Let’s make this clear on the prime of this column: I’m thrilled for Dallas Mavericks followers. Ecstatic, even.
No fanbase deserves to be handled how they’ve been handled the previous couple of months. Flagrant ineptitude blended with insufferable hubris is a poisonous mixture, and Dallas followers have had a front-row seat witnessing this mix detonate like a fusion bomb, obliterating the core of the crew they maintain so expensive.
They now get to begin over. They get to (theoretically) root for Cooper Flagg for the following 10, 15, 20 years. They’ll begin to put the Luka Doncic commerce behind them – not utterly, however at the very least they received’t should fixate on it as a lot. Cooper Flagg is the brand new North Star. Good for them.
As for everybody else related to the Dallas Mavericks – notably the individual largely chargeable for constructing the ineptitude/hubris fusion bomb? This sucks. That is an expletive ending in -ing mixed with one other expletive describing the fecal matter of a male cow. That is silly.
There’s something morally, cosmically incorrect when one thing like this occurs. It goes past being “unfair” or “rigged” or no matter else. A lot of the world is frustratingly dictated by folks regularly failing upward. Sports activities is (theoretically) imagined to be the respite from all that. Sports activities is (theoretically) the final true meritocracy. Rewarding ineptitude simply feels worse in sports activities. I can’t clarify why – it simply does.
This was the final crew that ought to have been rewarded with Cooper Flagg. But right here we’re. Flagg will be a part of Anthony Davis and a wholesome Kyrie Irving on a crew that would make actual noise in subsequent yr’s playoffs. Flagg is sweet sufficient to contribute to a 50-win crew straight away. He might be an overqualified “glue man” on his rookie contract who will finally grow to be an All-NBA-level performer by the point his rookie extension kicks in.
The Doncic commerce was such a catastrophe largely to what it did to Dallas’ age curve and aggressive window. Flagg – who doesn’t flip 19 till freakin’ December! – units a wholly new curve and a fair wider window.
In fact, there’s a not-zero-percent probability Nico Harrison ships this decide to Milwaukee in alternate for Giannis. Keep tuned.
Elsewhere within the lottery
The Spurs now know the way Jerry West should really feel – at the very least a bit bit. Bear in mind when West ran the present for the Memphis Grizzlies in 2003 and the crew was both going to land the No. 1 decide and LeBron James or watch that decide land wherever else and should ship it to the Detroit Pistons?
It wasn’t practically that gut-wrenching. The Spurs nonetheless get to draft No. 2 and sure find yourself with Dylan Harper – a superb match alongside the Wemby/Fox core that would/ought to contend within the West subsequent yr – however there was at the very least a second when each Spur thought-about the potential for a Wemby/Flagg pairing. Hoo boy.
The Philadelphia 76ers ran the whole gamut of feelings by way of the envelope reveal – first believing they must ship their decide to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder when it was clear that Dallas and San Antonio leapt into the top-four – solely to search out that additionally they snuck into the higher crust of the lottery. Not solely do they preserve their decide, however they’ll probably select between athletic dynamo VJ Edgecombe or sharpshooting massive Ace Bailey. Both participant suits in superbly alongside Tyrese Maxey and wide-smiling dais participant Jared McCain. If the Sixers get something by any means out of the bodily ailing duo of Joel Embiid and Paul George, be careful.
Perennial lottery individuals Charlotte, Utah, and Washington will decide 4-5-6, respectively. This was decidedly not the night any of those franchises had in thoughts. Every crew has hit the reset button a number of occasions and cleared the decks in hopes of touchdown a top-three decide (or, ideally, a top-one decide) on this particular draft, solely to be leapt over by a crew that traded Luka Doncic and one other that willfully signed a clearly hurting Embiid to a max contract extension and shamelessly tanked for 2 months to maintain from having to ship their decide to OKC. Finest laid plans, and many others.
Fast scheduling notice
Lottery night time is the unofficial begin of “draft” season at Elevator Doorways HQ. We’ll nonetheless be writing weekly columns about no matter is occurring within the basketball world, however our companion collection, “Situational Evaluation,” will start this week, as properly. Since 2020, we’ve been breaking down particular draft prospects and analyzing the circumstances that almost all typically affect their success.
We’ll begin with Cooper Flagg. Clearly. Search for that piece coming later this week.
