5 regrettable Mavs draft picks, plus the NBA stars they passed on drafting

[Lord Cuban]

We shouldn’t just pick on the Mavericks when it comes to botched draft picks, but since that’s our local team, we have no choice.

Every NBA team misfires on draft picks from time to time. They make the wrong choice. They get snakebit by an injury. They do everything right, then find out a draft choice’s work ethic isn’t what they hoped it would be.

Stuff happens.

Do you really think Cleveland wouldn’t want a mulligan with the 2012 draft and take Damian Lillard or Andre Drummond instead of Dion Waiters?

Mistakes are made by everybody on occasion. And so, to celebrate Thursday’s upcoming NBA draft, we’ll take a quick look at five regrettable draft picks the Mavericks have made during the Dirk Nowitzki era, and more importantly, who they passed on.

Shane Larkin, 2013

The Mavericks actually took Kelly Olynyk with the 13 pick, but traded down to get Larkin, who later was dealt to New York in the Tyson Chandler deal.

Who they missed on: Take your pick. Giannis Antetokounmpo, who went two picks after Olynyk or Gorgui Dieng, who went 21. Or even Rudy Gobert who went 27. Any of those would have looked great in a Mavericks’ uniform. Imagine having the Stifle Tower or the Greek Freak or whatever clever nickname they come up with for Dieng in a Mavericks’ uniform. They could have had their center of the future with Dieng or Gobert at a fraction of the price they are going to pay either Tyson Chandler or DeAndre Jordan.

Jared Cunningham, 2012

Their official selection was Tyler Zeller at No. 17, but they traded downward to get the epically disappointing Cunningham, later dealt to Atlanta in the trade that acquired Larkin.

Who they missed on: With the next pick after Zeller, Houston snatched Terrence Jones, who has turned into a nice player. At No. 21, Boston got Jared Sullinger. But the real head-slapper came at No. 35, when Golden State took a 6-8 ball-handling athlete out of Michigan State. Draymond Green is no Magic Johnson, but he ain’t bad. And he came right after the Mavericks got Bernard James and Jae Crowder in a trade from Cleveland.

Rodrigue Beaubois, 2009


The Mavericks were drafting 24 but pulled a little bluff on Oklahoma City and sent that pick (Byron Mullens) to the Thunder for the 25 pick, Beaubois.

Who they missed on: Taj Gibson and DeMarre Carroll were the two picks directly after Beaubois, who had flashes, but spent most of his time with the Mavericks battling injuries. Gibson and Carroll both have gone on to nice NBA careers as quality rotation players/part-time starters on teams that have gone deep into the playoffs. But if you’re looking for the biggest bust of this draft, it came when Minnesota had picks five and six, took Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn, then saw Golden State scoop up some dude named Stephen Curry with No. 7.

Maurice Ager, 2006


They took him out of Michigan State with the 28 overall pick and later would include him as part of the trade that brought in Jason Kidd.

Who they missed on: Hard to believe that the Mavericks and 18 more teams after them passed on Paul Millsap, who wound up being a stellar choice at No. 47. When that many teams whiff on a player who ends up being an All-Star, it’s hard to rip anybody, but that won’t stop us. The Mavericks will always have a bad taste in their mouth about big men from Louisiana Tech. They passed on Karl Malone, saw P.J. Brown taken one spot ahead of them and then weren’t interested in Millsap. But they did take Randy White, sadly.

Etan Thomas, 2000


OK, so they took Thomas (pictured above in the white jersey) and then immediately traded him to Washington in the Juwan Howard deal. It wasn’t a terrible trade. But it was kind of a crummy draft pick.

Who they missed on: Shortly after Thomas was tabbed, Hedo Turkoglu, Desmond Mason and Jamaal Magloire all came off the board. All three had quality NBA careers and the Mavericks certainly could have used a hometown face like Mason. Also, they took Dan Langhi in the second round when a shooter by the name of Michael Redd from Ohio State was available. The Mavericks would give Redd a big offer sheet a few years later.

From: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-mavericks/headlines/20150622-5-regrettable-mavs-draft-picks-plus-the-nba-stars-they-passed-on-drafting.ece

[Teffer10]

Corliss Williamson would have been nice to draft instead of Cherokee Freakin Parks.

[bobsquad]

Let's give every team in the NBA a mulligan on that 2000 draft. And the Larkin pick at least made sense from a Mavs perspective.

But the Jared Cunningham pick was absolutely inexcusable and exposed the Mavs talent evaluators as completely clueless. Even trading down he was a reach, no mock had him going in the first round. Which wouldn't matter, except that the mocks were right: he wasn't a bust, he just wasn't a first round prospect to begin with. 3 seasons, 5 teams, less than 200 minutes played.

[SaintofKillers]

Roddy B was regrettable? He's easily the best Mav draft pick since Josh Howard and arguably top 5 all time. It's a damn shame he had that injury because he was truly on his way to becoming a really good part of our core.


But on a bigger note, I hate these kinds of articles. It's as if they knew Draymond Green and Giannis were going to be sure-fire NBA players. Care to tell the Mavs FO who to draft this year?

[bobsquad]

Roddy B was regrettable? He's easily the best Mav draft pick since Josh Howard and arguably top 5 all time. It's a damn shame he had that injury because he was truly on his way to becoming a really good part of our core.


But on a bigger note, I hate these kinds of articles. It's as if they knew Draymond Green and Giannis were going to be sure-fire NBA players. Care to tell the Mavs FO who to draft this year?

Agreed on the first point.

Green was a late first prospect who slipped into the second. He fit the range for all three of our picks and even matched the profile of a typical Mavs draftee (4 year college player), but Crowder must have been ahead of him on our board.

[SaintofKillers]

Roddy B was regrettable? He's easily the best Mav draft pick since Josh Howard and arguably top 5 all time. It's a damn shame he had that injury because he was truly on his way to becoming a really good part of our core.


But on a bigger note, I hate these kinds of articles. It's as if they knew Draymond Green and Giannis were going to be sure-fire NBA players. Care to tell the Mavs FO who to draft this year?

Agreed on the first point.

Green was a late first prospect who slipped into the second. He fit the range for all three of our picks and even matched the profile of a typical Mavs draftee (4 year college player), but Crowder must have been ahead of him on our board.

Again, it's easy to say that in hindsight because Green turned out excellently but heading into the draft, he could just as easily be marked off as an overweight, undersized PF.

In fact, there's quite a handful of similar prospects this year and I doubt the author would be able to foresee which of those guys would pan out.

[Mr B]

Didn't the Mavs also pass on Dejuan Blair when they drafted Roddy?

[SaintofKillers]

Didn't the Mavs also pass on Dejuan Blair when they drafted Roddy?

Blair was projected as a mid-1st rounder but word spread out during draft night about a medical condition he has (heart, I think) so everyone balked until it was safe.

[Sagittaron]

Didn't the Mavs also pass on Dejuan Blair when they drafted Roddy?

Blair was projected as a mid-1st rounder but word spread out during draft night about a medical condition he has (heart, I think) so everyone balked until it was safe.

I believe that Blair doesn't have ACL tendons in his knees due to some childhood injury.

Anyway, those picks seem indeed horrible now but remember that the Mavs plan almost every year is to preserve as much cap space as possible in the draft in order to sign some players. In all honesty the only one I am mad about is 2013 because I would love Giannis or Gobert on the team I support.

[Mr B]

Didn't the Mavs also pass on Dejuan Blair when they drafted Roddy?

Blair was projected as a mid-1st rounder but word spread out during draft night about a medical condition he has (heart, I think) so everyone balked until it was safe.

I believe that Blair doesn't have ACL tendons in his knees due to some childhood injury.

Anyway, those picks seem indeed horrible now but remember that the Mavs plan almost every year is to preserve as much cap space as possible in the draft in order to sign some players. In all honesty the only one I am mad about is 2013 because I would love Giannis or Gobert on the team I support.

Gobert at center, Blair at PF, (with Dirk backing him up) would seem pretty good about right now. Not to mention with Giannis at SF.

It kills me how Donnie Nelson doesn't take more heat for his total lack of ability to draft good players.

[aussiewill]

Didn't even list Pavel Podkolzine, anyone and I literally mean anyone would have been better. Scouting is horrendous....

[Sagittaron]

Blair at PF, (with Dirk backing him up)

Did you forget the green font there mate? Are we talking about the same Dejuan Blair?

[bobsquad]

Didn't even list Pavel Podkolzine, anyone and I literally mean anyone would have been better. Scouting is horrendous....

That can be glossed over because we also got Devin Harris in that draft. Podkolzin is somewhat defensible. He was just 19 and was playing first-tier ball in Italy. He'd been talked about as a potential top 5 guy, and at some point in a relatively weak (or top-heavy, more accurately) crop of prospects it can be worth the risk outside of the top 20 to take a developmental big man like that and hope your staff can help him pan out.

All that said, man was that a different era of scouting. Having size like Podkolzin and nothing else still put you in the discussion for top of the lottery. Maybe Sim Bhullar or Santam Singh would have been first rounders in that draft too. And there was a rush on Eastern European legit unknowns... Podkolzin was followed in the draft by fellow Russians Viktor Khryapa and Sergei Monia. *crickets* Andris Biedrins went in the lottery. A pair of Slovenians (who, to be fair, have had decent NBA careers) went back to back near the end of the first. I know you can't count on anything in the second round, but only 7 of the guys drafted then ever played more than 82 games in their career. (By comparison, 14 second rounders from 2012 have already hit that benchmark.) The Mavs weren't the only team throwing crap at the wall and hoping it stuck... it was every scouting department's mantra at the time.

[Mr B]

Blair at PF, (with Dirk backing him up)

Did you forget the green font there mate? Are we talking about the same Dejuan Blair?

Green font? Blair actually played well in his one season with the Mavs, especially during the playoffs. At Dirks age he would be much more productive at about 20 min a game. If the Mavs had drafted Blair (instead of Roddy) playing him between Gobert and Giannis with Dirk coming off the bench would have been a pretty decent front line.

[Sagittaron]

Blair at PF, (with Dirk backing him up)

Did you forget the green font there mate? Are we talking about the same Dejuan Blair?

Green font? Blair actually played well in his one season with the Mavs, especially during the playoffs. At Dirks age he would be much more productive at about 20 min a game. If the Mavs had drafted Blair (instead of Roddy) playing him between Gobert and Giannis with Dirk coming off the bench would have been a pretty decent front line.

Please stop. Just stop. Just take a look at the player you are suggesting to start over Dirk http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/blairde01.html

Does that look like a more productive player even from a 36 year old Dirk?

[bobsquad]

Blair at PF, (with Dirk backing him up)

Did you forget the green font there mate? Are we talking about the same Dejuan Blair?

Green font? Blair actually played well in his one season with the Mavs, especially during the playoffs. At Dirks age he would be much more productive at about 20 min a game. If the Mavs had drafted Blair (instead of Roddy) playing him between Gobert and Giannis with Dirk coming off the bench would have been a pretty decent front line.

Look. A re-draft of 2013 held today would probably have Gobert and Giannis going in the top 3. Neither of those guys were even lottery picks. You can justifiably fault the Mavs FO for drafting Larkin, but putting together a fantasy roster of the guys we passed up who have done well is pointless. The whole league missed out on those guys, not just Dallas.

[Mr B]

Did you forget the green font there mate? Are we talking about the same Dejuan Blair?

Green font? Blair actually played well in his one season with the Mavs, especially during the playoffs. At Dirks age he would be much more productive at about 20 min a game. If the Mavs had drafted Blair (instead of Roddy) playing him between Gobert and Giannis with Dirk coming off the bench would have been a pretty decent front line.

Look. A re-draft of 2013 held today would probably have Gobert and Giannis going in the top 3. Neither of those guys were even lottery picks. You can justifiably fault the Mavs FO for drafting Larkin, but putting together a fantasy roster of the guys we passed up who have done well is pointless. The whole league missed out on those guys, not just Dallas.

I never said a re-draft. If they had just held on to their picks they could have drafted those guys right where they were drafted.