At my lowest point during the first weekend of NBA free agency, I’ll admit I thought Dirk Nowitzki would leave, and I’ll also admit I wanted him to. The Mavs (again) had a mostly foolish plan that (again) didn’t work, leaving the team to (again) hastily cobble together a Plan B that would (again) have them scrapping to just make the playoffs. At best. The Big German didn’t deserve that, hasn’t deserved the past five years. Let him go elsewhere, burn it down and start over.
I knew Mark Cuban probably wouldn’t do that, and I didn’t really want him to. I want Dirk to finish his career in Dallas. And now, courtesy of a 2-year, $40 million deal, it looks like he will. And I think, somehow, the Mavs have (again) built a watchable, competitive squad. (In a cave! With a box of scraps!)
Most notably, Kevin Durant’s decision to go to Golden State meant the Warriors wouldn’t match the Mavs’ sort of desperate 5-year, $94 million offer to Harrison Barnes, who buckled like a belt in the 2016 NBA Finals. It’s too much money, probably, and maybe they should have given that money to Chandler Parsons instead, since he has a more dynamic skill set and is a better recruiter. But Barnes is still young, has a championship, and could maybe benefit from being a more featured part of the offense. Maybe. The advanced stats don’t really bear that out, but Rick Carlisle has done more with less.
Still, I don’t love that signing. But I do love the other KD-related deal the Mavs made: trading for center Andrew Bogut. He’s a plus-defender, great passer, and has a high basketball IQ. Basically: Zaza Pachulia with a smaller head and better rim protection. I think Tyson Chandler (or that type of athletic roll man) is the best center for Carlisle’s system, but Bogut is going to fit in fantastically.
And I also love the other kind of GSW-adjacent signing: Seth Curry, Steph’s younger brother, on a low-cost two-year deal to back up the returning Deron Williams. He’s not his brother, no one is, but he can shoot, he’s super quick, and he will shine in the two-man game with Dirk the same way Jason Terry did and J.J. Barea does. I wanted the Mavs to take a flier on Brandon Jennings (he ended up on the Knicks for practically nothing) but this is a very smart play.
So where does that leave the Mavs? Minus a few other signings, it looks like a starting lineup of Williams, Wes Matthews, Barnes, Dirk, and Bogut, with Curry, Justin Anderson, Dwight Powell, and Salah Mejri filling out the rotation. It’s … OK. It’ll probably be enough to eke out at least a No. 8 seed, maybe a little more. And it gives a tiny bit of continuity going forward. Most of those players will be here next season, too, for a change.
But I do think the Mavs need to come up with a new plan, because swinging and missing and missing and missing and missing on the top free agents is dumb. Not really caring about the draft is dumb. If they had reversed course on this a few years ago, Giannis Antetokounmpo (Donnie Nelson wanted him, and the Mavs could have taken him) and Dennis Schroeder (Dirk wanted him, and the Mavs could have taken him) would be on the team. They’ve settled the last two, maybe three seasons of Dirk’s career. Perfect. Now they need to at least give some thought to life without him.
