How the Mavericks can contend again
Learn from the Thunder
Much is wrong in Dallas. The talk about how to fix it hinges on trading away Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and the like to get different, younger players to win alongside 18-year-old Cooper Flagg.
I agree that’s part of what the team should do. But it won’t be enough to make this bad team good. The internet is filled with trade proposals, but they’ll only solve some problems. Most of the Mavericks are overpaid, older, or ineligible to be traded because they just signed contracts. (P.J. Washington, for example, would look fabulous in a Pistons jersey, but he just signed an extension and won’t be trade eligible until summer.) It’s more than a month until December 15, when a ton of players become eligible to move teams, and trade season begins in earnest.
Interim general managers Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley are well-liked professionals who know the league. Their opportunity, today, is to fundamentally change the organization to get more out of the draft, more out of players, more out of coaches.
Step one: Study league trends and strategize how to win in the future around Cooper Flagg. “Let’s find a second and third stud” is middle-school level thinking.
What did OKC do as they built around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?
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