade that netted the Mavericks Shawn Marion. Green signed in 2009 and showed glimpses of the athlete the Boston Celtics projected him to be. Mahinmi is a relatively new acquisition and is putting up some decent numbers as a back-up center and snappy dresser.
| 2006 Draft Pick | Player |
|---|---|
| 17 | Shawne Williams |
Shawne Williams was a big, beefy, long forward taken by Rick Carlisle's Indiana Pacers out of Memphis. A true redemptive story, the Mavericks traded for Williams sending Eddie Jones and two worthless second-round picks to Indiana despite gun and drug charges in 2007. Williams barely got onto the court as a Mavericks more or less the bench. Mid-season, he was told to simply stay away after undisclosed issues, which I assume stems from getting busted for codeine. Williams was traded, with Kris Humphries, to New Jersey for a case of gum.
Williams, incidentally, has sort of turned things around with the New York Knicks. He had his best year of his career (not saying much) last year as a bench player. Also included from this draft is Ryan Hollins, a UCLA post player, skinny as a rail and just pure energy. He was procured from Charlotte, who drafted him in the second round of the 2006 draft, for another redemptive project, DeSagana Diop. Hollins showed definite signs of life before Minnesota gave him three years and $7 million.
| 2007 Draft Pick | Player |
|---|---|
| 6 | Yi Jianlian |
| 7 | Corey Brewer |
| 8 | Brandan Wright |
| 17 | Sean Williams |
Yes, within the last year, the Mavericks have had three of the top 10 players from the 2007 NBA Draft and not a one of them are any good. Wright and Jianlian are with the team now. Brewer was, I think, reluctantly dealt to Denver with Rudy Fernandez (another first-round guy that never played a game with the Mavericks) in the "off-season" (meaning, a week in December). I thought Brewer had potential to stick in a rotation somewhere. His blatant inability to shoot was killer, but I felt he could find ways to score and make up on defense.
Williams is another New Jersey Nets first-round bust. Played quite a bit his rookie year and, like the other Shawne Williams, find himself in hot water after busting up a computer at a cell phone store.
There are other names that would make you cringe as Maverick fans. Kris Humphries (14th pick, 2004) was simply shipped for New Jersey for nothing and he's turned into one of the league's best rebounders.
The pedigree on this year's team alone is somewhat astounding Vince Carter (5th pick, 1998), Brendan Haywood (20th pick, 2001), Lamar Odom (1st pick, 1999) and Delonte West (24th pick, 2004) are all former first-round picks. Only Odom and Haywood are not considered guys seeking redemption of some kind.
There are remarkable similarities in all of these names. Most are still extremely young and all are considered "athletic" and that's not just because they are African American, by any means. These guys are all athletic (except Jianlian). Gerald Green might be most athletic.
Most of these guys also all play one or two positions. All are about 6-5 to 6-11 and can all play that elusive swingman spot that Mavericks have been dying for since the days of Mark Aguirre. Ironically, the Mavericks successfully drafted such a player in Josh Howard and he's currently in his redemptive NBA tour in Utah.
Again, this is no knock on the Mavericks. These are low-risk guys requiring little in return for a trade or commitment via contract. These were all valiant attempts to acquire real talent. Damned if none of them worked out and the ones that did (Humphries, Shawne Williams) were traded away.
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