Dallas Mavericks: 2016 Offseason Grades

The Dallas Mavericks regrouped from missed opportunities in free agency to fill out their roster, but how’d they do? Here are their complete 2016 offseason grades.

For years now, the Dallas Mavericks‘ biggest problem has been luring superstar free agents. Despite their renowned head coach Rick Carlisle and a likable, talented franchise star like Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavs have struck out on everyone from Deron Williams to Dwight Howard to DeAndre Jordan over the years.

With owner Mark Cuban insisting on putting a competitive team around Dirk in the waning years of his Hall of Fame career, Dallas has had to resort to quick fixes every time they strike out in free agency. That’s included squandering draft picks, ill-fated trades and adding role players without much of a long-term plan in mind.

The general formula of Carlisle + Dirk + role players has led to a playoff appearance in 15 of the last 16 seasons, not to mention a championship in 2011. But ever since that memorable Mavs team, Dallas hasn’t sniffed the second round of the playoffs, settling for an annual first round playoff exit and the hopes that this summer would be different.

With Nowitzki entering his age-38 season, the clock is running out and Mavericks fans are rightfully wondering what the post-Dirk future will look like. After the 2016 offseason, the picture is a little clearer, but is it a promising future for the short-term or the long-term? Here’s a look at the Dallas Mavericks’ complete 2016 offseason grades.

Next: The Draft

The Draft

Thanks to the disastrous Rajon Rondo trade, the Mavs owed this year’s first round pick (No. 16) to the Boston Celtics, who used it on France’s Guerschon Yabusele. Essentially, it was the epitome of Dallas’ drafting over the last few years (with Justin Anderson being the obvious exception).

Despite trading their first-rounder for a player who wound up faking an injury in the playoffs just to spare the team the bad press of their rocky relationship, the Mavericks wound up getting decent value in the second round.

With their pick at No. 46, Dallas took A.J. Hammons, a 7’0″ center out of Purdue who fell as far as he did due to concerns about his work ethic. Given how consistently Carlisle has been able to turn chicken s**t into chicken salad, it’s safe to say Dallas has a stable enough basketball environment to mitigate those concerns.

If Carlisle and the coaching staff are able to get through to Hammons, who was signed to a three-year deal, the Mavs may have found one of the biggest steals in the draft.

Though he’s extremely old for a rookie at age 24, he averaged 15.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game as a senior, shooting 59.2 percent from the field. If he’s able to work through concerns about his attitude and conditioning, he could wind up being a nice long-term replacement for the aging Andrew Bogut.

Grade: B-

Next: Powell Payday

Powell Payday

As the lone silver lining from that disastrous Rajon Rondo trade, Dwight Powell somewhat proved his worth last season. The basic stat sheet numbers wouldn’t indicate this, but the potential of this 25-year-old may be worth the investment of his four-year, $37 million contract extension.

Though he only averaged 5.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in 14.4 minutes per game on the year, Powell got off to a tremendous start for the 2015-16 campaign before Carlisle began to phase him out of a crowded rotation.

Through the month of December, Powell was putting up 8.0 points and 5.5 rebounds in 18.6 minutes per game while shooting 52.5 percent from the floor. After the New Year, however, Powell’s opportunities were fewer and farer between. His numbers plummeted to 4.0 points and 2.7 rebounds in 10.9 minutes per game.

The arrivals of JaVale McGee and David Lee, plus the revelation of Salah Mejri, meant there was a crunch for minutes in the frontcourt, but if Powell is able to prove himself to Carlisle and hopefully start knocking down some jumpers, he’ll be a source of bench energy and athleticism once again.

That being said, Powell was a restricted free agent and wasn’t expected to command such a sizable contract on the market. To hand one on a silver platter is a slightly bizarre, unless the front office was seriously concerned some other suitor would swoop in with a Timofey Mozgov-esque offer.

Powell is a hard-working player with room to grow, but playing him $9 million a year over the next four seasons — not to mention giving him the leverage of a player option in the final year — is a bit of a head-scratcher.

Grade: C+

Next: D-Will Will Return

D-Will Will Return

For the first time since Jason Kidd in 2011-12, the Mavericks will have the same starting point guard in back-to-back seasons. Though the Deron Williams signing and subsequent re-signing came a few years too late when he was already past his prime, a little experience and stability will come in handy for Dallas’ backcourt.

On a one-year, $10 million deal, the Mavericks are right to reward a player who was surprisingly good for them last year without going overboard. A one-year deal leaves them flexibility to improve at the 1-spot if he shows signs of decline, but it also hauls in — believe it or not — one of the summer’s best free agent points guards not named Mike Conley.

Last season in Big D, D-Will averaged 14.1 points and 5.8 assists per game while shooting 41.4 percent from the floor and 34.4 percent from three-point land. He was also one of Dallas’ go-to players late in games, averaging a team-leading 3.7 points per game in clutch situations, per NBA.com. He ranked 12th in the entire league in total clutch points.

The raw numbers weren’t superb given his superstar past, but they were actually an improvement for D-Will compared to his prior season in Brooklyn.

At 32 years old, Williams’ history of ankle injuries is troublesome, especially since he was forced to exit Dallas’ first round playoff series due to a sports hernia. But that’s probably the biggest reason the Mavs were able to coax him into a one-year deal on such a manageable salary.

When it became apparent that Conley was staying put in Memphis — and, unfortunately, taking Chandler Parsons with him — Dallas did well to bring Williams back at such a modest price. It’s just too bad the Mavs had to settle for another backup plan once a game-changer like Conley spurned their advances.

Grade: B

Next: Bagging Barnes

Bagging Barnes

And now we come to the Mavericks’ biggest and most controversial move of the summer: signing Harrison Barnes to a four-year, $94 million deal. Most likely, the way you feel about adding Harry B serves as a barometer for how you feel about Dallas’ summer as a whole.

On the one hand, there are legitimate reasons to take issue with paying the Warriors’ fourth option (and fifth best starter) a whopping $23.5 million per year over the next four seasons, especially with the power of a fourth-year, $25.1 million player option.

Though he’s only 24 years old, Barnes’ limitations came to light time and time again under the microscope of playing for the NBA’s best team over the last two seasons. Originally projected to be a star coming out of high school and even out of college, Barnes was unable to live up to that hype, both at North Carolina and with the Warriors.

In arguably his best season last year, Barnes averaged 11.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game on efficient .466/.383/.761 shooting splits. The conundrum is what to expect from Barnes now that he’s no longer benefitting from playing in a three-point heavy system with three All-NBA players.

In Dallas, where he’ll be taking on much more responsibility, Barnes can probably bump up his scoring and rebounding averages. But will the efficiency — particularly from three-point range — remain intact without all those wide open looks?

Come to think of it, wasn’t his three-point efficiency a bit underwhelming considering how open he was all year?

Barnes has hovered around 40 percent shooting from distance over the last two seasons, but will it continue now that he’s a main option on offense? We’ve seen his shooting completely disappear before, as it did in the Finals when he shot 5-for-32 (and 3-for-15 from deep) over the series’ final three games.

To be perfectly honest, it’s almost impossible to know what to expect. The Warriors rarely used him as anything more than a catch-and-shoot option. He almost never operated with the ball in his hands, and in the rare occasions where he did, they were post-ups capitalizing on mismatches.

There have been some signs of promise from Barnes over the years, even before the Warriors were a record-smashing juggernaut.

His athleticism was apparent as early as his rookie season, he quickly developed a “Playoff Harry B” moniker for his unexpected contributions in critical postseason moments, and he’s knocked down game-winners as recently as last season.

Barnes has shown the ability to score in the post, he’s an underrated defender and his versatility in being able to play the small-ball 4 spot was part of what made the Warriors’ “Lineup of Death” so formidable. But there are still justifiable questions about what happens when you subtract Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green from the equation.

Ultimately, this may simply come down to how Carlisle handles his development. There’s no question Carlisle is known for extracting more out his players than perhaps any NBA head coach, but will his sterner coaching style break a soft-spoken guy like Barnes?

Or will it inspire him to dig deep and ultimately become another Carlisle success story? I lean toward the latter, but the pressure of stepping into an expanded role may complicate matters.

Make no mistake about it, Harry B has great lengths to go if he wants to prove that his skill set was not just a product of his environment in Golden State. There’s a chance he doesn’t have that killer gene needed to be “the guy,” and Mavs fans are right to be concerned if the post-Dirk plan is to build with him as the centerpiece.

But surround him with the right pieces and encourage him to slowly but surely take on more responsibility, and perhaps this trial by fire won’t be as brutal as Twitter would lead you to believe. His contract is inflated no matter what, but the Mavs were wise to capitalize on Golden State’s fire sale in the aftermath of the Kevin Durant decision.

Harrison Barnes is not a franchise player. But he is a very good role player, and it will be interesting to see what he’s able to do in an expanded role for a team that didn’t have too many superior alternatives this summer.

Grade: C+

Next: Adding An Aussie

Adding An Aussie

Barnes comes with his own set of inherent risks, especially on a gaudy contract like that. But Dallas’ other Golden State leftover, Andrew Bogut, was a pure home run for a team that needed a Plan B after missing out on Hassan Whiteside in free agency.

In a trade with the Warriors that was necessary to clear out enough cap space for Kevin Durant, the Mavs acquired a top-10 center with championship experience for a conditional second round pick. Dallas was also able to squeeze a 2019 second round pick out of Golden State in the process.

True enough, Bogut only has one year remaining on his contract before he hits free agency, but the Mavs should be in good position to re-sign him if they so choose. Dallas has a good basketball culture, a respectable head coach in Carlisle, a firm anti-tanking stance, enough talent to interest Bogut for the long-term and a likable franchise star. Plus, they have Harry B, a personal friend of Bogut’s, locked in for the long-term.

Last season, the 31-year-old Aussie averaged 5.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, but his rim protection and passing abilities were far more important to the Warriors’ success than the stat sheet could ever indicate.

Even after missing out on Whiteside, Dallas could’ve taken a chance on a younger rim protector like Festus Ezeli. For the long-term, that’s probably the route they should’ve taken with the post-Dirk era rapidly approaching. But at that point, the Mavs got their hands on the best available center who will form a nice frontcourt pairing with Nowitzki.

Even if he only amounts to a one-year rental, Bogut’s asking price was exceedingly low. In a vacuum, the value doesn’t get much better than a one-sided trade like this.

Grade: A-

Next: Signing Seth

Signing Seth

With a starting five of D-Will/Wesley Matthews/Harry B/Dirk Nowitzki/Bogut, the Mavericks turned their attention to the bench. Their first move was a slam dunk, snatching Seth Curry away from the Sacramento Kings with a two-year, $6 million deal.

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While little Curry is never going to live up to the accomplishments of his older MVP bro, this is terrific value for a shooter who came to life at the end of last season.

He only averaged 6.8 points and 1.5 assists per game on the season, but Curry posted an impressive 15.2 points and 3.8 assists per game on .468/.484/.909 shooting splits over the Kings’ final 11 games when he finally got his chance at substantial minutes.

There’s no question the 26-year-old Curry can shoot, and now he’ll get his chance to bolster a Mavs backcourt that lost Raymond Felton this summer. J.J. Barea is still around, but Carlisle managed to find time for all three of his point guards last year.

Given Curry’s ability to spread the floor and the promise he showed near the end of the season, this meager contract was a gamble worth taking.

Grade: A-

Next: Dirk Deserves It

Dirk Deserves It

There was little doubt about where Dirk Nowitzki would be re-signing over the summer, but with a two-year, $50 million contract, the Mavericks finally did right by a player who’s consistently sacrificed big pay days in order to leave the front office enough cap space to woo star free agents.

Seeing as how the Mavericks have continually whiffed on those star free agents (including this summer, missing out on Conley, Whiteside and Parsons), it’s nice to see Nowitzki’s faith and loyalty rewarded with a $25 million annual salary. The second year is a $25 million team option meant to leave flexibility in case Dirk chooses to retire.

At 38 years old, Nowitzki’s time as an elite NBA player is over. In fact, it’s probably better for the Mavs if he’s no longer the team’s best player in 2016-17. Sure, Dirk put up 18.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last year, but they came on less than Dirk-ish efficiency, with the seven-foot German shooting just 44.8 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from three-point range.

Dirk’s defensive flaws have become a regular source of exposure for Dallas’ defense, which is why having Bogut on the interior will be so helpful for another run to the playoffs next season.

But this deal really isn’t about what Dirk can/can’t contribute at this stage in his career. Like Kobe Bryant before him, Dirk’s team is honoring him for everything he’s done for the franchise as a lifetime legend.

Unlike Kobe, however, this feels 100 percent deserved because of all the financial sacrifices Dirk had made over the years, and this new deal eats up nowhere as much cap room as Bryant’s massive salary once did.

Grade: A

Next: Odds And Ends

Odds And Ends

The Mavs had their core pretty much locked down at this point, but that didn’t stop them from bringing quite a few NBA Summer League standouts aboard for training camp.

First, however, they made sure to bolster their bench depth with the acquisition of Quincy Acy, who was signed to a partially guaranteed, two-year deal worth $2.2 million.

Known for his energy and developing perimeter game, Acy averaged 5.2 points and 3.2 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per game for the Kings last year. At only 25 years old, this was a low-risk investment worth making, especially since he shot a tidy 55.6 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from deep.

In order to make room for the Bogut trade, the Mavs also had to trade third-stringer Jeremy Evans (and cash) to the Indiana Pacers. Their return in the trade has yet to be decided, but it’s more than likely the rights to an overseas player.

The Mavs also signed Nicolas Brussino to a three-year, partially guaranteed deal. A 6’8″ wing from Argentina, Brussino went undrafted in 2015 and can bring floor-spacing to Dallas’ offense as a catch-and-shoot threat.

Brussino has spent the last few years gaining professional experience in Argentina. He also earned a spot on their Olympic team, though he got very limited run.

There’s also Dorian Finney-Smith, a 6’8″ small forward from Florida who went undrafted in this year’s draft.

He averaged a meager 2.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game over six appearances with the Mavericks’ Summer League squad, shooting a dreadful 16 percent from the field and 23.1 percent from three-point range.

This was enough to earn him a three-year, partially guaranteed deal with Dallas, however.

As if these weren’t enough, Dallas also signed Keith Hornsby (one year), Jameel Warney (one year), Jonathan Gibson (three years) and Kyle Collinsworth (two years) to partially guaranteed deals.

Hornsby is a 6’3″ shooting guard from LSU who went undrafted this year, while Warney is a 6’8″ small forward from Stony Brook who also went undrafted in 2016. Warney averaged 6.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game on 59.3 percent shooting for Dallas’ Summer League squad.

Gibson, a 6’2″ point guard from New Mexico State, has spent the last half-decade playing in Turkey and China while also suiting up for his fair share of NBA Summer League squads.

He originally went undrafted back in 2010, but finally found something of a breakthrough this summer, averaging an impressive 17.0 points and 3.0 rebounds per game on. 507/.459/.818 shooting splits for the Mavs’ Summer League team. This earned him a three-year deal with the first year being fully guaranteed.

Finally, there’s Collinsworth, a 6’6″ guard from BYU who went undrafted this year. He averaged 4.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game for the Mavs in Summer League. One thing’s for sure, Dallas will have plenty of able bodies come training camp.

Grade: C

Next: Overall

Overall

The Dallas Mavericks’ offseason was really a mixed bag, and one whose merit will likely be judged primarily by the Harrison Barnes signing.

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On the one hand, they missed out on Mike Conley, Hassan Whiteside and Chandler Parsons in free agency, opting to overpay a player who might wind up being a bust and trade for a center with an extensive injury history as their Plan B.

On the other hand, the Mavs regrouped fairly well from missing out on all those star free agents, quickly nabbing two starters with championship experience before the dust from Durant’s free agency decision had settled.

Back to that first hand, the Mavs’ did little to raise their 2016-17 ceiling beyond that of another first round playoff appearance. But then back on the other hand, they guaranteed Dirk’s last few years will at least be competitive, while also slowly beginning the transition to the post-Nowitzki era with younger players like Powell, Barnes, Curry, Acy and Hammons.

They had to overpay a couple of pieces to get there, but the Mavericks did a decent job balancing their short-term desire to send Dirk out with a bang and their long-term need to start building for the future.

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How Barnes handles an expanded role will likely determine how well the Dallas Mavericks did this summer, and it may take years before we understand the full extent of it. But as much as they tried to balance its long-term and short-term outlook, this summer ultimately did very little to significantly raise the bar for either one.

Grade: B-