30 Teams, 30 Years, 30 Drafts: The Dallas Mavericks

posted by Michael OBrien

Welcome to the latest installment of 30 Teams, 30 Years, 30 Drafts featuring the Dallas Mavericks. This series takes you through each of the teams’ draft picks from 1978-2008 and evaluates how they fared. The Mavs below average draft score of 2.357, despite winning a title and drafting two Hall of Famers, is due to three key factors. First, on three different occasions they missed out on a Hall of Famer by one pick (see below). Second, the late 80′s and early 90s were just absolutely abysmal. Third was what I like to call, “the fool’s gold” factor. After drafting Dirk in 1998 the Mavs were like the mid 1800s gold prospector who finds a nugget in a stream, and then spends the rest of their life in the same stream desperately hoping to relive their luck but to no avail. However lucky for Mavs fan, they found one hell of a nugget in Dirk, that I’m sure they don’t really care too much about all those other misses. Also, this analogy would have worked better if we were actually discussing the Nuggets. Oh well, enjoy the Mavs draft history. There are quite a few interesting stories. My personal favorite was Nick Fazeka’s grandfather.

Follow @thenotoriousmob

Total Score: 2.357

Let us know in the comments below who you think their best and worst draft picks were.

To see how the score was calculated, check out the intro post here.

[table id=118 /]

1- Kiki’s full name is Ernest Maurice Vandeweghe III. I felt you should know that. I would make a note that this is the same Kiki Vandeweghe as the front office guy, but could there really be someone else out there named Kiki Vandeweghe?

2- Before a certain Dirk Nowitski rolled around Rolando was the Mavs all time leading scorer. Also he was the man that was sat in favor of John Starks in the 1994 NBA Finals; a move that Pat Riley has since said was the greatest mistake of his career. Thanks, Pat.

3- Jay was indicted on mail fraud charges in August of 2010 that claimed he scammed an estimated $2 million from about 20,000 people across to country. He plead guilty. Stay classy, Jay.

4- No relation.

5- Dale held the Sonics/Thunder single season scoring record for 21 years, before it was broken by Kevin Durant in the 2009-10 season.

6- Take a look at Derek Harper’s career stats, it’s a crime that he was never elected to an All Star Game. So much so, that I am going to bump him up a notch and give to him in this series. I’m sure Derek’s life is now complete.

7- Shocking stat of the night. Mark West ranks third on the all time field goal percentage list. Behind only Artis Gilmore and Shaquille O’Neal.

8- The Mavs drafted Sam one spot above “The Round Mound of Sound” Charles Barkley. I bet they wish they could have a mulligan on that one.

9- 1984 was not a banner year for the Mavs draft wise. After drafting Perkins one pick before the Chuck Wagon, they followed that up with drafting Terence Stansbury over John Stockton. Imagine a bizarro world with Chuck and Stockton running pick and roles with Ronaldo Blackman and Dale Davis on the wings all in Mavs uniforms. They may have made a title.

10- Uwe makes it the third time in just two years the Mavs would draft a marginal player before a future HOFer as the next pick in the 1985 draft was Joe Dumars. The mid 80s were not kind to Mavs.

11- Milton is the father of former NBA player Dajuan Wagner. Also wanted to note that the Mavs had the 25^th pick in this draft. They used it to select a certain Mark Price, but traded him before the night was over. Man the pre-Cuban Mavs were a mess.

12- If you said, “Is that the same Morlon Wiley who was an assistant coach on the Magic?” Well then you my friend are the only one who did. Also, yes, yes he is.

13- The Mavs seemed on the verge of finally turning things around in the mid 90s. They had a nice young nucleus of Mashburn-Kidd-Jackson who showed promise to lead them back to winning season. However Kidd and Jackson never quite merged together. The reason, as Bill Simmons’ once said, “Anytime two NBA players have a falling out, its usually over a woman or a gambling debt.” This time however the woman in question was Toni Braxton, as the rumor has it she was the one that destroyed the mid 90s Mavs.

14- Jamal pretty much runs the shitty dining scene in Kentucky. He owns 34 Outback Steakhouses and 37 Papa John’s. He also went to Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, which may not mean anything to you, but was a rival of my high school in track and field.

15- How things come full circle! Kidd was a young underachiever on a Mavs team that never quite got it for a couple of years before they gave up on him. Then he would return 12 years later to be an elder overachiever on a Mavs team that definitely got it. The only question on Kidd was where to put him on my 15-20 Hall of Fame scale because he will definitely walk in as soon as he is eligible. He is not an immortal, but with 5 1^st All-NBA teams he is definitely not a borderline either. We’ll stick him at the 18 mark.

16- OK, sometimes you find something that is too funny and you have to double check things because wikipedia lies to you. But, I have confirmed this is a fact. Cherokee Parks has a sister named Corey who was the founder of a band with the delightful name of Pussy Riot.

17- Bubba Wells holds an NBA record! Bubba is the fasted man to ever foul out of a game. On December 29, 1997 in a game against the Chicago Bulls Bubba fouled out of a game in three minutes. He was inserted with the sole purpose of playing Hack-a-Rodman. Karma was served however as Rodman went 9 of 12.

18- I had a tough time grading Dirk. He is clearly a HOF. He is the best player on a title team. However he has one glaring weakness that stopped me from putting him among the immortals. He can’t play defense. He just can’t do it. However is alpha dog on a title team and best offensive forward ever not named Larry Bird or Rick Barry, should put him higher up on the food chain than Malone or Barkley. So Dirk has been awarded our first 19.

19- In 2005 Etan released a book of poetry. In it contained works critical of coach Doug Collins. So Collins’ inability to get along with players is immortalized in poem.

20- In 2009 Devin was recognized by the Guinness Record Book for being the fasted man in basketball. He dribbled the length of the court in 3.9 seconds at the All Star Weekend facilities.

21- Nick’s grandfather was Albert Fazekas. He was a freedom fighter in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. He escaped a Soviet prison camp after setting himself on fire to create a diversion. Now that is badass!

View the previous teams and their scores here:

Intro

Boston Celtics – 3.885

Philadelphia 76ers – 2.561

Toronto Raptors – 2.659

Orlando Magic – 2.861

Charlotte Bobcats – 2.225

New York Knicks – 2.471

New Jersey Nets – 2.49

Atlanta Hawks – 1.258

Miami Heat – 2.743

Milwaukee Bucks – 3.616