Prior to last night’s NBA draft, I was a bit concerned that the Mavericks would end up taking Lauri Markkanen, a 7-foot three-point specialist from Arizona. But he was gone when No. 9 rolled around, snapped up for whatever reason by the Bulls. My biggest fear, however, was that the team would end up with Luke Kennard, a guard from Duke who looks like he has tweeted at least once, “But why can’t *I* say it?”

All potential crises were averted when the Mavs drafted the best-case scenario for that spot in the draft: NC State point guard Dennis Smith Jr. He is an electrifying scorer with an NBA record 48-inch vertical leap. That is all of my analysis at this point. Watch all of these YouTube clips instead.

The Dallas Library will exhibit some of the supportive tokens and messages left at DPD headquarters after five officers were slain last year.

Firehouse Theatre Director Sues Target For Neglect Following January Attack. Derek Whitener says the Cityplace store’s security failed to protect him and discouraged him from calling police before the robbery. Whitener alerted employees and security on his way into the store about two men whose presence concerned him. Those men robbed and attacked him as he was leaving the store. The 33-year-old was severely beaten and left with permanent brain damage, significant memory loss, and a loss of some motor skills.

DART Police Boost Presence in Deep Ellum Following Recent Sexual Assaults. Officers are being staged at the DART station near Baylor University Medical Center. The goal is to be more visible following two separate attacks that were reported within hours and blocks of one another early Sunday morning.

Valley View Center Demolition Will Start Today. Before the wrecking, Dallas developer Scott Beck will host a ceremony at 9:30 a.m. The demolition will make way for a $4 billion mixed-use development within the Dallas Midtown district. Still, there might be something worth saving at Valley View Mall. 

The Mavericks Welcome Dennis Smith Jr. The North Carolina State point guard was the ninth overall pick in last night’s NBA draft. There’s a lot of promise in Smith, who averaged 18.1 points per game as a freshman—a rare feat for a college player. He’s just in time for a revamped locker room, complete with refrigerated cup holders.

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Dallas has often struggled to find its own cultural voice — torn, as it seems to have always been, between historical indifference and appropriated aspiration. Throughout this city’s history, however, there have been a handful of artists who have seen and understood this place for what it is, and have made work that has managed to embrace and manifest the cultural identity and character of this city in its best light. Perhaps none were better at this than the architect Frank Welch. Sadly, Welch has passed away. He was 90.

Welch’s importance as an architect certainly outstretched his impact and relationship with Dallas. Considered the Dean of Texas Architecture, Welch, like his mentor O’Neil Ford, inherited and expanded upon a tradition for finding in Texas’ landscapes, materials, style, and character the opportunity for a unique brand of modernism

In Dallas, Welch’s work is best exemplified in the many residences he designed here that blend of warmth and sophistication. They are buildings that engage with the subtly of their environments, while also expressing style and understated panache in a meticulous attention detail, expressive choice of materials, and attention to a humane quality possible through spacial design. 

The music of Star Wars and of Jurassic Park, and of Future, and of Iron Maiden, and more this weekend.

The $800 Million Bond Is Now a $1.025 Billion Bond. The drama surrounding the $800 million bond proposal has been dragging on for months. Barrett Brown covered the debate back in January, when Mayor Rawlings made a case for delaying a vote until November, citing voter support, or rather the support of Dallas’ “civic sugar daddies” (Barrett’s terminology). Rawlings got his way with a delay, but then in recent weeks city council members have been trying to decide what was actually in the bond (street repair, rec centers, traffic signals, etc.) and how to divvy it up (equally among 14 districts or not). They couldn’t agree, so yesterday they just made the bond bigger. “We’ve got to fish or cut bait, and I’m for fishing.” said Rawlings.

Former Pastor at Grapevine Megachurch Died Hunting for Hidden Treasure. Paris Wallace was once a youth pastor at Fellowship Church, the enormous Ed Young-led congregation in Grapevine. Wallace left that gig and moved to Colorado years ago. Apparently his recent interests included hunting for the $2 million treasure supposedly hidden by eccentric author Forrest Fenn. Wallace’s wife, Mitzi, reported her husband missing last week and authorities believe a body they found on the Rio Grande to be his. Wallace isn’t the first to lose his life in pursuit of Fenn’s loot. And he may not be the last. While some (mostly authorities who are tired of dragging bodies out of rivers) are asking Fenn to call off the hunt, others are asking the author to keep it going. In fact, Wallaces’s wife Mitzi plans to pick up where her husband left off and search with her son. “Our treasure is the time we spend together,” said Mitzi.

A Few More Water-Cooler Conversation Topics. The moms of transgender children in North Texas are not giving up as the bathroom bill goes to a legislative session next month. A UTD study found that police officers’ likelihood of using deadly force goes up if the officers are divorced or in debt. And if those topics are too serious, maybe try the one about Jerry Jones meeting the Pope.