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It’s Official: Dallas Mavericks Planning For Future

By Christian Blood

Apr 8, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban watches the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns at the American Airlines Center. The Mavericks defeated the Suns 107-104. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 8, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban watches the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns at the American Airlines Center. The Mavericks defeated the Suns 107-104. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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The 2015 NBA Draft has come and gone, the dust now settled. Many were surprised by the direction the Dallas Mavericks took during this year’s player selection meeting, but they were probably also encouraged by the fact that this franchise seems to be preparing for the future.

What kind of future that is remains to be seen, but it sure looks like owner Mark Cuban is visualizing life without power forward Dirk Nowitzki, the face of the Mavericks franchise for more than a decade.

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Yes, the Mavs want to be competitive next year, and with free agency just a matter of hours away, we’ll soon begin to see just how competitive that might be.

But no, Dallas did not reach for any player that they felt wouldn’t be a contributor next season with that all-important 21st selection in the first round Thursday night in Brooklyn. Perhaps even more telling about this team’s current mindset was the second player chosen – more on him in a minute.

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First-round selection Justin Anderson brings the ability to play either small forward or shooting guard, the latter obviously giving the Mavericks the potential to get much bigger and more physical than what they were with Monta Ellis, who’s almost certain to be playing elsewhere next season.

Anderson doesn’t look like the immediate replacement where scoring is concerned, but his defensive potential and rebounding will be noticed early on.

Then, Dallas went the unconventional route and showed something rarely seen by Cuban and Co.

Patience.

Satnam Singh is a long-term project who stands 7’2” and weighs 290 pounds. Having never played college basketball or anywhere else professionally, Singh becomes the first Indian player ever drafted. I fail to believe that this was simply an attempt to grab the attention of 1 billion new Mavericks supporters on the other side of the planet.

Singh is about as raw as it gets, while also possessing an NBA body along with rare skills for such a big man. The 19-year-old center prospect actually hits three-point shots and exhibits a rare work ethic for a player with such natural gifts.

How many NBA “big men” can we think of that can’t even hit free throws, let alone anything beyond the arc?

It may be a couple of years before the Mavs really know what they’ve got in this young player, and perhaps he might not even be around that long. He could be traded to somebody else at the first sign of progress in D-League or he might not actually be good enough to play in the league.

But you get the feeling that Dallas thinks it’s on to something with this player. Otherwise, why invest the time and effort necessary to get this answer? It’s not like foreign interests have never paid of for this organization, right?

Finally, it’s been reported that Cuban had an opportunity or two to actually trade up in the first round of the draft, a move that would of shown more impatience than the other way around. According to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News, the price to move up, likely to grab a point guard, was just too steep:

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    • “We knew who was left on the board and there was one that was a surprise,” Cuban said. “We actually tried to buy a pick and weren’t able to do it. Everybody that was selling picks wanted multiple future draft picks. And we weren’t willing to do that. We had $3 million on the table, but we weren’t willing to give up the future picks.”

    Bottom line is that the Mavericks realize that the future is now, and that future has to include a new foundation – and a younger one to be sure.

    Mortgaging the future for a any position simply wasn’t what the Mavs wanted to do because this franchise realizes that they’re going to need quality youth this year, next year and probably the year after if it really expects to be a dominant force in the Western Conference again during this decade.

    Last week I actually suggested that Dallas needed to start rebuilding the right way.

    So far so good – for now.

    Next: LaMarcus Aldridge News Not Good For Dallas Mavericks

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