Mavs Draft Blunders

Recently while watching a Boston Celtics game, I began pondering the issues that have left the Mavs a middle of the pack team with little hope of winning an NBA Title anytime soon. Part of the issue is the lack of consistency from anyone on the squad besides Dirk and Jet. When Dirk is off, or even worse, when he goes to the bench, the team goes to pot.

While I'm thinking about this, I'm watching the Celtics take all three of their All Stars (Garnett, Pierce, and Ray Allen) out of the game and proceed to extend their lead with their subs in the game. Boston has extreme depth and players manning the bench who know what their roles are and what is expected of them night in and night out. What struck me in this moment of enlightenment was how many of the subs on the floor were Celtic draft picks.

I love the NBA Draft. I follow it year round and I am a student of its history, as you can tell by my recent "Reviewing the Draft" columns. I think it's incredibly interesting to see where teams make the obvious pick, where they screw up epically, and where they find steals. A franchise's fate sometimes depends entirely, for better or worse, on the success of a particular lottery pick. Perhaps as important is a team's ability to pick up talented role players late in the draft.

Boston is a shining example of excellent scouting and selecting players that produce in the NBA. They start three player that were originally drafted by the franchise and when they go to their bench there are six other original Boston draftees that coach Doc Rivers can go to. That's an astounding number, especially considering that just 18 months ago, the Celtics gave up a lot of their young talent in the Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen trades. Being a bad team certainly helped them stockpile the talent needed to pull off those trades. But they aren't just getting results from their early picks. Starting center Kendrick Perkins and backup shooting guard Tony Allen were late first round picks while Glen Davis and Leon Powe were second round picks. They've drafted guys that have games that translate to the NBA and who understand and take to the role they are given.

So I did the research. I wanted to see how many players each NBA team currently has on their roster which were originally drafted by the franchise. (Note: I went ahead and counted "Draft Day Trades" as original picks. Also, this research was done a few weeks ago so it's possible that a few minor trades have messed with these numbers.)

Oklahoma City has 10 players currently under contract that were original draftees of the franchise. The Celtics have 9 drafted players on their roster, tying them for second with Chicago, Portland, and Utah. Charlotte, Detroit, and Philadelphia aren't far behind, with 7 apiece. Then a host of teams have either 5 or 6 original draft picks on their roster. Denver, New Orleans, and Orlando are tied for next to last with only 4 draftees each, though each has added a franchise player (Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, and Dwight Howard, respectively) through the draft in the last 5 years.

And which team, you ask, comes in last on this list? My very own Dallas Mavericks, who have a whopping 2 players under contract that were originally drafted by the franchise. Two. To make that even worse, those two players are Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard. Dirk was drafted in 1998, Howard in 2003. Meaning not a single player on this team was drafted in the last 5 years. It should be noted that the Mavs made a blockbuster move to obtain Jason Kidd last season, a trade in which they gave up 2 draftees (Devin Harris and Maurice Ager). Still, even with those players on the squad, the Mavs would be tied for last in the league.

Look, every team misses in the draft. Sometimes a team drafts on potential and it doesn't pan out. Sometimes they draft based on position and a more talented player slips by. And sometimes a team drafts a surefire prospect and for some reason it doesn't work out.

But what the Mavs have done goes beyond that. What this demonstrates is a complete and total inability to find players in the draft that can make the club and actually contribute to the team's success. Whether it's first round picks or late second rounders, this team continually shows at best a disregard for the draft and at worse an incompetence in evaluating talent. And in doing so they have left themselves inconsistent, old, and lacking in prospects to either develop or trade for help.