Dallas Mavericks: 2016 Offseason Grades

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